Vampire Literature

Vampire literature covers the spectrum of literary work concerned principally with the subject of vampires. The literary vampire first appeared in eighteenth century poetry before becoming a stock figure of Gothic fiction with the publication of John Polidori's The Vampyre in 1819, inspired by a story Lord Byron told him. Later influential works include Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy's The Family of the Vourdalak, the penny dreadful Varney the Vampire, Sheridan Le Fanu's lesbian vampire tale Carmilla, and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Some authors created a more sympathetic vampire figure, beginning with Varney and continuing in more recent works such as Moto Hagio's The Poe Clan and Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire.