Tag Archives: Carmilla
Vampires: Dracula, James Joyce, Jane Austen, bats, and Marx
Again, a bit too late for Hallowe’en, but a handful of essays on vampires here: 1. Recent research at the London Library on Bram Stoker’s annotations to source material for Dracula: ‘The Books That Made Dracula‘. 2. Austen Gilkeson, ‘The … Continue reading
Posted in Critical thoughts
Tagged bats, Bram Stoker, capitalism, Carmilla, cinema, Dracula, graveyards, James Joyce, Jane Austen, Marx, Père Lachaise, Valeska Suratt, Vampires
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The Lesbian Vampire: A (Fairly) Brief Media Retrospective
The Mary Sue has written a relatively brief (as the title suggests), but still interesting, media retrospective on the lesbian vampire. It covers more recent portrayals and I was very pleased to see that the Carmilla web series on YouTube … Continue reading
Lesbian Vampires in the Movies
I admit that I watched the appalling Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009) and was suitably disappointed. (And I unashamedly like terribly, B-Movie style films). Though I suspect it meant to be an ironic homage to early lesbian vampire movies, it ventured too far into … Continue reading
Posted in Books and Articles, Critical thoughts
Tagged adaptation, Carmilla, sexuality, Vampires
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Carmilla Web Series
During a quick Halloween inspired Pinterest session, I stumbled across a web series called ‘Carmilla’ (2014 – ?) based on the novel of the same name by Sheridan Le Fanu. The sapphic undercurrents of the original text are laid bare in … Continue reading
Genevieve Valentine, ‘How the vampire became film’s most feminist monster’
A fascinating essay by Genevieve Valentine on the shifting nature of the powerful and ambivalent female vampire in cinema.
Before Bram: a timeline of vampire literature
More useful information from Roger Luckhurst on the origins of the vampire. This timeline illustrates the ethnographic and literary precursors of Stoker’s Dracula.
Posted in Resources
Tagged anthropology, Bram Stoker, Byron, Calmet, Carmilla, Dracula, Folklore, John Polidori, Southey, Tournefort, Vampires, Varney the Vampyre
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Roger Luckhurst, ‘From Dracula to The Strain: Where do vampires come from?’
A brilliant, concise overview of the origins of contemporary vampire narratives by Prof, Roger Luckhurst of Birkbeck College, London. He traces the vampire story from the Eats European accounts in the eighteenth-century through Polidori, Varney the Vampire, ‘Carmilla’ and (inevitably) … Continue reading
Posted in Critical thoughts
Tagged Carmilla, del Torro, Dracula, Eighteenth century, John Polidori, race, TV, Vampires, Varney the Vampire
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Lauren Chochinov, ‘Carmilla Rising: Adapting Le Fanu’s Novella In the Age of Social Media’
A very interesting review by Lauren Chochinov on the recent (2014) web-based adaptation of Le Fanu’s Carmilla by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson. I’ve only had glimpses of this series, but Chochinov’s article here has certainly whet my appetite for … Continue reading
Posted in Reviews
Tagged adaptation, Carmilla, Internet, new media, sexuality, Vampires
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Barry Forshaw ‘Sex and Death: Vampires from Coleridge to Hammer’
Instructive extract from Barry Forshaw’s British Gothic Cinema on the vampire theme in Gothic fiction from Coleridge’s ‘Christabel’ through ‘Carmilla’ and dracula to its incarnation in cinema.
Posted in Critical thoughts
Tagged Carmilla, Coleridge, Dracula, Film, Gothic novel, Hammer horror, Romanticism, sexuality, Vampires
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Carmilla: the most ambiguous female vampire in fiction?
Listened to the thrilling dramatisation of Le Fanu’s ‘Carmilla’ on Radio 4 Extra tonight by candlelight whilst the wind howled outside and I contemplated my pile of marking. Love the ending of this story and the trope of the portrait … Continue reading