Vampire Lore: From the Writings of Jan Louis Perkowski

by Jan Louis Perkowski

Perkowski (Slavic languages and literatures, U. of Virginia) found that Slavic folk belief in vampires came to the New World with Kashubian emigrés to Ontario, Canada. The anthology contains this bicultural Slav's collected oral histories and writings on this Slavic mythology since the 1970s, e.g., The A Treatise on Slavic Vampirism (1989), and translations of others' works on this tradition. The book concludes with charted analyses of Bram Stoker's Dracula and the linguistic conflation of assorted demons. Illustrations include an East European map of traditional religions, and b&w photographs of churches and cemeteries. Some references are not translated into English. The book lacks an index. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Genres: Vampires, Nonfiction

618 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Madly Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I read this book at least three times, and a fourth on my notes. It's a wonderful book on vampires if you want to read about them from a folklore perspective, it's probably the best book on vampires I've read and I would love to read it again!!!!

Perkowski has organized his material in such a way that it's easy to connect dots between certain superstitions and how medieval and early moderns viewed vampires. Also, he goes to great trouble to explain how myths developed without being too judgmental.

I really enjoyed this book and took a great deal of time with it. It was like taking his class. I wish I could hear his lectures.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED TO FOLKLORISTS.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched and a nice selection of articles; however it seemed not very well edited, with repeated sections and some mistakes in grammar (especially quotes or commas missing).