The 1924 adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula for the stage, written by Irish play wright and actor Hamilton Dean. This was the first authorized adaptation of Stoker's novel. It was revised in 1927 by John Balderston and the original production after touring in England was performed at the Little Theatre in July of that same year. By October of 1927, Balderston had revised yet again and made it's way to Broadway's Fulton Theatre. The story was slightly different in the play, focusing on Van Helsing's investigation of Lucy Seward's illness and with the help her her father and her fiancé after she becomes the victim of the titular Count Dracula. This play also set the basis for the 1931 film and was revived and well received on Broadway in 1977. The thing that I think really sets the tone is that we don't see Dracula's first attack, we only see it as Mina is found to have two tiny marks on her neck, which becomes in media the calling card for a vampire bite, and is the first of many...
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Students in English 335: Literary Eras: The Victorian Vampyre. We are making some critical editions and will build a Victorian Vampyre Timeline.
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Uriah Derick D’Arcy’s The Black Vampyre: A Legend of St. Domingo, published in 1819, caused a bit of a stir. To start with, no one is certain who wrote the story, as Uriah Derick D’Arcy is merely a pseudonym used by the author. While there are two likely candidates for D’Arcy’s real identity, it will likely never be known for certain. This story is relevant because it is the first to include a Black vampire. More than that, it is a fictional recollection of the Haitian Revolution, and a powerful piece of anti-slavery literature. While it wasn’t as popular as other pieces of vampire literature of its time, it is known and celebrated to this day.
D’Arcy’s use of a pseudonym was likely for his or her own protection. The Haitian Revolution had only concluded fifteen years prior to his story’s publication. As...
moreUriah Derick D’Arcy’s The Black Vampyre: A Legend of St. Domingo, published in 1819, caused a bit of a stir. To start with, no one is certain who wrote the story, as Uriah Derick D’Arcy is merely a pseudonym used by the author. While there are two likely candidates for D’Arcy’s real identity, it will likely never be known for certain. This story is relevant because it is the first to include a Black vampire. More than that, it is a fictional recollection of the Haitian Revolution, and a powerful piece of anti-slavery literature. While it wasn’t as popular as other pieces of vampire literature of its time, it is known and celebrated to this day.
D’Arcy’s use of a pseudonym was likely for his or her own protection. The Haitian Revolution had only concluded fifteen years prior to his story’s publication. As...
moreLettres Juives ou correspondance philosophique, historique, et critique or in English, The Jewish Letters; or Philosophical, Historical and Critical correspondence Between a Jew Traveler in Paris and His Correspondents in Various Places by Jean-Baptiste de Boyer. Jean-Baptiste de Boyer also went under the pseudonym “The Jewish Spy.”
The Jewish Letters consist of around two hundred letters between (fictional) Jewish travelers and Rabbis, most of the letters in this are sent by Aaron Monceca to Isaac Onis. This book was “most likely believed to contain true accounts” by the public about Augustin Calmet. (a French Benedictine monk and part of the Holy Roman Empire) They were critical of his investigation into magic and vampirism. Calmet analyzed the Jewish letters, and in the one hundred and thirty-first letter he found that it recorded vampireism and the judicial process in the vanquishing of the vampire....
moreVarney the Vampire, written by James Malcolm Rymer, was a serialized gothic horror story in weekly pamphlets better known as “penny dreadfuls” from 1845 to 1847. Once the original run was completed all of the Varney the Vampire chapters were compiled into a book in 1847. The story of Varney the Vampire can be split into two halves, the first being Varney terrorizing the family of the Bannerworths, and the second being Varney trying to get married but being foiled by Admiral Bell and Jack Pringle. Most of the plot beats in Varney have become major staples in future vampire literature. This is because Bram Stroker’s Dracula took major influence from both the story and the character of Varney.
Both Varney and Dracula are very similar. Both have weaknesses in garlic, crucifixes, and wooden stakes, and both feed entirely on blood. Also, both vampires have supernatural powers and prey on young women. Not only are the main vampires similar but also some plot beats. For instance,...
Thalaba the Destroyer is a poem created in the early 19th century by Robert Southey. In the most simplest of summaries and the best way I can describe it, Thalaba is the story about a young boy who is prophesied to destroy the world. A group of wizards/mages make it their mission to find Thalaba and his family to kill him. Thalaba is able to escape, and he makes it his mission to kill this group. He manages to kill the leader of the group once he’s older, and he can acquire a very powerful ring from this leader. This ring is what is said to be extremely powerful and brings everlasting life to the bearer. But since for reasons, and for reasons weirdly told, Thalaba has gone against the wishes of Allah and is cursed to be a monster (or at least from what I’ve come to understand). It is then described throughout the story that Thalaba falls into a deep sleep for many many years, and eventually falls in love with a mortal girl who also falls in love with...
moreA timeline of the development of the vampyre or vampire in British and American literature, 1800-1900.
Individual Entries
Uriah Derick D’Arcy’s The Black Vampyre: A Legend of St. Domingo, published in 1819, caused a bit of a stir. To start with, no one is certain who wrote the story, as Uriah Derick D’Arcy is merely a pseudonym used by the author. While there are two likely candidates for D’Arcy’s real identity, it will likely never be known for certain. This story is relevant because it is the first to include a Black vampire. More than that, it is a fictional recollection of the Haitian Revolution, and a powerful piece of anti-slavery literature. While it wasn’t as popular as other pieces of vampire literature of its time, it is known and celebrated to this day.
D’Arcy’s use of a pseudonym was likely for his or her own protection. The Haitian Revolution had only concluded fifteen years prior to his story’s publication. As...
moreUriah Derick D’Arcy’s The Black Vampyre: A Legend of St. Domingo, published in 1819, caused a bit of a stir. To start with, no one is certain who wrote the story, as Uriah Derick D’Arcy is merely a pseudonym used by the author. While there are two likely candidates for D’Arcy’s real identity, it will likely never be known for certain. This story is relevant because it is the first to include a Black vampire. More than that, it is a fictional recollection of the Haitian Revolution, and a powerful piece of anti-slavery literature. While it wasn’t as popular as other pieces of vampire literature of its time, it is known and celebrated to this day.
D’Arcy’s use of a pseudonym was likely for his or her own protection. The Haitian Revolution had only concluded fifteen years prior to his story’s publication. As...
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