Just an interesting look at vampires. From being a twilight fangirl, to wanting to read some of the more classic vampire novels, this book was a nice introduction.

A great premise but the structure to it was a bit of a mess sadly. It needed more coherency and direction. I didnt find the need to heavily criticise certain media useful as this was a history not a personal essay collection

Book Review

Title: A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture: Love at First Bite by Violet Fenn

Genre: Non-Fiction, Popular Culture, Analysis

Rating: 5 Stars

I initially requested this from NetGalley or Edelweiss, possibly both, because as I reader all my life I have quite frequently succumbed to the allure of vampires in literature, in their varying forms. Thinking on this, knowing that vampires at their core are monsters who feed off others, I wondered why we are draw to creatures like vampires and werewolves and not others. What is unique about these creatures that we have developed and further a fascination with them that began centuries ago and these are just some of the questions that Violet Fenn sets out to answer within the book. However, Fenn makes it clear that this isn’t an encyclopaedia but an in-depth analysis on a fascination that has lasted centuries and seen a resurgence in the last 200 or so years.

The opening chapters looks at the historical fascination with vampires and what people believed to have been a vampire before the era of technology and medical advancements that we have now. Obviously, we know that historically things people didn’t understand because of a lack of knowledge or education were treated as demonic or something similar because during these time religious was the ruling force that people lived by. Fenn shows example of the vampire in fiction but differing in looks and personality starting with Byron, how they inspire Mary Shelley and right up to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. A lot of the works she references will be know to a semi well-read reader but the significance behind them might not be and this was intriguing but I can’t wait to get to more recent trends like Twilight and see what Fenn makes of those.

Fenn then takes a left turn from literature to look at vampires wards throughout time, starting with garlic. Now, I didn’t know this is a fairly modern warn against vampires because as we understood more about the human body we connected the fact that certain things that were said to deter vampires like sulphur are found in high concentration in foods like garlic and could therefore ward off a vampiric prescence. However, things like holy water and the sign of the cross are seen to affect vampires because when vampires came to public knowledge people were widely ruled by the church. This gave rise to the idea that since vampires go against God, signs of God and faith would deter the vampire although in modern interpretation of Dracula it is widely assumed that vampires take on the fears of those they consume so those that were religious if a vampire fed from them then they would fear those symbols. In modern takes on vampires these have all but been written out because religion no longer plays a huge role in our lives as it did in the past. Fenn also looks at sunlight and actually speculates that vampires develop an actual medical condition which causes their skin to blister and burn in the sunlight which is why the come out at night but she hasn’t looked at the coffin myth, transformations or other things like that yet.

Fenn then takes another left turn delving into the psychology of the vampire with a focus on sexuality and loneliness as well as the battle for power. We can see that after those early years, vampire became highly sexualised with the rise of Dracula and she even reference both Twilight and Fifty Shades of Grey here (that’s Twilight fanfiction if you didn’t know). She talks how sex, fear and power are so intertwined in some aspects that they being to overlap and entwine making it impossible to separate them from the source. However, one aspect of this that I found interesting was her discussion of the loneliness of Dracula, in most versions of the tale, the Count is seeking a companion, the version I know is Mina. He seeks to reclaim his lost love and give her eternity but in the end he can’t bring himself to do that to the woman he loves, thus giving her the power to truly kill him. In the 2020 adaptation, it goes one step further as certain characters are seen to be almost reincarnations of others or that the echoes of their other lives is in their blood and as the current body weakens and dies those older selves come to the surface. In both version, Dracula isn’t alone at the end which was the one thing he has been seeking for the entirety of the story, companionship.

The following segments on vampire morality were ones that I really enjoyed since Fenn references several different pop culture vampires. Obviously, she looks at Dracula himself whose actions are out of loneliness but she goes one step further looking at Lestat from the Vampire Chronicles who is more brutal and finds a sense of freedom in being a vampire having broken out of the mortal chains. The vampires were spend the most time with though during this section are the Cullens from Twilight. While they are vampires, they are still bound to mortal morality leading them to adopt a completely different lifestyle to other vampires and are often looked down upon for this very reason. However, they don’t see themselves are superior since they don’t try and convert others to their lifestyle or force it upon them as we can see in Breaking Dawn when many of their allies are human drinkers and are allowed to continue with this lifestyle with some obvious restrictions for hunting locations. The look at morality was interesting for me since vampires are often portrayed as being less than human aka monsters or they seem to see themselves as above humans aka Gods when neither are the case.

I really liked how Fenn looked at vampires through several different lens and through different mediums as well. She first looks at how vampires can be portrayed as monsters like in Let The Right One In but to the characters involved they aren’t monsters but saviours and that was really interesting. Fenn also looks at how vampires are portrayed in different genres from comedy with the Addams Family to children’s in Sesame Street to more fantasy and romantic in Sookie Stackhouse and Discworld. It is clear that vampires have been portrayed in different ways in different mediums based on the idea of what a vampire is from the people creating the thirst vampires. Fenn also makes sure that we understand that all of these are vampires but not in the traditional sense but it makes you question what does and doesn’t make a vampire especially when in some series like Discworld the vampire don’t even drink blood.

Fenn then dives even deeper into vampire lore as she looks at both the seduction nature and the reality of being immortal. From the view point of a mortal the prospect of immortality is alluring and seductive in some many levels and yet the reality we witness in media like Dracula, Being Human and Twilight shows us it is anything but that and yet we are still drawn to it without knowing why. From the perspective of an immortal, it does grant them certain perks like being able to acquire vast amounts of wealth and learn many skills but become tedious over time and installs a sense of fear in them. This fear of death is present in mortals too but to a lesser degree since we are aware of our mortality and the dichotomy was interesting to see.

Coming to the end of the book, Fenn takes us outside the realm of the vampire to look at goth culture and how that was influenced by the vampire myth and how that culture influenced vampires right back. The ending of speaking to different people about the culture and subcultures involving vampires was really interesting and added a hard human element to the book especially with Stoker’s relatives. Overall, I found A History of the Vampire in Pop Culture to be a great book packed with interesting information pulled from various media and sources. If you ever went through a vampire phase, are still in your vampire phase or just enjoy vampires then definitely check this book out.

This books was very interesting and was full of interesting information. I really enjoyed it, but I do wish it was a bit more engaging. At times it felt a bit dry and like a textbook. Overall, though it was a book that every vampire lover could enjoy.

As a thank you to Netgalley and the publisher ( Pen and Sword) I write this review of Violet Fenn’s “A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture.” As a work of non-fiction Fenn held my attention examining the various examples throughout history the Vampire has been or become part of. The novel gave insight into literatures earliest Vampires, superstitions of the creature were explored as well as the Vampire in todays motion pictures and television. Advantages to reading this was the in-depths attention to detail and care that Fenn has on the subject. However a disadvantage was the novels inability to form structure in terms of what was presented and explores following each other. Out of five stars I gave the novel 3.5 stars. On goodreads I gave it a 3 star rating. I recommend this book to those interested in exploring the history of the Vampire.

This book was enjoyable, but it definitely reads like a textbook. I found that I often had trouble picking it up to get through it. However, if you like vampires and are looking for a place to start, I'd say this is a decent book to get your feet wet.

This book was a discussion of the vampire in popular culture, with a heavy leaning towards TV and movies with particularly in-depth discussion on the 2020 BBC TV series as well as how everything all stems back to Bram Stoker's book Dracula.

There was a lot of well-covered history of the vampire and a few snippets of things that I hadn't heard of which was great.

One thing I thought was odd, and came across as filler was random interviews with members of the goth community with no clear reason why the author thinks goths and vampires are really connected. A better use of the word count would have been interviewing members of 'vampire' communities - those who are lifestyle vampires and 'real' vampires. as being more relevant to the subject matter.

On the whole though this was a good read and an interesting addition to the collection of vampire books out there.

Luego de leer el primer libro de la autora, este me pareció de lectura obligatoria principalmente por el tema. El inicio es bastante sólido y nos explica los orígenes de la figura del vampiro, testimonios reales y casos extraordinarios que parecen sacados de las novelas góticas de antaño, pero que fueron parte de las noticias en algún momento.
Reseña completa (16 de mayo): https://tintanocturna.blogspot.com/2022/05/resena-review-history-of-vampire-in.html

After reading the author's first book, I found this one to be required reading mainly because of its subject matter. The beginning is quite solid and explains the origins of the figure of the vampire, real testimonies and extraordinary cases that seem to be taken from the gothic novels of yesteryear, but that were part of the news at some point.
Full review (May 16): https://tintanocturna.blogspot.com/2022/05/resena-review-history-of-vampire-in.html

As the author prefaces the text: "This book is intended as an overview of how vampires are portrayed in popular culture, rather than a chronology or encyclopaedia, and as such jumps back and forth across its subjects with gleeful abandon. I have cherry-picked examples which best illustrate various discussions and for that reason, many worthy examples of vampiric stories and characters are missing, presumed undead. Those mentioned here are mostly my personal favourites – you will no doubt have your own, probably different ones." That pretty much sums it all up--the discussion moves back and forth at times, and the examples are not exhaustive, but it is an interesting discussion of the relatively modern phenomenon of vampire characters in cultural works.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

I was lucky enough to get an ARC of this wee gem. Although it was different from my expectations I still enjoyed reading it.

Certainly full of interesting information and not something I had come across before! Unfortunately I didn't find it was for me - perhaps the pacing or the density of information, I found my reading of this was stop-start.

That's not to say this won't be for others though, I can think of several friends who would really enjoy it so do give this a read if the subject matter interests you!

A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture sure sounds like a book right at my alley. Violet Fenn presents a brief chronology of some appereances of vampires through media. This is the basic premise of this book and its goal is reached but the pacing is rather slow. I liked the first part where the author makes sure to gather information about the origin of the vampire, the folklore and the 'rules' of these creatures. Then comes the different chapters presenting the appearances in pop culture: now the one problem I have with this structure is that it felt repetitive sometimes. The same statements over and over (for example how the twilight series are not the cup of tea of the author), information that already is written not so many chapters ago... so this prevented me from totally enjoying this reading. Otherwise, a good book that summarizes the different representations of vampires in popular culture. I liked the idea of interviews at the end but the content of these were lacking to be honest.

I belive many readers will relate with Fenn and her passion for the subject of her book, and it's clear that Fenn did gather different sources, that are listed at the end. And for those who don't know much about the subject, 'A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture" might be your opening door to the exciting world of vampires.

This book does precisely what it sets out to do, which is to... chronicle the appearance of vampires in popular culture. It starts with a chapter on the historical origins of vampires and then spends several chapters listing and discussing vampires in literature, poetry, movies, music, and TV shows, starting with Polidori and going all the way up through the BBC's 2020 version of Dracula. The final chapter contains interviews with several people from varying backgrounds related to the Goth scene.

Is this a scientific book? No. Is it an actual historical essay? No. But it IS a fun little romp through many well known versions of the vampire in pop culture. There are some philosophical and psychological musings on the popularity of vampires in relation to death, sex, gender bias, and social issues. In the back is a timeline of vampire appearances in various mediums and a selection of photographs relating to topics covered in the book.

This book was fun in the way that a book that celebrates something you love usually is and y'all...that cover is to die for.

If you are interested in vampires and how the concept came about and the role they have in society, read this! It's very in depth and informative.

I personally found it very dense with information. The first few sections were great, but vampire history is huge. Finishing it was not for me, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy what I did read.

Thank you Netgalley for my ebook copy.

A delightful timeline of the vampire in popular culture, featuring many of my personal favourites. How could I say no?

It’s not comprehensive, but it is incredibly interesting and I have several more things to add to my TBR & to be watched!

My one editorial note is that a character from The Lost Boys is frequently referred to as Sky when her name is Star! Apart from that, I had a fantastic time reading and can’t wait to add the physical book to my horror shelf.

A copy of this book was provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

My rating: 4 / 5

Highlights:
I love a deep dive into folklore
Looks at everything from Carmilla to Twilight.
Why are vampires so sexy? I mean on paper they shouldn’t be. And I bet very few people wanted to bang Nosferatu.
I mean, I say that - the world is a weird place.
Vampires are so cool

Humans have, for almost all their existence, taken refuge in folk tales. Winding fear into superstition gives us a semblance of control, no matter how elusive that control might actually be. There is little more terrifying than impotence in the face of disaster – better to create a target upon which to vent one’s anger and to use as a focus for the un-channelled fear.

One of my university modules was called ‘Gothic to Goth’. It was among the highlights of my rollercoaster of a university experience and of course we couldn’t do the gothic without paying a visit to a certain Count. Despite being in places quite outdated in terms of its treatment of women , mental health and anyone not from England, it is by and large a bloody good book.

Pun absolutely intended and I refuse to be sorry.

Fenn takes the discussion back even further, to the origins of ‘vampiric’ folklore (though it may not necessarily use that term) throughout history, from Lamia and Lillith to Mercy Brown. The undead are not a new invention - centuries of misunderstood diseases, accidental live burials in the age of early anesthesia (and isn’t that horrifying?) and simply attempting to explain away the fear caused by the shadows of the night have left humanity with a rich and complex set of stories of monsters seeking to drain us of life and make us something ‘other’. Often these stories are, rightfully, terrifying - nobody wants to be murdered in the dead of night by a terrifying beast with an uncannily human face after all. But sometimes; a lot of the time actually as it turns out, there’s something erotic to be found in these stories. Following our basest urges without fear of social repercussions, the allure of eternal life, the often sexual implications of fangs piercing our bodies...people have been perverts since the beginning of time, is it really any surprise we’ve sexed up the boogeyman?

What I really enjoyed is her emphasis on how these stories are, as we know them, relatively recent and almost entirely shaped by the media we consume. Whether it’s Varney the Vampire or Edward Cullen, once vampires entered the world of print, and later screen, they seldom left it for long. Fenn also takes a deep dive into the treatment of women in these narratives, like Lucy Westenra - “a ‘modern’ woman who ends up paying for her sexual freeness with her life”, and Twilight’s Isabella Swan, subject to emotional and in one instance sexual abuse as well as physical harm by a parade of sexy supernatural teenagers attempting to lay claim to her heart, virginity and potentially eternal soul. Of course, with so much to cover there’s often only a glancing discussion of one movie or another, more an overview of vampiric media than a microhistory in some regards, but I do feel this can be forgiven given how much there is out there.

My main complaint about this book, and what cost it a star in the end, was that it seemed to bounce about theme wise, finishing with a section talking to various goths (The Musician, The Aesthete, The Promoter etc) which felt like an odd way to finish it off. Despite this, however, I found it a remarkably easy book to read. A more recent convert to reading non-fiction, I can often find them difficult to start off and sometimes slow going as I absorb the information, but Fenn’s tone and clear interest in the subject matter made reading this enjoyable and easy to pick up after putting it down (a lot of my physical reading is done over lunch breaks or in the evening after work, so can involve a lot of putting down and picking up).

Honestly I really enjoyed this book, it reminded me of the best modules of my university days and reminded me of how much I love vampire media. It is an excellent ‘beginners’ book to the history of the vampire, great for inspiring a deeper dive into one or more of the movies, books and folk tales mentioned within. More experienced readers in the topic will be unlikely to find anything particularly new here, but it is good fun!

This book went into so much depth and I really enjoyed that! It was informative but not boring and overall, a very entertaining read!!! Loved it and definitely recommend!

Vampires have been central to so much of recent popular culture that it seems that they have always been with us. But in fact a lot of modern vamp lore is exactly that, modern! In A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture Fenn takes a closer look at this lore and its various guises. Thanks to Pen & Sword History and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What I liked about A History from the start is that Fenn centres herself as a fan, as someone who has adored vampires and their lore for a long time. She approaches this as a fan and not an expert, per se, which means it is very clear that part of what she discusses is down to her personal preference. This isn't an academic compendium that covers everything vampire and popular culture. Rather, Fenn has selected specific representations she enjoys and wants to discuss. It makes for a joyful read, which at times feels like a friend chatting with you about their favourite obsession. This does mean there is a lot of jumping around and repetition. The chapters are centred around themes/ideas, rather than adaptations, which means A History sometimes feels in need of a more solid structure.

A History begins with a discussion of the origin of vampires and how it made its way into Western culture. From there Polidori and Bram Stoker are our next big names. Once the stage is set, Fenn gleefully moves around in popular culture representations. We get Byron's The Giaour but we also get the glorious, the amazing What We Do in the Shadows. Of course Twilight has to be discussed, if you're going to question why we are all so obsessed with vampires. Finally she arrives at a set of conclusions about this fascinating. Vampires , by their very nature, are not victim to change, they remain permanent and therefor remain with us. But key is that while they remain human-shaped, they shed the norms and rules that we control ourselves through and give in to baser desires. Vampires in books and films allow us to do the same, specifically when it comes to female vampires. I found Fenn's conclusions and insights absolutely fascianting and A History is a great example of how much analyses of popular culture can tell us about ourselves. What we admire or what we seek for in our entertainment often reveals our deepest secrets.

A History of the Vampire in Popular Culture is a fascinating and enthusiastic deep-dive into vampire lore in popular culture which will hold revelations even for those already deep into the lore.

An interesting and informative book. I learned something new and found it entertaining and well written.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I have always enjoyed learning and always will. It can be the most trivial thing but I don’t care. If it’s information my brain wants to suck (pun intended) it all up. This is really a general history of vampires and not only in popular culture and much of this I didn’t know. I really really enjoyed that. You can certainly ascertain the author put in the work to deliver a book full of data and references and anecdotes. Sometimes though, for me, it read like a dissertation and it sucked the life (again, pun intended) out of the reading experience. The author utilizes a back-and-forth writing method when referencing the copious amounts of vampire-centric media (books, film, oral retellings, writings, and tv shows), and I found the time-line at the end of the book to be extremely helpful to review. This book will not disappoint if this is what interests you.

Thank you for this opportunity!