Comments on Researching the Romance: Intertextuality and the Vampire Romance

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2009-11-22T05:25:53.815-05:00

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First off, thank you for addressing romance from a...

2008-11-07T11:28:00.000-05:00

First off, thank you for addressing romance from an academic perspective. As an avid reader and writer of it, I love seeing romance given the literary attention it should be getting.

Many many moons ago in my undergrad studies, I had a professor who connected the medieval art variances of death and the maiden to the sad reality of the fates of young women in the middle ages--that sex could and did often lead to death through the dangers of childbirth. The vampire is a sexual creature, but not necessarily a "fertile" one, thereby circumventing the risk of death through childbirth for the maiden.

Just something to think about. I wish I knew whether that prof ever did something beyond class discussion on the "death and the maiden" thing.

Very interesting topic! We review a ton of Vampire...

2008-11-05T14:53:00.000-05:00

Very interesting topic! We review a ton of Vampire fiction/romance etc. There is so much material out now, it is almost mind boggling.

I would like to extend an invite to you to join our community forum and post your query there if you like.
The link to "The Blood Bank" is :
http://bittenbybooks.ning.com

I think you would get some very interesting feedback.

Hope this helps!

Sandra, I had not found that article! Thank you!...

2008-11-03T20:59:00.000-05:00

Sandra, I had not found that article! Thank you! Truthfully, I've found that I'm wading through A LOT more vampire material than I anticipated... some of it helpful, but much of it not. So when people give me specific recommendations, I appreciate it.

I am aware of that painting, and am planning on using it in my research.

Chris, Twilight is a perfect example, and I feel I'm going to have to use it, even though I have some personal problems with the story, despite it's addictive qualities.

As for the song, interesting connection!

I think the whole "Twilight" business is a perfect...

2008-11-03T20:52:00.000-05:00

I think the whole "Twilight" business is a perfect example of this, isn't it?

When you were describing the paintings, you reminded me of the Flash Girls song, "Death on Hennepin."

JC, have you heard of Schubert's "Der Tod und das ...

2008-11-03T16:49:00.000-05:00

JC, have you heard of Schubert's "Der Tod und das Mädchen"? And then, of course, there's whole dead or dying woman-cliché in 19th-century art and literature. (E.g., in Tennyson's "Lancelot and Elaine" it's quite clear that Elaine chooses death as her substitute lover since she can't have Lancelot => see her 'Song of Love and Death': "I fain would follow love, if that could be; / I needs must follow death, who calls for me; / Call and I follow, I follow! let me die.") (Gives you the creeps, doesn't it?)

The depiction of vampires in paranormal romances has its roots in revisionist fantasy (Anne Rice! whee!). Have you already looked into that? Two or three really useful sentences on The Vampire Chronicles as revisionist fantasy can be found in Roz Kaveney's article "Revisionist Fantasy" in THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FANTASY, ed. by John Clute and John Grant, as well as in Kaveney and Grant's article on Anne Rice in the same encyclopedia. I'm currently working on a chapter on revisionist fantasy for my doctoral dissertation in which I've mentioned Anne Rice's vampires as an example for the rewriting of older material. :)

JC, I am a romance and erotic romance author, with...

2008-10-21T18:17:00.000-04:00

JC, I am a romance and erotic romance author, with a particular affinity for all things pararnomal, but particularly vampires. No doubt a result of my attraction to tall, dark, handsome, mysterious and tortured men. I happened upon your blog while jumping around looking for the name of an author of vampire romances and was fascinated by the depth of thought you have given to the genre, as well as your interest in genre romance fiction, in general. It is reassuring to know that there are other voices in the world beyond the "bodice ripper bashers" who belittle romance fiction. Given the breadth and depth of the subject matter, the specificity of genres and sub-genres and sub-sub-genres, as well as some amazing writing, great worldbuilding and wonderfully entertaining books out there (I will join you in applauding the awesome Laurell K. Hamilton and her Anita Blake world). Glad to see that you are exploring them from this perspective.

I'll be adding your blog address to my favorite!

You are right, and I would argue that the story wh...

2008-10-06T21:15:00.000-04:00

You are right, and I would argue that the story where the female is a vampire is another narrative, that is commenting on an entirely different dynamic. My focus on this essay was specifically when the male is associated with death and the female is not.

I'll take a look at Deborah's book. Thanks!

I haven't read many paranormal romances, but I hav...

2008-09-16T04:40:00.000-04:00

I haven't read many paranormal romances, but I have the impression that there are now some romances where the heroine is also a vampire and/or she has some other paranormal power. Does that change the dynamic you're describing? I wonder if it might, because it could make the novel more like a romance between super-heroes than one in which the hero's vampire nature is so closely linked to death for the heroine.

As I said, though, I haven't read many paranormals, so that's mostly speculation on my part.

Deborah Lutz's book has quite a bit about the dynamics of dangerous lovers and death. There's a link to a pdf of the first chapter or so on the page I just linked to.