It's under everyone's eyes that we are facing a Vampire invasion lately,especially after the fortunate Stephenie Meyer's saga. But sometimes I wonder (ehm...yes, I also wonder about stupid things!):didn't people know that those creatures are practically as old as biblical times???I mean,you don't have to dig much into anthropology or folklore to know that these blood suckers (or life/soul/energy suckers,as they were in the beginning)played an important part in mankind's folklore & superstitions. Starting from Eastern Europe,where these legends were widespread pretty much anywhere,we can find similar creatures in Greece,Scandinavia,Arab countries,China,Mexico,Australia...you name it. They had different names & characteristics,of course,but they were what we would call a vampire now:undead corporeal being who was alive once and who can still haunt people in search of their energy,whether it comes from blood (a most recent trait the vampire got) or from the soul.In fact the first vampires known in legends & myths didn't have bleached white fangs...because they didn't need them!!!
Anyway,if the theme interests you,you can find folklore/anthropology books pretty much anywhere,so I won't spoil you the fun of discovering new things about those fascinating creatures that cover,like nobody else,most of our world's dark aspects and taboo:fear,passion,sensuality,death,lust,pleasure,desire,immortality...
Anyway in the picture there are 3 of the books I really enjoyed reading lately.
*The one on top is a sort of Mammoth book of the Vampire stories,as you can easily guess from the Italian,lol! It's like 1,000 pages for around 80 stories,starting from the very first short novel known,The Vampire by John William Polidori (published in 1819 and whose creation is fantastically connected with the creation of Mary Shelley's Frankesnstein) up to early 1900s stories and passing through authors like A. Conan Doyle,Bram Stoker with his Dracula's Guest (believed to be the first,deleted chapter of his later,more famous book we all know:Dracula),Gogol',Maupassant,and lots more.Including the beautiful,intense Carmilla (1872) by Le Fanu,where we first find the most female vampire! To cut it short:a whole century of blood suckers! It also includes a looong list of vampire (or vampirish) movies from all over the world.Amazing!
*On the left: an accurate biography about the real,historical figure behind Dracula:the Wallachian voivode (a slavic,military title spelled in a dozen of ways) Vlad III Tepes,lived in the XV century.
I finally found a good,well written book about the historical figure known as Dracula.The author (a Romanian scholar specialized in the ancient history of his country and the Balkans area and also a professor at University in Paris) couldn't avoid to mention the mythical figure this prince turned to in books,movies,comics and media of all kinds.But he dedicates this aspect a short chapter,just to mention it.
*On the right: a very vintage book,LOL! My mother's copy of Dracula.She bought that book in the 60s and it's still a relic for me. And yes,that is the copy of the book we only have at home.
Definitely a classic.Highly reccomended.
