Monsters, Dreams, and Discords: Vampire Fiction in Twenty-First Century American Culture
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Monsters, Dreams, and Discords: Vampire Fiction in Twenty-First Century American Culture Jillian Marie Wingfield Submitted to the University of Hertfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2018 Abstract Amongst recent scholarly interest in vampire fiction, twenty-first century American vampire literature has yet to be examined as a body that demonstrates what is identified here as an evolution into three distinct yet inter-related sub- generic types, labelled for their primary characteristics as Monsters, Dreams, and Discords.1 This project extends the field of understanding through an examination of popular works of American twenty-first century literary vampire fiction, such as Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, alongside lesser-known works, such as Andrew Fox’s Fat White Vampire Blues. Drawing on a cultural materialist methodology, this thesis investigates vampires as signifiers of and responses to contemporary cultural fears and power dynamics as well as how they continue an ongoing expansion of influential generic paradigms. This thesis also incorporates psychological theories such as psychodynamics alongside theoretical approaches such as Freud’s consideration of the uncanny as means of understanding the undead as agents of fears and powerplays on a scale from individualized to global. Theories of power inform an argument for vampires as indicators of cultural threats, augmentations, or destabilizations within uchronic Americas. This thesis also draws on post-structuralism to inform an investigation of vampires as cultural indicators. Thus, theorists including Auerbach, Baudrillard, and Faludi are called on to underscore an examination of how modern undead narratives often defy – but do not disavow – cultural dominants, spanning a spectrum from reinforcing to questioning of environment. Through an assessment of central vampiric characters and their effects within the speculative Americas they inhabit, this thesis scrutinizes vampire narratives’ interaction with contextualities such as terroristic infiltration and a perceived need for martial hegemony, the fluid form of the American Dream, and the 1 Although not a work of vampire fiction itself, it must be briefly noted that these terms borrow from Tennyson’s elegy ‘In Memoriam A. H. H.’, in which the poet muses on themes that bleed into vampire fiction including science, religion, time, brutality, and love: Alfred, Lord Tennyson, ‘In Memoriam A.H.H.’, Alfred, Lord Tennyson Selected Poems, ed. by Aidan Day (London: Penguin, [1991] 2003), LVI.21-22, p. 166; for an introductory examination of this work, see Holly Furneaux’s British Library article, ‘An introduction to “In Memoriam A.H.H.”’ (2014), <https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/in-memoriam> [accessed 1 August 2017] i persistence of intra-cultural racial antagonisms. This will be carried out through investigation of two key literary texts within each of the three sections, considering how each epitomizes the sub-genre, engages with key vampiric forms, and extends generic understanding. The narratives on which this thesis focuses range from the apocalyptic of the Monsters section, where overcoming vampire threat is linked to corruption in and of a post-9/11 American ‘democratic’ corpus, to unattainable wish-fulfilment in the Dreams section, home to attempted occlusions of monstrosity in representations of alternative faces of fear hidden within American Dreams, and a questioning of the divisiveness embedded in modern U.S. culture in Discords, where the most divisive and long-standing cultural challenge – racial antagonism – finds vampiric mimesis. While focus here is on twenty-first century vampire fiction as an evolving form, the literary works investigated carry forward a palimpsestic understanding of generic ancestry. As such, fundamental to this analysis is how each of the texts focused on here also assimilates understanding of earlier key works in the American vampire genre. Although film undoubtedly plays a significant role in the history and reception of America’s undead, it only informs this thesis in the form of Tod Browning’s 1931 Universal ‘monster movie’ Dracula, as not only the point of entry into popular awareness for modern vampire fiction, but also a universal referent for all subsequent iterations of U.S. undead. Alongside Bela Lugosi’s influential portrayal of Stoker’s Count in Browning’s film, this thesis focuses on the influence of further iterations of Dracula and the two other foremost variants within twentieth-century American vampire fiction: Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend (1954), in which vampire fiction first fully assimilates into American culture, and Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (1976), a romanticizing of undead bloodlust in tension with questioning and angst. ii Acknowledgments First thanks go to my supervisors Anna Tripp, Sam George and Owen Davies for encouraging me to shed light on America’s twenty-first century vampires (disclaimer – no vampires were harmed in the making of this thesis, so dusters weren’t needed!). Thanks, also, to Anne Murphy and Saskia Kersten for all their support and advice. To all those on the third floor of R block who have given me much to ponder beyond the undead, I extend my sincere appreciation. And to my fellow post-grads and visiting lecturers who share in the happiness of office life in R323: big thanks for all the laughter, chats, and camaraderie. Also, for making it possible for me to undertake this thesis, my gratitude goes to the University of Hertfordshire for funding my studentship. For our lively and thought-provoking conversations (rarely about vampires, but always a joy), and for being my go-to IT guy, special thanks to my son, Aidan: a truly inspiring, often amusing, and always amazing person. To my lovely girls, Jo and Sarah: I have been privileged to be part of your growth into two brave and wonderful women, a daring duo who continue to make life interesting! And to two fabulous small people who hold a big place in my heart: Leo and Tristan, thanks for all the cuddles and fun – stay curious my marvellous boys. A thank you also goes to all those I’ve been fortunate to meet on my travels and at conferences who didn’t run screaming when they discovered my area of study! Special mentions for Chris, who was ever a voracious consumer of written words, Isobel, whose inspiration helped direct me on this journey, and Angela, for sharing in the ups and downs of life as a post-graduate with me. Finally, my deepest gratitude goes to everyone who has touched my life and this thesis in so many ways, being there to bring sunniness as I have explored the shadows… A post-script special thanks to Bram Stoker as the author of the origin text for much that has become accepted as traditional within modern vampire fiction: finding out that my birth date and the original date of publication for Dracula are one and the same was the happiest of coincidences! iii Contents Abstract p. i Acknowledgements p. iii Contents p. iv Introduction: ‘Dragons of the prime’: Vampire Fiction and Twenty-first Century America p. 1 - ‘they went and came, / Remade the blood and changed the frame’: The Three-headed Dragon of Modern American Vampire Fiction p. 16 - ‘truth embodied in a tale’: Vampires, Fear and Power p. 27 - ‘A hollow echo […] A hollow form’: A Brief History of America’s Pivotal Vampire’s p. 34 Section One: Vampire Monsters p. 54 Chapter one: ‘In the face of such terror’: Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain Trilogy p. 55 - ‘at once both familiar and monstrous’: Exploiting and Extending Generic Knowns p. 67 - ‘the Angel of Death’: The Master as Post-9/11 Terror p. 72 Chapter two: ‘behind the monstrous’: America’s Home-made Vampires in Justin Cronin’s The Passage p. 97 - ‘something about them that struck a deep chord of recognition’: Past Vampires as Part of the Present p. 109 - ‘And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years’: Cronin’s Vampiric Flooding of Modernity p. 116 Section Two: Vampire Dreams p. 135 Chapter three: ‘twisted up in dreams’: Stephenie Meyer’s All-American Vampire Family p. 136 - ‘they are no different than any other vampires’: Part of the Generic Darkness p. 152 - ‘a very convincing dream […] confused with reality’: The Perfect American Family(?) p. 160 iv Chapter four: ‘Where all your bloody dreams come true’: Charlaine Harris’s ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ Series p. 176 - ‘the whole Anne Rice thing’: Generic Involvement and Darker Dreams p. 187 - ‘the vampire […] walked into the bar’: Fears, Negotiation and Pretence in American Culture p. 195 Section Three: Vampire Discords p. 210 Chapter five: ‘Violating all the rules’: Vampire Identity in Andrew Fox’s Fat White Vampire Blues p. 211 - ‘for Varney’s sake!’: Generic Participation with a Little Bit of Violation p. 226 - ‘I’m a white guy. He’s a black guy. He resents me for it’: Race, Identity, and Alienation p. 235 Chapter six: ‘I awoke to darkness’: Vampire Hybridity and Ambiguity in Octavia E. Butler’s Fledgling p. 248 - ‘I think I’m an experiment’: Blurring the Genetics of a Genre p. 264 - ‘Dirty little nigger bitch’: Vampires and Revenant Racism in America p. 271 Conclusion: ‘with these have grown […] something greater than before’: Vampires, Undying Fear, and Power Dynamics in the United States of America p. 285 Bibliography: ‘All subtle thought, all curious fears’ p. 294 - Primary Texts p. 294 - Secondary Texts p. 295 - Online Secondary Texts p. 313 - Further Selected Modern American Undead Reading p. 321 - Selected American Vampire Television and Filmography p. 323 v Introduction: ‘Dragons of the prime’: Vampire Fiction and Twenty-first Century America1 ‘To the jaded eye, all vampires seem alike, but they are wonderful in their versatility’ (Nina Auerbach, Our Vampire, Ourselves)2 ‘The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.’ (H.