Presentation Title
Weird Fangs: The Vampire Story in Weird Tales from 1920-1939
Location
Madison Union/Taylor Room 404
Abstract
Between 1920 and 1939, the vampire occupied a singular space in American fiction. Despite the continuing popularity of Dracula, on stage, screen, and page, relatively few vampire novels appeared during this era. While the influence of Stoker’s seminal novel cannot be overstated, the development of the vampire narrative was largely confined to short fiction in the horror pulp magazines, such as Weird Tales. These stories, along with their attendant illustrations, essentially provided a modern (for the time) lens through which readers found their information on the vampire. Between the late Victorian Dracula, and the triumphant return of the vampire in the Hammer Films movies of the late 1950s, the pulp magazines are an important link in the chain of the evolution of the vampire. This presentation will examine the range of vampire stories presented in Weird Tales during the early to mid 20th-century, extracting themes, tropes and situations common to the vampire story of the time, which reinforced and amplified those raised by Dracula and which were cemented in the popular imagination enough to become permanent components of accepted vampire lore.
Weird Fangs: The Vampire Story in Weird Tales from 1920-1939
Madison Union/Taylor Room 404
Between 1920 and 1939, the vampire occupied a singular space in American fiction. Despite the continuing popularity of Dracula, on stage, screen, and page, relatively few vampire novels appeared during this era. While the influence of Stoker’s seminal novel cannot be overstated, the development of the vampire narrative was largely confined to short fiction in the horror pulp magazines, such as Weird Tales. These stories, along with their attendant illustrations, essentially provided a modern (for the time) lens through which readers found their information on the vampire. Between the late Victorian Dracula, and the triumphant return of the vampire in the Hammer Films movies of the late 1950s, the pulp magazines are an important link in the chain of the evolution of the vampire. This presentation will examine the range of vampire stories presented in Weird Tales during the early to mid 20th-century, extracting themes, tropes and situations common to the vampire story of the time, which reinforced and amplified those raised by Dracula and which were cemented in the popular imagination enough to become permanent components of accepted vampire lore.
