Course: Vampire Literature

Date / Time

  • November 11, 2017
    2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • December 9, 2017
    2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • January 13, 2018
    2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • February 10, 2018
    2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • March 10, 2018
    2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
  • April 14, 2018
    2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Location

2008-2010 Delancey Place, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103, United States

Registration

  • Tuition for this reading group is $300
  • Registration will open to Delancey Society members on August 22, to members on August 29, and to the public on September 5.
  • Rosenbach members at the Contributor level and above will receive a 10% discount on tuition.
  • Not a member? We invite you to join upon registration. Click here for more information about membership.

Description

This class will study the shifting images and themes of the rise of the vampire as a literary obsession, beginning with the first literary vampire: Sir Frances Varney, star of the notorious penny dreadful, Varney the Vampire, or, The Feast of Blood. The class will then study Bram Stoker’s classic, Dracula, and with a focus on the ways Stoker borrowed, shifted, and altered the tropes started by Rymer. For the second half of the semester, the class will study the vampire in contemporary literature, exploring how modern authors reimagine classic vampire images and themes and how modern vampires reflect the shifting political landscape.

Vampires in Literature Syllabus

About the Instructor

Curt Herr has a PhD from Fordham University and teaches Gothic and Victorian Literature at Kutztown University, where he is also the Coordinator of Graduate Studies in English. He is the co-editor of The Journal of Dracula Studies, an MLA-recognized academic journal which focuses on the vampire in literature, film, and the arts. While at Fordham, Dr. Herr wrote his dissertation on the notorious penny dreadful, Varney the Vampire, or The Feast of Blood. He specializes in Victorian Sensation fiction and has written nine critical editions of classic Victorian thrillers and mysteries including James Malcolm Rymer’s The Black Monk, or, The Secret of the Grey Turret, and Mrs. Henry Wood’s supernatural romance, Dene Hollow. In 2012, he was honored to present his findings The Road from Varney to Dracula: The Transformation Tradition and Bram Stoker’s Reading / Rendering of Rymer’s Penny Dreadful, Varney the Vampire at the Bram Stoker Centennial Conference at Hull University, England.

In the event of inclement weather, the Rosenbach will announce any closures on rosenbach.org. Please call 215-732-1600 x0 if you have questions about program status.