The Vampire: A New History

by Nick Groom

An authoritative new history of the vampire, two hundred years after it first appeared on the literary scene

Published to mark the bicentenary of John Polidori’s publication of The Vampyre, Nick Groom’s detailed new account illuminates the complex history of the iconic creature. The vampire first came to public prominence in the early eighteenth century, when Enlightenment science collided with Eastern European folklore and apparently verified outbreaks of vampirism, capturing the attention of medical researchers, political commentators, social theorists, theologians, and philosophers. Groom accordingly traces the vampire from its role as a monster embodying humankind’s fears, to that of an unlikely hero for the marginalized and excluded in the twenty-first century.

Drawing on literary and artistic representations, as well as medical, forensic, empirical, and sociopolitical perspectives, this rich and eerie history presents the vampire as a strikingly complex being that has been used to express the traumas and contradictions of the human condition.

Genres: Nonfiction, Vampires, History, Horror, Gothic, Folklore, Mythology

287 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2018

About the author

Nick Groom, known as the “Prof of Goth,” is professor of English at Exeter University, UK. His previous titles include The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction, and The Seasons: A Celebration of the English Year, which was shortlisted for the Katharine Briggs Folklore Award and came runner-up for BBC Countryfile Book of the Year.

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Vampire: A New History" is a historical look at the horror classic "vampire" figure. Thus it is indeed a historical book, that can also occupy the genre of "Horror" as that is the basis for the historical study.

Groom's book uses a great deal of historical lore and sources to show that this concept came out of the fringes of the Habsburg Empire. From the local folk tales of the Eastern Europeans, it then found its way to the West as a metaphor for various social and political ills.

It was fascinating how the author shows that Catholicism seemed to favor the idea of vampires, since it seemed to fit their ideas of the supernatural, while the Protestant religions seemed to ignore it. In time, in the 1700s, fears about medical malpractice and grave robbing added further fuel to the fire. As the century progressed, these modern fears juxtaposed with old beliefs and inspired a new generation of writers and poets.

The 1800's were a time of the rise of the Byron type poets. Their interest in vampires laid the groundwork for the current concept of the vampire. As this then began to mirror fears of capitalism and even modern science, the soil was ripe for Stoker's famous novel to hit the stage.

The author shows how influential Stoker's novel was and in terms of vampire "lore", it can be considered the "AD" (After Dracula) for any later interpretations. The book then follows up with a short chapter on how the prolific image of Stoker's Count then influenced the current generation of vampires.

A very interesting, if not somewhat enlightening, history of the vampire. As a fan of vampires, likely my favorite type of horror creature, I enjoyed this detailed look into the historical basis for vampires and appreciated the authors point of the modern concept of the vampire is a relatively recent trend that starts around the late 1600's and then manifests during Stoker's novel.

Recommended for anyone with an interest in the history of vampires and their outsized influence on the minds of humanity.

[Alessia Scurati · Rating 5 out of 5]

I vampiri sono stati oggetto di ogni interpretazione possibile da parte dei critici, che hanno cercato disperatamente di dare valore alla memorabile affermazione di Nina Auerbach secondo cui «ogni epoca abbraccia il vampiro di cui ha bisogno», come giustificazione per una dilagante sovranalisi di questa figura. Tuttavia, è vero il contrario. Il nostro tempo ha rielaborato il vampiro in chiave onnicomprensiva, un serbatoio cosmico da riempire e riempire di infinite letture e riletture - un’autentica molteplicità. Eppure questa caratteristica ha profonde radici storiche, così la neofilia del vampiro per i media e le tecnologie più recenti. Anche l’attenzione al corpo, come fenomeno biologico o come mezzo per mode, è radicata nei dibattiti medici e fisiologici del passato. I vampiri di oggi mantengono un’affinità con i vampiri storici.

Come nasce un vampiro?
Cosa è diventato un vampiro?
Ed è più vampiro un avversario politico dell’Impero Asburgico, un nemico della Chiesa Ortodossa, o quelle persone che rifiutando di invecchiare si fanno imbottire di Botox per abbindolare le usure del tempo?

Questo saggio è un saggio sui vampiri dove Dracula arriva solo nella penultima parte, ben oltre la metà. Prima spiega tutto quello che c’è stato per arrivare a far sì che Bram Stoker partorisse IL vampiro, quello dopo il quale tutti i vampiri sono diventati il nostro immaginario di vampiro e allo stesso tempo sono diventati qualcosa che con i vampiri originali non hanno più nulla a che fare.
Il saggio racconta come si è arrivati ai vampiri che noi lettori mordermi definiremmo ‘canonici’: tra superstizioni e dicerie, tanta ma proprio tanta politica, pettegolezzi mal riportati e metafore non colte. Una cavalcata che a certi punti non può che diventare divertente e che non fa che confermare che il vampiro in realtà è lo specchio della sua epoca: basti pensare che nell’800 a un certo punto c’era chi si sprecava in saggi per dire che prendere il treno poteva portare al vampirismo, oppure essere una suffragetta (ovviamente a noi donne andava sempre abbastanza di liquame, nel senso che se avevi i capelli troppo lunghi: vampira; li tingevi: vampira; soffrivi di depressione post parto: vampira; avevi 2 amanti: ninfomane vampira; la solita solfa, insomma).
Tutta una situazione che mi ha fatto pensare: ma non è che al giorno d’oggi avrebbero detto che il vaccino e il 5G ti fanno diventare vampiro? - non sono ironica: Groom spiega dettagliatamente come la figura del vampiro sia fortemente legato a ciò che viene percepito come ‘dannoso’ ambito scientifico-tecnologico, ma anche politico.

Lo confesso: certi passaggi mi hanno davvero divertito e in generale la lettura ha soddisfatto la mia curiosità.
Io non sono una fan di vampiri e simili. Mai letto o visto Twilight, o intervista col vampiro e pure Dracula, mai al cinema e letto male - infatti dopo questa lettura dovrò rileggerlo.
Però credo di aver capito perché la figura del vampiro mi ha sempre affascinato leggendo questo saggio.

Frase cult del libro: IL VAMPIRO è COME LA PATATA .
(E non pensate male…)
Come ci si arrivi… non ve lo dico, vi dico solo che dovete arrivare fino alla parte ’Conclusione’ per saperlo.
Curiosi?

[Niklas Wiecz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it, however I must say that your enjoyment of this book very much depends on how much you bring to it. I am by no means knowledgeable about the (literary) history of vampires, especially from the 16th to 18th century, but I still find myself drawn to novels, films, and TV shows featuring them. I consider Dracula among my favorite novels, Buffy the Vampire slayer among the greatest shows ever created, and I think, for example, that Twilight is often unfairly dismissed.
The first chapters focus on the origins of vampire myths in Europe and their first mentions in (popular) culture. I really did not know anything about that and can therefore attest that Nick Groom successfully avoids alienating readers unfamiliar with the subject matter by mentioning anecdotes and – on the surface – unusual occurrences from back in the day. Still, when he dove into specific artistic works from that time period, the content can become quite dry and I reckon that this was written for people more well-versed in vampire fiction. The author includes extensive endnotes which I found myself skimming in order to find articles and books for further reading.
I wish the last chapters would have been longer or that there would have been more of them, as Groom goes into younger history of vampires here, but I do concede that this is a personal preference based on the works that I am familiar with; to those familiar with vampires in literature, these chapters might not offer too many new perspectives, since they have already been discussed extensively elsewhere.

[Javier Alemán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un ensayo muy concienzudo sobre la progresión del mito del vampiro desde los albores del siglo XVII hasta la actualidad. Lejos de ser un compendio de referencias se convierte en un recorrido lleno de filosofía, historia e historia de la ciencia para explicar cómo se llega a Drácula desde los cadáveres incorruptos a los que temían los campesinos de la Europa más oriental. Se hace muy interesante cómo relaciona los avances médicos (y filosóficos) con las sucesivas transformaciones del vampiro como figura, de la que defiende que es un monstruo de la Ilustración que poco tiene que ver con mitos anteriores. Una delicia.

[Sofia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5

[Cat Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I could summarize this book in one sentence, it would be, “You think vampires just fell out of a coconut tree?”

The continuation of the official quote is, “You exist in the context of all in which you live and what came before you.” This will be important because this book. Is full. Of CONTEXT.

I initially picked The Vampire: A New History up because I intended to write a vampire screenplay and instead of just Wikipedia-ing the fuck out of it, I decided I wanted to learn about the vampire from an academic, authoritative source. Where did the vampire come from? How did the legend spread? What literature shaped this bastion of the Gothic genre?

Well, dear reader. I got the answers to all those questions. I got the answers to all those questions and about a million more I never even considered asking. Did you know people did animal-to-human blood transfusions to see if that would change someone’s personality? Did you know the morbid interest in vampirism comes from the same mindset that drives our morbid interest in true crime? Did you know capitalism is a bloodsucking beast and that we are technically more undead than the vampires because we live in a society so driven by profit that it’s sucking out our very LIFE FORCE?!?! WAKE UP, SHEEPLE.

There is no corner in modern history that vampires cannot be found in. There is no context that hasn’t shaped the vampire in some way. And there is no context that a vampire can’t be applied to!

I should probably warn you what you’re getting into if you read this book. If you’re looking for a simple history of vampire lore, you’re not going to get it. You will delve into the philosophical and follow trains of thought you never considered. This reads like a textbook—nay, this IS a textbook. It’s dry as a bone and full of terms you WILL HAVE TO GOOGLE. THIS TOOK ME A YEAR TO READ BECAUSE I KEPT DROPPING IT.

That’s not to say this book isn’t worth reading. I never took vampires seriously before this, but I now see them for what they are: representations of our fears, our desires, our brutal histories, and our many questions about death, life, and humanity.

So no, vampires did not just fall out of a coconut tree. And no, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch a vampire movie again without thinking about the context from which it came. I will never be unburdened by what has been. But I never want to be, because vampires fucking rock.

[B. Rule · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wickedly fun and macabre historical survey, chiefly through literary and political lenses. Groom expertly excavates the early history of vampires, starting with the rich soil of Slavic myth and moving on to later conceptions of the vampire as plague, metaphor for capital, and metonym for rapacious consumerism. He makes a strong case that the vampire is not properly in the class of other ghouls and ghosts, but is instead an arch-Enlightenment figure that develops its particular fascination through the complex interplay of scientific, rational inquiry and the supernatural.

From early on, the vampire was analyzed through categories of medicine and empirical evidence-gathering, where credulous secondhand eyewitness accounts were cloaked in the rhetoric of scientific empiricism. Groom's careful dissections of early vampiric reports and their 19th century repackaging as science fiction are the strongest parts of the book, and I found it utterly delightful. Groom gives close readings of primary texts and related secondary sources (which are well-documented in copious footnotes), but he's also not afraid to open veins of speculative symbology. This section culminates in deep readings of Stoker's Dracula, its genealogy in earlier supernatural fiction (incredible that one trip to Lake Geneva produced both Frankenstein and the germs of the modern vampire in Polidori's story "The Vampyre"!), and its runaway success and seepage into the wider cultural landscape. It all flows very well.

Groom does trace the concept of the vampire up through the present age, including accounts of Goth subculture and the rise of the sparkly vampires. However, this section is more of a survey of references rather than the analytic focus of the earlier chapters. I wish he would have beefed up this part, because I found his speculations on the symbolism, psychology, and political subtext of vampires to be fascinating and I would have welcomed more. Despite that shortcoming, this book is an excellent treatment of the subject, one which wears the trappings of academia but isn't afraid to have some fun too (just look at the chapter subtitles!). Recommended for anyone drawn to the monstrous and what it says about the shadowy creatures haunting the subterranean depths of our political and psychological landscape.

[Berna Labourdette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cuando parece que no ya no hay mucho más que decir sobre los vampiros, aparece una obra interesante como ésta, que entrega más información y análisis, como por ejemplo el parecido de los santos mártires a los vampiros (sobre todo por las formas de morir, sacarles el corazón, decapitarlos o quemarlos). Muchísima bibliografía, muy bien presentada, un nuevo análisis de Drácula y revisión de las primeras narraciones vampíricas más allá de "La novia de Corinto". Pura felicidad. 

[Tania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un ensayo muy bien documentado sobre los usos y costumbres de la población respecto al vampirismo desde sus orígenes hasta la actualidad.

La investigación se realiza también desde un punto filosófico, médico y literario.

Para finalizar se incluye una bibliografía, referencias y notas al respecto.

Aunque algunos datos son ampliamente conocidos, el libro tiene información muy interesante que difiere con la idea que tenemos sobre los vampiros en la actualidad. Por ejemplo, nuestra idea sobre la transformación nada tiene que ver con la que se tenía en el origen del vampirismo donde incluso plantas podían padecer este mal.

[Tea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of Groom’s vampire history contains several (somewhat repetitive) accounts of 17th century communities doing their utmost to keep suspected vampires six feet under. Supposed vampires are hamstrung, riddled with pins and decoronated (their hearts removed).

Later in the book, Groom illustrates how the vampire has served as a conduit for the fears and anxieties of societies and communities from the 17th century onwards. He observes that the vampire as it came to exist in popular imagination largely arose in the Enlightenment period, and coalesces with the scientific, technological and economic advances of the 18th and 19th centuries. Fears of invaded borders, criminal degeneracy, recidivism, infection, bloodsucking capitalism and consumerism are all reflected in the legendary horror figure.

Armed with a substantial financial portfolio, the vampire is free to indulge in not only blood, but also material treats such as fine art. This is the vampire not as suave and urbane connoisseur so much as rabid, accumulative consumer.

Vampires in literature are considered, but other than a lengthy discourse on Stoker’s seminal novel towards the end (which chimes very closely with the scientific and technological preoccupations), the focus is largely on medical, social and economic matters with some mention of philosophy and religion. It is not until the final 15-20 pages that the sexualised vampire of film and TV makes an appearance.

The book contains some interesting historical context and very useful references for students, but its overall appeal will depend on the expectations of the individual reader.

[Helen Lester · Rating 4 out of 5]

This could be a very good, instructive, informative and interesting study. Unfortunately, it's spoiled by footnotes. I don't mind footnotes, per se. They can be useful for further reading etc. However, I do hate footnotes that carry on the topic, or expand on a point. You can't ignore that kind of footnote. Consequently, you are constantly - and I do mean constantly - flicking backwards and forwards. Every paragraph has a least one footnote; every page has at least a dozen or more.

The result is that the flow is stilted and spoiled. Reading becomes a chore instead of a pleasure.

I do intend to finish this book. But as it stands, it's proving to be a slow slog.

[Rebecca Fung · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little more dense reading than entertaining reading and very much for the nerds rather than those whose vampire knowledge comes from (and wants to stay at) the level of just being amused by the current trends and what's in modern fads.

It's interesting but at times hard to read for the more casual vampire-interested as it goes so deep and niche. Some more of the casually interested may find some parts "draining" :)

[Beatrice (Booksandfunnyclouds) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Un saggio carino e ben fatto.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

exactly what i was looking for.

well researched, lovely prose interspersed with great quotes

perfect fall mood setter

[Alberto Illán Oviedo · Rating 4 out of 5]

El vampiro, como mito moderno, como leyenda que se distingue de otros monstruos que resumen los miedos de los humanos. El autor aborda en este ensayo la génesis del mito, sus cambios, su adaptación a los tiempos. Analizado, perseguido, incluso idolatrado por las iglesias cristianas, por el islam, por la razón del Siglo de las Luces, el vampiro surge como una explicación "científica" de extraños acontecimientos y horrores que los humanos necesitan explicar. La teología, la ciencia decimonónica, la medicina, la política, la psicología y, por último, la literatura moldean al chupasangre y todo ello converge en Drácula, el modelo final, que es fin y principio de la enorme mercadotecnia que existe ahora en torno al vampiro en cine, series, libros, cómics, música, incluso en estilo de vida. Groom hace un excelente ensayo que ayuda a comprender esa evolución, obra que se lee con agilidad y rapidez.

[Leslie Slaven · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Vampire: A New History by Nick Groom gives a fascinating and detailed look at the history of vampires, showing how the vampire myth began in ancient European folklore, often connected to fears of death, disease, and the unknown. He shows how these early stories grew over time, influencing famous works like Dracula and shaping how we think of vampires today. The book also explores how vampires represent deeper ideas like immortality and human desires, which makes it clear why these creatures continue to capture our imaginations. While the book offers interesting facts and deep insights, it can be a little challenging to read because it’s more of a research-based book than a thrilling story. However, if you’re curious about the history and meaning behind vampire legends and myths, this is a great choice!

[Bookish_ Devotion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cercherò di essere breve perché non ha molto senso dilungarmi in questo specifico caso. Di saggi ne ho letti tanti e di conseguenza so che -soprattutto quando hanno radici sociologiche e antropologiche - possono essere estremamente citazionisti: ma qui si è abbastanza esagerato. "Vampiri" di Groom è un saggio di poco più 200 pagine di cui però senti il peso per ogni singola parola, infatti si trascina tra una citazione e l'altra della foltissima bibliografia da cui attinge e il tempo, nella lettura, si dilata inesorabile. Come dicevo prima infatti, sono abituata ai saggi e alla loro naturale struttura, ma qui i lunghi capitoli che ripetono incessantemente eventi già narrati ma con qualche accenno di cambiamento e con ben poca sostanza filosofeggiante- quindi l'analisi dell'autore stesso- sono stati davvero difficili da digerire. Ho rischiato di finire nel blocco del lettore più di una volta e solo la forza di volontà nel voler continuare a leggere lo ha impedito (e il fatto che lo abbia intervallato con un fantasy).
In definitiva, saggio apprezzabile e molto approfondito sulla figura del vampiro nel corso dei secoli, dal folklore al romanzo gotico, ma le varie digressioni su anche altri argomenti che ben poco c'entrano con il tema centrale e che fanno perdere il filo del discorso, li avrei decisamente evitati.
Consigliato? Assolutamente, è un lavoro immenso, già solo valutando le fonti. Ma mentirei se dovessi dire di averlo trovato altro da un mero testo che elenca in sequenza eventi e citazioni.

[Wild Waters · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a super informative book, helping to understand the origins and development of the vampire myth and how it survived as a topic for centuries in Europe, to become a massive cultural phenomenon in literature and film in the 20th century up until now.
Especially the parts regarding medical history, the connection and thinking about blood and disease or the grave digging for autopsy and study purposes in the 18th and 19th century were very interesting. Many movie adaptations and earlier writings make much more sense to us when this general background of topics discussed in society at the time is taken into consideration.
Also the fact, that the predator seeking out young maidens in their beds at night, to suck (maybe in a a cruel but also half-sensual way) the life and beauty out of them, was a German invention made me laugh out loud (being German myself). You never know what those Sturm & Drang poets found fascinating. I recommend this book to every scholar-Goth :-) (I bought it on a trip to Whitby. No more explanation needed, if you know your Stoker, you know.)

[Aura · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough and fascinating read for anyone who enjoys vampires and vampirism in fiction.

[Pablo Csm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Verdaderamente interesante

[Tim Pendry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I became disappointed with this book as it progressed. My go-to text on the history of the vampire has always been Paul Barber's close-to-definitive 1988 book 'Vampires, Burial and Death', also published by Yale, so I was expecting something that might replace it nearly forty years later.

This is not to say that Groom's 'new history' does not add a lot of new material but it falls into two types - the factual which is very useful and the theoretical which is much less so. The theoretical involves far too much 'interpretation' sometimes based on academic over-thinking.

If I was ever to come across a vampire (which I admit is extremely unlikely) I would want Barber by my side although Groom might be very useful if I ever find myself with someone claiming to be one (which is quite likely given the strange circles I move in).

Let us deal with the positives. Groom is concerned not with the 'thing-in-itself' (the imagined vampire as presence) but with the idea or ideology of vampires and vampires - how the vampire was culturally created leading to the central text, the Testament, which is Bram Stoker's 'Dracula'.

The baseline history is, of course, well known - I recommend Christopher Frayling's collection of texts and commentary 'Vampyres' [the Second Edition of 1991] as sufficient guide - but Groom's deep research gives us much more detail on the cultural history and the meaning of 'vampire'.

The first half of the book is intelligent and even exciting as he traces how a confusion of folkloric beliefs get shaped into a cultural phenomenon in which the thing 'becomes' and has to be explained away against the elite beliefs and anxieties of the time.

Similarly, although there is some distressing overthinking going on by this point, the culmination of this process and its adoption by the romantic movement and as metaphor is made into the 'ultimate literary thing' which Stoker created for us in a masterwork of research and imagination - 'Dracula'.

Where it begins to slide is at that point where there is confusion between the metaphorical appropriation of the vampire (as cultural tool and weapon) and respect for the idea or the thing in itself. These two are very different phenomena and should not be confused.

The point of inflexion is the political use of vampirism in the revolutionary war against capitalism. Capitalism is another idea that has become a 'thing' and it has no more fundamental reality than does the vampire, a point that should have been made.

The malign depressive anti-capitalist influence of Mark Fisher and of continental philosophy seems to intrude at this point with a nod to other fashionable theories like eco-criticism and feminism. Fine but these tell us little about the vampire only about what the vampire should be and is not.

It is interesting how the metaphor has been used in history but this is supposed to be a history of the vampire and not of social or cultural warfare deploying the vampire. The exploration of the vampire as it was and is are what should matter. The theory should be critiqued, not accepted.

It is also somewhat hackneyed territory. Bit by bit Groom (admittedly showing some restraint) starts to take over-seriously the work of those whose profession is to find things that may not be there as Gothic Studies, eco-criticism, feminist studies or whatever.

To his credit he pushes aside over-excitable post-colonial theory about Dracula as the imperial 'other' and some similar recently fashionable ideas but always in passing and oddly without much argument. It is as if he feels obliged to make obeisance to the rest of the tribe and upset no one.

The historian of literature and ideas thus gets steadily displaced by the indirect ideological necessities of contemporary academia. The narrative starts to collapse because the use of the vampire for ulterior purposes is not separated clearly from attempts at understanding and explaining it as it is.

Of course, the boundary between the two is in the grey zone but it should be clear which side actually holds territory - is the vampire being used for a purpose or is the vampire to be understood in more existential terms, as a problem in itself, as it was in the eighteenth century?

As I read the book, I was gratified that for once an academic did not mention Brexit. I thought we might even get away without eco-criticism until the penultimate page introduced us to vampires posing questions of conservation and ecology ... er, really. I can see the nod to the students!

The book closes with a reference to the potato that was so risible (a nod to the anti-colonialists) that I swear that Groom must have been taking the piss. The vampire is, apparently, as political as the potato in the context of the Irish origins of one Bram Stoker. This is stretching it a bit to say the least.

The memetics of vampirism need to be carefully separated from the investigation of the thing, the phenomenon, whether believed to be real vampires, or vampirism as existential to a belief system or vampirism as expression of existential psychological turmoil or meaning.

When Karl Marx uses vampirism none of these apply - he does not believe they are real, vampires are not existential to scientific materialism and none of his writings use vampires to express something existentially important to the individual or society. It is just a trope.

At the other end of the scale, trying to pull current ideological concerns out of past beliefs or needs is almost insulting to those who lived in the past. It is like telling them we can know their minds better than they can. It is political and ideological and so not serious. Some humility is in order.

I have absolutely no problem with theory and interpretation but it needs flagging up and separating from 'history proper'. The boundaries between categories must be made more clear. Imposing the thought patterns of today uncritically on the past is always problematic.

At the end of the day, if you no longer believe in the possibility of the vampire, then the vampire can only be a tool or weapon for polemic use or an entertainment although, as entertainment, it sometimes still reaches into something existentially important that is still rarely discussed.

'Twilight' or 'Interview with a Vampire' remain far more interesting than academic theory about the vampire's meaning to conservation and ecology unless we are prepared to be as objectively critical about current ideological forms as we are about those of the eighteenth century.

We should not be taking (say) feminist, eco-critical, intersectional or colonial studies at face value as true any more than we take Jesuit, Calvinist or philosophe views of vampires at face value. They must be described objectively and not 'believed' in. Academic detachment is lacking about itself.

Above all, we should recognise that something was at stake for the eighteenth century in whether vampires did or did not exist. There is little at stake except careers in twentieth and twenty-first century explorations but then maybe careers class as existential.

To be fair, Groom more than once reaches a little deeper into psychological territory through his intelligent reading of literature (when he can shake off the ideologues) but it would have been good to have had more than that and less of the memetics and nods to contemporary theory.

The book stays in the library because the research on new facts (with voluminous foot notes), the appreciation of 'Dracula' and the analyses of what vampirism meant until it was no longer believed in and became fully metaphorical is well worth reading.

The disappointment is only in this shift from taking the vampire seriously as existential risk and as an artistic guide to sometimes inexpressible human anxieties towards its over-thought or cavalier brute use in struggles where modern ideology is almost certainly privileged over past lived life.

If there is a grumpiness in my review, it is because I am getting a tired of spending money on books where excellent and detailed research that informs has to be overlaid with interpretative theory where either the moods of the author or the politics of the academy show through.

[Lynsey Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh dear, oh dear oh dear. I am lucky enough to have been to a couple of Mr Grooms lectures in real life and he is amazing to listen to. Engaging, entertaining and an unrivaled wealth of knowledge when it comes to Vampires and the Gothic. However, the work in between these pages does not show this captivating personality at all, it just shows a self-indulgent, overly complicated dull treatise on the ‘Vampire’.

And I’ve put Vampire in bunny ears as I discovered towards the end of this book that my main gripe with it wasn’t that it was dull or far, far to unnecessarily complicated, it was that it’s not actually about the Vampire. Poor old Fangs McGee seems to have been tacked on as a vague common denominator in a book about the political/historical/philosophical/medical history of the world.

I have learnt more about 18th century politics and 19th century views on the sexuality of women than I ever cared to know, and all this, all this dear reader, is apparently where the Vampire stems from. Not the myths and legends of pretty much every civilisation on the planet, from time immemorial, no no, the Vampire is apparently a figure of the enlightenment.

Sigh.

Now I know my shit about Vampires, I know my shit about pretty much every aspect of their myth, so when I saw this book I thought ohhhh goody, a new version/take on the Vampire legend and by the wonderful Mr Groom… let me get involved. But my god I struggled, I struggled so bad. This book is so wordy and so complicated to read (I’m sure this is just my lack of intelligence, but I’m not that stupid I promise) that at points I gave up trying to understand what the writer was getting at.

Everything was tied up with politics of the social economic what not of anti-colonialism and the Marxist theory of socialism. And apparently the Vampire has something to do with all of this. Now I know that Capitalists sucking the blood of the poor 9-5 worker has always been termed ‘Vampiric’ but this was too much, and some of the points did have logic behind them, but the sheer magnitude and complexity of the contents was, to me, mind boggling.

The only redeeming feature was that this book finally explained how the similarities between saints and vampires and blood drinking, and the sacrament were to be interpreted and for that I thank it. Quite frankly I didn’t understand much else.

If you are a frigging doctor of Vampirism, or just really really clever then this book is for you. But if you are looking for something lighter about the myths and legends behind the blood suckers, I would avoid this like the plague.

Please enjoy my vampire/plague reference there. Thank you.

[reveurdart · Rating 4 out of 5]

"[V]ampires are not returning primordial demons from ancient days, but creatures of the Enlightenment: their history is rooted in the empirical approaches of the developing investigative sciences of the eighteenth century, in European politics and in the latest thinking. They are, in other words, very much of the modern world – or rather, the ways in which they were scrutinized were strikingly modern."

A brilliant rummage through the history of the vampire from, mostly, the point of view of the British Isles. I've previously read one of the authors' other key books, The Gothic: A Very Short Introduction, which was, also, a very helpful book for my research into 19th century history. I'd like to read more books on the vampire from different points of view in the future, considering that it is a worldwide phenomena, so the subject is much larger than many realizes; thankfully this author does, and he doesn't claim his book to be definitive. I don't think one book could even be considered complete in any sense of the word. The French side of the story is what is of most relevance to me right now, however, so that is in my reading queue for the near future. I actually recently read, alongside this one, a French catalogue on the subject: Vampires: cinéma, littérature, beaux-arts, séries. But that catalogue focuses on the vampire in the cinema from a more global perspective. I'm looking forward to reading more books about vampires in French history, essentially.


"The renowned actress Sarah Bernhardt posing in her coffin, where she preferred to learn her lines and where she regularly slept. This photograph from 1873 appeared in her autobiography, Memories of My Life (1907)."

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nick Groom's book is an excellent study of the vampire but not just it's pop-culture or AD ("After Dracula") impact on the world. Instead it roots out the true origins of the mythos in the Enlightenment era and considers how that mythos was shaped by - and indeed shaped itself the changing world.

From xenophobic fears about border incursions in Eastern Europe and beyond; through to the literary Romanticism of Byron and Shelley; through further to the medical and scientific considerations of the later 19th century this is a detailed and somewhat academic study of the vampire. The modern vampire aesthetic is considered but only fleetingly given it's impact on our current culture through film, television, literarture and music and that focus on a more academic consideration may be off putting to those looking for a lighter take.

But for anyone genuinely interested in the roots and lore behind the myth this is as good a read as any.

[Niall · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Vampire: A "Brief" History, would be a more apt title. Not quite enough to sink your teeth into, but definitely a good introduction to the history of the 'vampire.' Also, this would have benefitted from a glossary as Nick drops many names, terms and coinages ("suckosity," "vampirearchy" etc) into this without fully explaining what they mean or where they derived, expecting his reader to know. The ending, or 'Conclusion,' also felt quite rushed, and I wasn't sure if Nick was trying to argue or conclude a point or hint at something new, i.e. the future of the 'vampire,' because it failed to do both. Still, a good book to start any serious study of this fascinating and enduring figure.

[Jen Well-Steered · Rating 4 out of 5]

Turns out pretty much everything we now think about vampires: they don't show up in mirrors, they're afraid of garlic and crosses, fangs, is out of Dracula. Before that, they were much weirder and non-sexy beings, which I guess is why you hardly see them depicted that way in the media: much more fun to have an attractive, dangerous character corrupting the innocents.

[Only_ioana · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusione.

[Matthew Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the introduction the the 2021 edition of her vampire novel Certain Dark Things , Silvia Moreno-Garcia suggests that when the novel was originally released in 2016 the post-Twilight vampire boom had come to an end. The publisher that did pick it up went out of business almost immediately, leaving the book orphaned; but within five years, horror had recovered and vampires were marketable again. It struck me as strange, reading this introduction, that a trope could fall out then climb back into fashion again so quickly. Prof of Goth Nick Groom, however, would tell you that it didn't. Vampires, he argues in this history, never really fall out of popularity, even as non-fiction authors constantly sound their death-knell; Twilight, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even Anne Rice and Dracula didn't really revive them - they have always been around since their discovery, in popular culture and niche subcultures alike. There's probably a joke to be made there.

Nevertheless, Groom's main thesis is that the vampire is a modern phenomenon, emerging from the folklore of Eastern Europe in the seventeenth century but fundamentally dependent on the ideas of the Enlightenment. Vampires were investigated using the newly emerging scientific method, and they influenced and were influenced by emerging understanding of bodily functions. By the time John Polidori transformed the vampire into an aristocrat with a voracious appetite for evil, they had suffused contemporary thinking in philosophy, theology, politics, and more. Groom brings together a truly staggering amount of evidence to show the context and development of ideas about and around vampires.

That being said, I found that the number of different topics and their organization led me fairly regularly to be pretty confused about the point Groom was making at any given moment. As an example, Chapter 7 discusses ideas in the nineteenth century that directly lead into the discussion of Dracula in the next chapter, ranging from the medicalization of female sexuality to Marxist philosophy to the cholera epidemics. Thematically, these do not seem strongly linked except chronologically; but then at the end of the Marxism section we leap forward to Slavoj Žižek and the twenty-to-twenty-first century Marxist vampire. I found this slightly undermined his argument that the vampire is not timeless.

Nevertheless, my overall impression of this book is that it is a fascinating assemblage of a truly impressive amount of information that emphasizes how complex seemingly simple phenomena like vampires actually are. The book culminates with a discussion of Dracula, Bram Stoker's admin-heavy novel of voracious capitalism that people have somehow managed to interpret as being about sex (do you know how vindicated I felt reading Groom talk about the accounting, train tables, and other admin in this novel as much as he talks about Lucy's sexuality? Extremely vindicated). So much of what Groom has set up makes sense in the context of his discussion of this novel. I would, however, be extremely interested in a sequel that elaborates on the discussions of the twentieth-to-twenty-first century vampires in the conclusion. If you're interested in the history of the vampire, then I warn that this is often a complex read, but one that is extremely interesting.

[Mélinée · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Vampire: a new history is a fascinating tale of the history of the 18th and 19th centuries through the prism of the evolution around the conception of the vampire. As a fan of vampire stories, I have wanted to read a book like this one for a long time. Nick Groom presents a fascinating interpretation of some of the most famous vampiric figures of literature while introducing the fascinating subjects of Eastern folklore and theology. While he describes the roots of the vampire, he also studies the impact of vampires on scientific progress, especially around blood, which was fascinating. The most interesting part of this book was the study of the vampire through gender role and consumerism. I feel that the ideas suggested by vampires in Gothic literature are always complex and fun to decipher and this book does it in an amazing way. The only thing that I did not like about the book was that the author sometimes finds arguments that feel a little bit too much and lost himself in some of his examples.

[isobel]

this book was really neat! and i feel like i learned a lot and made some new connections irt vampiric themes and the evolution of science philosophy and medicine !! a valuable research tool, to be sure. mr. groom (what a killer name for a vampire historian. god) has some really eloquent phrasing and has clearly done really meticulous research. he paints a really vibrant portrait.

one major critique (perhaps shaded by some serious personal bias): where are the gay people nicholas

i just don't understand how a book about vampire fiction can just ... lump "sexual anxiety" (a CORE theme to every vampire text i've ever read) into one big overarching idea, and then not ever really dig into it. i would have loved for fifty less pages on slavic epidemiology and catholic corpse theory if the clear and pressing theme of sexual panic could have been addressed in a more ..... direct ... manner

ahem dracula gay ahem