Theone I Found

Nothing has paralleled the popularity of Bram Stokers Dracula (1897) other than Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. If Stoker is the king of vampire literature, Rice is the queen. I have selected Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, Neil Jordan's film adaptation of Anne Rice's famous novel, Interview with the Vampire, because it is by far the most popular modern vampire literature that speaks to our current generation. The film was produced in 1994, and the stars include the two hunks of Hollywood, Tom Cruise (Lestat) and Brad Pitt (Louis), then the younger Kirsten Dunst (Claudia), and Christian Slater (Interviewer). This paper will focus on the origin and evolution of vampire literature, from ancient folklore and inspirations of the first vampire literature during the 17th century, up to the film adaptation of the Interview in the late 20th century. Vampire tales can be traced back at least 4,000 years to the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians of Mesopotamia through the image of Lamastu, a diabolical goddess who creeps into the house during the night and steal or kill babies or from the womb. This is also closely related to an ancient feminist Jewish text about Lilith, the mythological woman who predates the God's creation of Eve, the one who refused to take a subservient position to Adam. Lilith banished herself from the Garden of Eden, created her own children, and vowed to take revenge on Adam's descendants. She takes the figure of a demoness with great wings and talons, and steals infants and fetuses during the night. There's also the ancient Greek folklore about Lamia, a half-woman, half-snake, who is cursed by Hera to eat her own children. There are numerous variations of such creatures from different cultures, including ours, the Tagalog mandurugo (blood-sucker) and the Visayan manananggal (self-segmenter). Before the first fictitious vampire appeared in Heinrich August Ossenfelder's German poem The Vampire (1748), and the popularity of Bram... [continues]

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