How did vampires become cultural icons?
Credit goes to an English doctor, John William Polidori, and his 1819 short story “The Vampyre.” Until Polidori, vampires were depicted as bloated, smelly monsters. But Polidori drew upon one of his most famous patients, Lord Byron, to create Lord Ruthven, a sleek, aristocratic gentleman who moved in society’s rarefied circles and had a mysterious magnetism, especially over women. In 1847, Scotsman James Malcolm Rymer added to vampire lore with his pulp novel Varney the Vampire. Ryder’s corpse-like protagonist had fangs, superhuman strength, and powers of hypnosis. With the publication in 1897 of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the modern vampire was born (see below). What explains their appeal? Vampires tap into deep and powerful themes. They are simultaneously living and dead, human and nonhuman. Their bloodsucking bites are potent metaphors for kissing and sexual relations. And with their dark, anti-social skulking, vampires are the ultimate outcasts—a role that adolescents, in particular, i
