Manchester University Press
9 Vampire suicide
Abstract
Among the more counterintuitive tropes of the vampire genre is the propensity of vampires to attempt suicide (often successfully). This chapter focuses on three motivations for vampire suicide – vampire guilt, vampire martyrdom and vampire ennui. In relation to guilt, this chapter will discuss Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series, James Malcolm Rymer’s novel Varney the Vampire; or, The Feast of Blood and Park Chan-wook’s 2009 film Thirst. Vampire martyrdom will be discussed in relation to David Slade’s 2007 American horror movie 30 Days of Night, based on Steve Niles’s 2002 graphic novel, and Darla in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off, Angel . As for vampire ennui, the characters of Godric (Allan Hyde) in HBO's True Blood and Adam (Tom Hiddleston) in Jim Jarmusch's 2013 Only Lovers Left Alive will provide examples. After noting the motivations for vampire suicide in Gothic narrative, the emphasis of the chapter will be on the ways in which vampire suicidal tendencies constitute a half-hearted attempt to recuperate the vampire genre from charges of immorality through a strategy of inversion.
Abstract
Among the more counterintuitive tropes of the vampire genre is the propensity of vampires to attempt suicide (often successfully). This chapter focuses on three motivations for vampire suicide – vampire guilt, vampire martyrdom and vampire ennui. In relation to guilt, this chapter will discuss Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series, James Malcolm Rymer’s novel Varney the Vampire; or, The Feast of Blood and Park Chan-wook’s 2009 film Thirst. Vampire martyrdom will be discussed in relation to David Slade’s 2007 American horror movie 30 Days of Night, based on Steve Niles’s 2002 graphic novel, and Darla in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off, Angel . As for vampire ennui, the characters of Godric (Allan Hyde) in HBO's True Blood and Adam (Tom Hiddleston) in Jim Jarmusch's 2013 Only Lovers Left Alive will provide examples. After noting the motivations for vampire suicide in Gothic narrative, the emphasis of the chapter will be on the ways in which vampire suicidal tendencies constitute a half-hearted attempt to recuperate the vampire genre from charges of immorality through a strategy of inversion.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of illustrations ix
- Notes on contributors xi
- Series editor’s preface xiv
- Acknowledgements xvi
- Introduction 1
- 1 Scottish revenants 18
- 2 Male and female Werthers 36
- 3 ‘The supposed incipiency of mental disease’ 52
- 4 ‘The body of a self-destroyer’ 66
- 5 ‘To be mistress of her own fate’ 81
- 6 Suicide as justice? 96
- 7 Gothic influences 110
- 8 Better not to have been 124
- 9 Vampire suicide 139
- 10 Under the dying sun 160
- 11 ‘I will abandon this body and take to the air’ 176
- Index 189
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of illustrations ix
- Notes on contributors xi
- Series editor’s preface xiv
- Acknowledgements xvi
- Introduction 1
- 1 Scottish revenants 18
- 2 Male and female Werthers 36
- 3 ‘The supposed incipiency of mental disease’ 52
- 4 ‘The body of a self-destroyer’ 66
- 5 ‘To be mistress of her own fate’ 81
- 6 Suicide as justice? 96
- 7 Gothic influences 110
- 8 Better not to have been 124
- 9 Vampire suicide 139
- 10 Under the dying sun 160
- 11 ‘I will abandon this body and take to the air’ 176
- Index 189
