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theacaposito's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
jackiehorne's review against another edition
3.0
Helpful synopsis of vampire literature and film, from the early 19th century to 1995. One of the first scholars to take the vampire seriously.
The first part of the book, focusing on the 19th century, was the most interesting to me, being the most unfamiliar; Auerbach's contention that pre-Dracula vampires were typically in homoerotic plots is intriguing. The scope of the book narrowed considerably toward the end, with a whole chapter devoted to post-Reagan vampire lit/film; this narrowing gave the book an unbalanced feel.
Her book's central claim -- the construction of the vampire changes in reaction to the social and political milieu of the times -- is convincingly argued.
The first part of the book, focusing on the 19th century, was the most interesting to me, being the most unfamiliar; Auerbach's contention that pre-Dracula vampires were typically in homoerotic plots is intriguing. The scope of the book narrowed considerably toward the end, with a whole chapter devoted to post-Reagan vampire lit/film; this narrowing gave the book an unbalanced feel.
Her book's central claim -- the construction of the vampire changes in reaction to the social and political milieu of the times -- is convincingly argued.
andebauchery's review against another edition
1.0
This book assumed that I had a tremendous amount of prior knowledge about vampires, maybe this was my bad but I thought the author would catch me up. The writing style is hard to follow and I felt as though I was reading a pretentious college essay.
The author also seems to be a rabid feminist and uses the word patriarch maybe 500 times. Thank god I got this book for free from a book swap.
The author also seems to be a rabid feminist and uses the word patriarch maybe 500 times. Thank god I got this book for free from a book swap.
mamadee's review against another edition
4.0
Brilliant insight into the Western vampire. I do wish the book weren't so defined by the era in which it was written.
mollyxmiller's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book of criticism on the vampire through the ages. Auerbach covered many vampires I was familiar with, like Ruthven, Dracula, Carmilla, Barnabas from Dark Shadows, etc. She also covered quite a few I have never heard of and now I want to read their stories--especially Varney the Vampire (can't get over that name). I was especially intrigued by the tales of psychic vampires that Auerbach discusses. I found this to be a very interesting read overall. Prior to this, I never realized that vampires and U.S. presidents have very much in common! I will say that I agree with her statement toward the end, vampires went through a slight "resting period" (although they never really die!) in the late '80's and 90's. They have definitely come back to haunt us in the early 2000's though, what with Underworld, the Twilight Saga, and True Blood (and the Sookie Stackhouse novels)--not to mention the thousand other vampire movies/books/TV series that have been released.
kissingtinyflowers's review against another edition
4.25
This was super interesting and I enjoyed it a lot. It's basically literary/media history with a focus on vampires and the politics that influenced their stories. It's a bit academic in style, and literally half the book is just notes and an index, but as I'm reading this for my BA thesis, that didn't bother me. Not sure how a more casual reader might feel about it, but I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the media history vampires, especially since it comes at it from a gender studies perspective.
vsarna's review against another edition
4.0
I actually really enjoyed this book! I thought it was pretty funny but also educational so a solid four :)