Section 3: The Vampiric

Chair: Ralph Poole, University of Salzburg

Vampires in folklore, literature and popular culture may well be the most prominent representatives of the motif of undeath. Historically, the vampire embodied the corrupt, immoral, and parasitic culture of the decadent upper class, and could be understood as a form of social criticism. But as a metaphor, the vampiric also represents the oppressed dark side of rationality – unchained violent and erotic drives that are set free during the sleep of reason. The topic of vampirism generally appears to be highly sexually charged - be it as a valve for suppressed Victorian sexual urges or, in the other extreme, as a leitmotif for proposing sexual abstinence, as has recently been promoted in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. In any case, the complexity and ambivalence of the horrific figure seem to be at the heart of many vampire narratives. Doomed to death without really being dead, and to live on without being alive, the vampire is a hybrid creature wandering between two worlds.

Exemplary Topics:
- What makes the vampiric so attractive today – especially in texts and films produced for the younger generation?
- How have its various representations changed over time and which current ethical and moral problems are negotiated in vampire narratives?
- How does the vampiric discourse of domination, subordination, and co-dependency relate to the critical potential of literature?