Beth E. McDonald

The Vampire as Numinous Experience

Spiritual Journeys with the Undead in British and American Literature

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

The critical work examines the vampire as a spiritual figure--whether literal or metaphorical--analyzing how the use of the vampire in literature has served to convey both a human sense of alienation from the divine and a desire to overcome that alienation. While expressing isolation, the vampire also represents the transcendent agent through which individuals and societies must confront questions about innate good or evil, and belief in the divine and the afterlife. Textual experiences of the numinous in the form of the vampire propel the subject on a spiritual journey involving both psychological and religious qualities. Through this journey, the reader and the main character may begin to understand the value of their existence and the divine. A variety of works, poetry and fiction by British and American authors, is discussed, with particular concentration on Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, as representative of the Romantic, Victorian, and late twentieth century periods of literature. A conclusion looks at the future of the literary vampire.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: McFarland
• Seitenzahl: 210
• Erscheinungstermin: 2. Juli 2004
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 13mm
• Gewicht: 349g
• ISBN-13: 9780786419470
• ISBN-10: 0786419474
• Artikelnr.: 22258551

Autorenporträt

Beth E. McDonald is an instructor with the English department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She lives in Las Vegas.

Inhaltsangabe

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments     
Preface     
1. Dreadful Revelations: The Numinous and the Vampire     
2. Surrendering the Self: The Numinous and the Vampire in Coleridge's "The
Rime of the Ancient Mariner"     
3. Recreating the World: The Sacred and the Profane in Bram Stoker's
Dracula     
4. Eros and the Thanatotic Hero: Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles     
Conclusion: Vampires for a New Age     
Chapter Notes     
Works Cited     
Index