What vampire tales preceded Stoker's Dracula? Here's a good overview article, starting from the early 1700s.
Interesting claim in it:
the vampire itself is, for Butler, a site- and time-specific thing, rather than the universally recognizable figure that Christopher Frayling has called “as old as the world”. Butler is not convinced that the vampire was “ever a cultural figure to be found the world over”, and Luckhurst would seem to agree, describing it as a “thoroughly modern being”.
Comments