RSS
Home
The lure of the dead boyfriend- part 1
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
The Vampire Shrink by Lynda Hilburn
In the beginning was a bald monster with a long face, pointed ears and chin, elongated fingers and sharp talon claws that lost its humanity and control over its monstrous side. It was lured to a young maiden’s window. All of a sudden, with a sudden rush that could not be foreseen- with a strange howling cry that was enough to awaken the terror in any beast, the figure seized the long tresses of hair. He held her to the bed…she screams…shrieks...and seizes her neck in his fang like teeth… a gush of blood and a hideous sucking noise follows. This picture of rape and torture is the bedroom scene of the 1847 penny dreadful, Varney the Vampire: Feast of Blood. The author Thomas Prest painted pictures of the vampire being a sexual monster wanting to devour women and in return the women being very passive and weak. In these stories the vampire bite was a metaphor for rape and the monster wanted his victim aware of every agonizing violation. This is the vampire that was created when men ruled the horror world: a creature cursed to walk the earth for eternity searching not for love but for food.
Now today, the story reads more like this, “He met my eyes with his penetrating gaze. Suddenly it was hard to breathe. ..My heart pounded in my chest… my knees threatened to buckle. I had never seen such a gorgeous man…something about him felt dark and dangerous and desirable. I lifted my chin to give him better access to my neck. He smiled, showing a hint of fangs ( an excerpt from The Vampire Shrink by Linda Hilburn). Lynda Hilburn, author of The Vampire Shrink discussed on her blogspot that since women have taken over the horror genre the vampire has evolved into a gorgeous, sensuous, sexual, romantic, bad boy of the night.
Since 2001 the rise in vampire literature has increased hundreds of times. Many times vampire literature is snubbed by many as and called trashy harlequin romance smut. They do not view them as credible pieces of literature as well as dismissing them as portraying negative views of women. While this may have been true regarding some series in the past the more recent writers have developed a strong empowered female character that walks alongside the vampire in their journey rather than being the damsel in distress or the hapless victim of his sexual prowess. The current trend for this new genre of vampire romance literature is one that offers the readers an escape from the pressures of the real world while delivering to them either a soul mate or an erotic lover in the form of a vampire.
So, just what is the lure of the dead boyfriend to the modern female reader?
Later this week we will somtinue to discuss the lure of the vampire and the vampires role as escape, soul mate, and erotic lover.
We will also begin a thread of vampire romance novels and links to their webistes
Related Articles:
Comments
