The Vampire: A Casebook - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0299159248 ISBN 13: 9780299159245

Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press, 1998

Synopsis

    Vampires are the most fearsome and fascinating of all creatures of folklore. For the first time, detailed accounts of the vampire and how its tradition developed in different cultures are gathered in one volume by eminent folklorist Alan Dundes. Eleven leading scholars from the fields of Slavic studies, history, anthropology, and psychiatry unearth the true nature of the vampire from its birth in graveyard lore to the modern-day psychiatric patient with a penchant for drinking blood.
    The Vampire: A Casebook takes this legend out of the realm of literature and film and back to its dark beginnings in folk traditions. The essays examine the history of the word "vampire;" Romanian vampires; Greek vampires; Serbian vampires; the physical attributes of vampires; the killing of vampires; and the possible psychoanalytic underpinnings of vampires. Much more than simply a scary creature of the human imagination, the vampire has been and continues to haunt the lives of all those who encounter it-in reality or in fiction.

About this title

About the Author

Alan Dundes was professor of anthropology and folklore at the University of California, Berkeley. His books on folklore are numerous, including ten he has published with the University of Wisconsin Press.

From the Back Cover

INALLY, THE TRUTH ABOUT VAMPIRES

Vampires are the most fearsome and fascinating of all creatures of folklore. For the first time, detailed accounts of the vampire and how its tradition developed in different cultures are gathered in one volume by eminent folklorist Alan Dundes. Eleven leading scholars from the fields of Slavic studies, history, anthropology, and psychiatry unearth the true nature of the vampire from its birth in graveyard lore to the modern-day psychiatric patient with a penchant for drinking blood.

The Vampire: A Casebook takes this legend out of the realm of literature and film and back to its dark beginnings in folk traditions. The essays examine the history of the word "vampire"; Romanian vampires; Greek vampires; Serbian vampires; the physical attributes of vampires; the killing of vampires; and the possible psychoanalytic underpinnings of vampires. Much more than simply a scary creature of the human imagination, the vampire continues to haunt the lives of all those who encounter it -- in reality or in fiction.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0299159248
• ISBN 13: 9780299159245
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 182
• Editor: Dundes Alan