DOCTORAL THESIS 2015 “The Evolution of the Vampire Figure in English and American Literature as Social and Economic Symbol of Contemporary Western Masculine Identity” Kristian Pérez Zurutuza English Philology Graduate UNED Department of Foreign Philologies and their Linguistics Philology Faculty Thesis Director: Dr. Antonio Andrés Ballesteros González Department of Foreign Philologies and their Linguistics Philology Faculty “The Evolution of the Vampire Figure in English and American Literature as Social and Economic Symbol of Contemporary Western Masculine Identity” Kristian Pérez Zurutuza English Philology Graduate Thesis Director: Dr. Antonio Andrés Ballesteros González Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest gratitude and respect, first and foremost, to my thesis director, Dr. Antonio Andrés Ballesteros, whose careful and wise guidance, counselling, and patience have shown me the necessary tools when tackling such research endeavour. Alongside his academical guidance, his passion must be addressed regarding vampires as creatures of the human mind with literary and/or anthopological significance, for that is what the ultimate target of this research thesis is, beyond its academical value and significance; to give account of a myth rooted deep in the human soul. Without any of the mentioned here would this thesis be the same. Equal gratefulness is deserved by my friend beyond appreciation, Dr. Rodrigo Carcedo, whose guidance was paramount when addressing whatever aspect regarding vampire psychology. Besides a great psychologist and scholar, he bears a especial place in my heart. True example of friendship. My deepest gratefulness to Itziar Mujika as well, amazing and challenging student of mine, true friend, and superb journalist and researcher into women’s role in peaceful resolutions of war conflicts. Her guidance when trying to approach masculinity and racial issues was very important. Alongside her, family friend, anthopologist and ethnographer Josetxo Zufiaurre’s help was of uttermost importance, without which the vampire’s anthopology would be mere shadows. And last but not least, my deepest respect and gratitude to my family, friends, and of course, students. They every day show me the way in whatever I undertake academically and personally. Many thanks to all for showing me the value of what they mean to me. There is always much to be learnt from them all, regardless of age or background. They might be the unsung heroes, but not for me. Among those, Belén and Rosa, my cousins: two photographs of Vlad Tepes are to blame. Table of Contents Page Introduction…………………………………………………………… 13 Chapter 1: The Canvas of Gothic……………………………………. 23 1.1. Gothic origins. Approaching the gothic traditions……………. 25 1.2. Gothic forms. An insight into the features of a genre………… 34 1.3. The contexts of Gothic………………………………………... 40 1.4. Philosophy and the gothic novel……………………………… 43 1.5. Ideology and the Gothic………………………………………. 55 1.6. Main themes and topics……………………………………….. 58 1.7. English gothic literature in the 18th century…………………. 68 1.8. New transformations of English Romanticism……………….. 72 1.8.1. The optimism of Romantic poets……………………… 73 1.8.2. Family as the image for political order……………….. 76 1.9. Late 19th century English Gothic. The Victorian framework... 78 1.10. Gothic literature of the 20th century………………………… 80 1.11. The Gothic in contemporary English literature. Integration of popular culture……………………………………………... 82 Page Chapter 2: Anthropology of the Vampire………………………… 85 2.1. Definition of Vampire as an anthropological phenomenon… 87 2.2. Origins of the vampire: Towards a vampiric genealogy……. 91 2.3. The rite of becoming a vampire…………………………….. 95 2.4. Tipology of vampires……………………………………….. 105 2.4.1. Lore approach to vampire typology…………………… 105 2.4.2. Vampires and the supernatural………………………… 112 2.4.3. Vampirism and licanthropy within Christian doctrine. Practice and punishment……………………………….. 113 2.5. The greatest vampire symbol. Blood: meaning, symbolism, and significance in vampirism………………….. 118 2.6. The vampire figure across the world………………………… 121 2.7. The science of vampires and vampirism……………………… 127 2.8. Modern and postmodern approaches to vampirisn in the End of the Millenium era. Psychic vampirism………………… 135 2.9. Facing the beast. True accounts of vampire case histories…….. 139 2.9.1. Vlad Tepes………………………………………………… 140 2.9.2. Gilles de Rais……………………………………………… 143 2.9.3. Erzebeth Bathory………………………………………….. 144 2.9.4. Arnold Paole………………………………………………. 145 2.9.5. Fritz Haarman……………………………………………… 147 2.9.6. Bela Kiss…………………………………………………... 147 Page 2.9.7. John Haigh………………………………………………… 148 2.9.8. Peter Kürten……………………………………………….. 148 2.10. Artistic expressions of the vampire in modern society……….. 150 Chapter 3: Capitalism, or the True Façade of the Vampire…….…… 153 3.1. Capital and vampires. From myth to metonimy………….……... 155 3.2. Class, ideology, and corporate power as selfhood construction… 167 3.3. Genealogy of capitalist power. Private dominion of the public.…176 3.4. Public discoordination and the new capitalist slavery of vampires………………………………………………………….187 3.5. The antisemitic wandering spirit and global vampire capitalism………………………………………………………...199 Chapter 4: Profiling the Vampire. An insight into its Psychology.........207 4.1. Formation of personality. Principles of social learning…….…….209 4.2. The Imitation Game, or the acquisition of behavioural patterns… 220 4.3. The origin of evil and fear. A profile on the predatory nature of the vampire…………………………………………….. 226 4.4. Vampire attraction……………………………………………….. 237 4.5. Pathology and vampires………………………………………….. 244 Page Chapter 5: The Construction of the Vampire’s Whiteness………… 251 5.1. Social and cultural construction of race……………………….. 253 5.2. Family roots of the creation of whiteness……………………… 259 5.3. Racial construction of Gothic…………………………………. 272 5.4. Social class and “choice” conceptions of racial identity and assimilation………………………………………. 279 5.5. Redefining multiracial and white identities. Vampires versus werewolves…………………….……………. 287 5.6. Louis and Carlisle Cullen, or the neoliberal supreme sense of postcolonial white metaracial justice….……………… 294 Chapter 6: Images of Vampire Masculinity………….………………. 301 6.1. Defining the identities of masculinity………..………………… 303 6.1.1. Archetype and masculine identity……..………………….. 303 6.1.2. Constructing a male vampire……….…………………….. 308 6.1.3. Homophobic depiction of maleness.……………………… 315 6.2. Gothic reflection of masculinity as the patriarchal narrative of Darwinist Imperialism……………..………………………… 320 6.3. Racial approach to masculine identity…..……………………… 329 6.4. Vampiric violence, or the male construction of violent behaviour……………………………..………………………… 334 6.4.1. The male discourse of violence….………………………… 334 Page 6.4.2. The shaping of masculinity through violence…………… 338 6.4.3. Classifying hardship of masculinity…………………….. 342 6.4.4. The household as the domestic sphere of masculine violence………………………………………………….. 347 6.5. The vampire as the embodiment of masculine capitalist economy and power…………………………………...….. 351 6.6. New masculinities. Diluted portrayals of manhood and vampire homoeroticism……………………………..…….. 358 Conclusions…………………………………………………..……….. 367 Bibliography…………………………………………….……………. 379 Appendixes………………………………………….………………… 407 List of Abbreviations aka Also known as. AD Anno Domini. A. N. Author’s Note. BC Before Christ. coord. Spanish for Coordinador/a, meaning “coordinator”. ed. Editor. eds. Editors. G. Germanic. Ibid. Latin short for Ibidem, meaning “in the same place”. i. e. Latin short for Id est, meaning “that is”. l. Line. M. P. Member of Parliament. n. Noun. p. Page(s). pp. Spanish for Páginas, meaning “pages”. qtd. Quoted. trad. Spanish traductor or traducido por, meaning “translator”, or “translated by”. trans. Translator or translated by. w.a.s.p. White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. 13 Introduction 14 15 The vampire has always been a myth, or a cultural production, that allures great fascination upon civilizations since ancient times. The image of the dark side of both human beings and nature, the revenant still captures the mind of the public through the powers of darkness, to the point in which almost every civilization throughout history developed a vampiric visage, with which the unknown may linger and lie in wait so that the forces uncanny may have a proper explanation as part of the human construct of their own existence. Spanning from rather complex impressions of natural forces and their destructiveness, in combination with their role when shaping the personality, and social and moral frameworks of identity; to the greater develoments of the vampire as the image of contemporary society, with its complexity of form, meaning, and characterization; it most certainly retains the same vigour it always possessed. Current Western society, as the commonly accepted form of culturally modern and productive, has come to depict vampires with greater strength in literature and audiovisual industry, and during recent years, there is an offspring of new vampire forms that invade the minds of the public. This thesis developed under the premise of understanding the vampire as the embodiment of the Western white man’s masculinity of capitalist nature. Marxist studies have long comprehended the vampire as the oppressive force of capital in the context of social class battle. Traditionally seen as the parasiting aspect of capital, this thesis attempts to widen this perspective through the analysis of vampirism