What Makes Vampires so appealing?: Audio interview with Patricia K. McCarthy
Philip Burne-Jones
Patricia K. Macarthy is author of The Crimson Series, three books, to date, about vampires. We talk here about what makes Vampires so appealing to so many people, about their being symbolic of man’s desire for supremacy, women’s desire to be consumed, about the fringe elements of society, the attraction of eternal youth and immortality, confidence, the perfect villian whose weapon is seduction, alpha males, power, the lack of conscience, film, Halloween, the draw of fantasy, the defiance of death and the preciousness of time.
During our conversation reference is made to poems by Byron and Goethe. Both example early literary treatment of Vampires [see vampires (and vampire fiction)].
The Vampire Female: "The Bride of Corinth" (1797) by: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1) Once a stranger youth to Corinth came,
Who in Athens lived, but hoped that he
From a certain townsman there might claim,
As his father’s friend, kind courtesy.
(2) Son and daughter, they
Had been wont to say
Should thereafter bride and bridegroom be.
But can he that boon so highly prized,
Save tis dearly bought, now hope to get?
They are Christians and have been baptized,
He and all of his are heathens yet.
(3) For a newborn creed,
Like some loathsome weed,
Love and truth to root out oft will threat.
Father, daughter, all had gone to rest,
And the mother only watches late;
She receives with courtesy the guest,
And conducts him to the room of state.
The Giaour by Lord Byron was first published in 1813 and the first in his Oriental romance series. It proved to be a great success, consolidating Byron’s reputation critically and commercially. Here’s how it starts:
No breath of air to break the wave
That rolls below the Athenian’s grave,
That tomb which, gleaming o’er the cliff,
First greets the homeward-veering skiff,
High o’er the land he saved in vain;
When shall such hero live again?
Please listen here:
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October 13th, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Nigel, it was a pleasure sitting down with you for a wee chat on vampires. Here’s wishing your interview brings me a dash of immortality!
October 14th, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Oh, this is exciting. It’s nice to see such enticing titbits when one reacquaints oneself with old haunts.
Glad to see the site still up and running.
October 15th, 2008 at 9:52 AM
Hi Nigel,
As copyeditor of PK’s The Crimson Woman, I was drawn into her work, not by the subject matter, but by her well-crafted prose. (See my cover blurb.)
PK is a natural storyteller with a delightful sense of humour who could draw a reader into her fantasy world if she chose to write about a sack of widgets.
Mike Heenan
(Wordsmith~On~Call)
December 28th, 2008 at 10:27 PM
Vampires are not bad you see yall are like pig and our kind is the humans without meat we will die. I am a vampire so I should know.