Vampirism: Literary Tropes of Decadence and Entropy

ISBN-13: 9780820449364 / Angielski / Twarda / 2000 / 155 str.

Alvarez-Detrell, Tamara

Opis

This study of the vampire in literature from the early nineteenth century to the present analyzes its metaphorical characteristics. The vampire is the perfect figure of disorder and entropy, and its dominance as a literary figure/monster, an instigator of chaos of all kinds, makes it worthy of study for readers interested in an emerging theory of literary disorder as well as horror literature. Entropy, the most intriguing root metaphor of our time, and the vampire, figure of decadence, degeneration, and perverse physics, illuminate each other as Michael J. Dennison examines such famous works as Dracula and The Fall of the House of Usher, as well as works that have unjustly fallen into near obscurity.

Recenzje

"This is the best work I have ever encountered on vampirism in literature, thoroughly learned, original, and superbly well written. It works as a general introduction to the subject, but it also goes beyond earlier studies in important ways. A mandatory addition to any collection on nineteenth-century literature." (Jefferson Humphries, LSU Foundation Professor of French, English, and Comparative Literature, The Louisiana State University)

O autorze

The Author: Michael J. Dennison is a poet, a playwright, and a scholar of comparative literature. His specific area of interest is literature of the occult and the supernatural. As a literary theorist, he is a proponent of the new entropy criticism emerging from Germany and Holland. Dr. Dennison lectures in English and philosophy at Carlow College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.