MIXED BLOOD LINES

Violet Fenn. A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture. Pen and Sword, 2021.

This book got off to a bad start in its introductory chapter, when the author suggests that Conan Doyle's fascination with fairies was in “the 1800s” rather than the 1920s. In the nineteenth century the fear of being buried alive was a very real issue, as the boundaries between life and death became blurred by developments in medicine, a topic which was discussed in depth in a recent study of the Frankenstein story. 

🔻

Stories, some allegedly true, of corpses being found with their hair and nails having grown in the coffin fed both the vampire legend and the fear of premature burial.

The move from the folkloric vampire to the literary creation can be traced to John Polidori, the friend of the Byron's who joined them in their competition of literary horror in 1816. Polidori was the first writer to raise his vampire – or vampyre – to the aristocracy as Lord Ruthven, the template for two centuries of top-hatted, be cloaked blood-suckers.

Vlad the Impaler gets not a mention in this history, and probably quite rightly, and another candidate for bloodthirsty historical monster, Countess Elisabeth Báthory is given a vigorous defence by the author, portraying her as a proto-feminist who fell victim of political machinations and the historical fear of the 'powerful woman'. As Ms Fenn points out, it would be virtually impossible to bathe in maiden's blood, even if you could get enough of it, which was probably as much a problem in 16th century Hungary as it would be today!

After this historical introduction the book moves on to literary portrayal and exploitation of the vampire, and how it has been used to introduce themes that would be difficult to portray in more realistic fiction. Fenn describes how Sheridan le Fanu's Carmilla portrays the leading character in terms of vampirism to write about the - at the time unmentionable - subject of lesbianism.

The image of the vampire is now completely fragmented by its use in literature, films, stage plays and even musicals. This latter manifestation acme in the form of Lestat, a musical based on Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, produced by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, was described by one critic as “a musical sleeping pill”. This did not kill off the musical vampire genre however, and Frank Wildhorne's Dracula the Musical became a European success, after a major re-write following its disappointing 2001 launch in California.

The sexual relationship between the vampire and his victim, obvious even in the early nineteenth-century portrayals has become increasingly explicit in more recent manifestations. The idea of the supernatural nocturnal sexual predator dates back to the Sumerian lilu, a faceless demon, reminiscent of Lovecraft's nightgaunts, which attacked women through their dreams, raping them as they slept. As with the medieval incubi and succubi, the lilu had its female equivalent, the liliti, which stole men's souls by draining them of their semen. The modern day analogies of these need no further explanation to Magonians.

Fenn follows these themes through the whole range of modern portrayals of similar life-sucking and soul-absorbing creatures across the media. The detailed exploration of themes in plot-line of modern movie and TV portrayals may sometimes stray into 'spoilers' for those unfamiliar with the dramas. This is very much a book for fans. An enthusiastic knowledge and a keen following of the many fictional threads, book series, films and spin-offs is really necessary to get the most from it. 

Perhaps at times the author's own obvious enthusiasm gets in the way of a clear narrative structure, which seems rather bitty and confused. Although it is divided into clearly titled chapters such as 'Blood is the Life', 'Dead Sexy', 'Glamour of the Gothic', the contents do not seem clearly differentiated, and topics, films, and characters are described and discussed at several points in different chapters, with some repetitions. Perhaps a stronger editorial hand was needed.

The imposing entrance to the remarkably vampire-free

Anfield Cemetery in Liverpool

One chapter in particular raises a number of red flags with me – 'The Vampire Next Door' which as well as looking at fictional vampires in mundane settings, describes a number of cases of 'real' vampires, and vampire inspired real-life crimes.

Two vampire inspired murders in Liverpool are described in great detail, one in 1983 from the Toxteth neighbourhood involving a deserted flat which 'radiated evilness', with a coffin, a milk bottle of human blood and a distraught neighbour, but no source is given except “a local author who specialises in paranormal tales of Merseyside” - the lack of sources is a major failing of this book.

Also we read about the vampire-haunted Anfield Cemetery where the body of a Russian noblewoman lies “bedecked in the finest jewels” in the ruined catacombs. But later “people spoke of flying creatures with glowing eyes that swooped on the unwary . . . locals still tell of how they were warned to watch out for the vampires while growing up in the city. And there are still rumours about the bejewelled Russian gentlewoman hidden away in the decaying tombs of Anfield.”

Well this 'local' was warned about nothing of the sort. I spent my entire childhood, and longer, within half a mile of Anfield Cemetery, it was a regular site for adventurous play, and part of my route to and from school in the nineteen-fifties, but there was never a mention of vampires or bejewelled Russian aristocrats from parents, neighbours, school pals or even the ferocious park-keepers who patrolled the cemetery paths. If there were it would have been 'the talk of the wash-house' as the local saying had it. And if there was anything 'bejewelled' in the ruins of the old catacombs (now gladly undergoing restoration) they would have soon found their way to a local pawnshop! Sorry, Ms Fenn, but this story's a dud.

• John Rimmer