The course’s assignments consist of two essays. There will be one 1,500 word written paper and one 2,500 word paper. The first paper will assess the leading features of the vampire trope as it began to be domesticated in earlier English-language sources. The second and longer paper will survey what we have learned about the growth of vampire fiction as a genre during the 19th century leading to its classic formulation in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897).
Essay #1: Vampire Fiction: the Creation of a New Genre
In 1,500 words describe the main features of the vampire genre as it developed in the period 1800–1872.
Studying vampire fiction enables us to chart the growth of a new genre of English language fiction over the course of its two hundred year history:
As we know, fiction is divided into a number of genres. If we were writing a Western, say, we would expect to furnish the narrative with certain kinds of characters such as we might encounter in the Old West—the lean, mysterious guy who rides into town, dustcoat flapping aside to reveal immaculately-maintained sixguns who is greeted with the (utterly conventional remark) ‘Bin long on the trail, stranger?’; the seemingly prim school-ma’m struggling to bring civilisation to the Frontier; the alcoholic preacher or doctor struggling with loss of vocation; the wisecracking, tobacco spitting Old-Timer who’s seen it all… and so on. We would expect certain kinds of settings (don’t forget to put in a cactus or two, and we’ll need some barbed wire and tumble-weed, a saloon and a boot hill and various other bits and pieces), and a certain kind of story line typical of such a setting: a range war, perhaps? Or disputed mining claim? Or Indians on the war-path? Or the railroad coming? You get the idea.
Likewise, if we were writing crime fiction—we would be aware from our reading, and perhaps viewing, that there were various sorts, and that the worlds inhabited by Miss Marple and Philip Marlowe are very different although both are private eyes (of a sort). This, in turn is different from the typical police procedural novel we see in the 87th Precinct series. Even within a sub-genre such as this there will be striking differences of character and setting, and plot lines between Ed McBain’s tough New York cops and their English colleagues, Inspector Morse and Inspector Barnaby of the Midsomer Murders novels and TV series.
If we were creating pirate characters, we would need to be aware of the conventions; for example, us pirates always talks in the present tense, and we says colourful seagoing things like ‘slit me gizzard’ and ‘stap me vitals’, and we has interesting bits of us missing, like legs, hands, and eyes. (This is why Barrie’s characterisation of Captain Hook is so brilliant, that he throws overboard a lot of the existing baggage and makes his character a gentleman, an Old Etonian indeed—although you wouldn’t be aware of this if you only watched Disney—when the ticking crocodile catches up with him at the end, he jumps overboard crying ‘Floreat Etona’).
If a busy writer were sitting at his or her desk in 1870 trying to create an utterly conventional vampire fictional story, what characteristics would they use give such a creation, based on their previous reading? Remember, aspects such as character, setting, dialogue and story-line would all come in. Remember too that you are approaching this task as a scholar, a dispassionate observer: you are to describe the phenomenon, not attempt to write fiction for yourself.
You may wish to read the guidance notes on Polidori and Rymer for this essay.
Essay #2: Vampire Fiction: Its Growth
“At the end of the 19th century Bram Stoker in Dracula transformed the inherited idea of the vampire.” Discuss in 2,500 words.
This is a chance to review the evidence; consider changes, if any, in the presentation of the vampire in Stoker’s novel, and demonstrate an awareness of the conclusions on this point of at least two leading contemporary scholars, at least one of whom we should not have discussed in class (a search on JSTOR or Google Scholar will uncover many possibilities here). Do not be overly influenced by what other people think, however. You are now in possession of the primary evidence: try to come to your own conclusions about it.
Assessing literary critical essays:
There are basically three grounds for assessing works of literary criticism, as you will be invited to do in Essay #2:
- Fidelity to the text. Does the piece illuminate the text in any significant way? Does it have to distort the text to produce a “new” reading?
- Internal coherence. Does it make sense? Do the conclusions flow logically from the premises? Does it “hang together” as an argument?
- Contextual awareness. In Dracula criticism we find many references to allegedly widespread Victorian ideas concerning inter alia “The New Woman”, “Reverse Colonisation”, “Racial Degradation Theory”, and various Freudian-inspired psychoanalytical interpretations. Are these used—so far as you can judge— legitimately? Do they represent a genuine preoccupation of the text?
