Vampires: Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil is a new project being launched in May 2003.

The project will be inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary in outlook and seeks to investigate and explore the vampire legend and its enduring influence on human culture throughout history.

Indicative themes to be explored are:

• The popularity of the modern vampire (Buffy, Blade, Lestat and co)
• The vampire in literature
• The vampire in media (tv, cinema, radio)
• The gothic vampire and the legacy of Dracula
• Ancient and medieval myths surrounding the dead and undead
• The vampire through history
• Religious depictions of vampires and vampire gods
• Vampires across cultures
• Vampires, bodies and death
• Vampires, illness and addiction
• Vampires, gender and sexuality
• Relationships between vampires and other evils (e.g. ghosts, witches, demons and shape-shifters)
• Modern vampire subculture (blood fetishists, role-players and vampyres)
• Biological, medical, historical and sociological bases of vampire legends
• Vampires, metaphors and the monstrous
• Approaches to studying vampires (from psycho-analysis to post-modernity)
• Vampire-related disorders and their treatment
• Vampire-related crimes and appropriate responses
  

The project will centre around an annual conference held each May in Eastern and Central Europe. The work of the project is to be supported by an email discussion group, ISSN ejournal, ISBN publication series and and evolving research and resource centre.

Please contact the Project Leaders for further information.

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