The Great Vampire Epidemic: How the myth of Dracula was born from disease and folklore
By Stanley Stepanic, Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Virginia The vampire is a common image in today’s pop culture, and one that takes many forms: from Alucard, the dashing spawn of Dracula in the PlayStation game “Castlevania: Symphony of the Night” to Edward, the romantic and idealistic lover in the “Twilight” series. In many respects, the vampire of today is far removed from its roots in Eastern European folklore. As a professor of Slavic studies who has taught a course on vampires called “Dracula” for more than a decade, I am always fascinated by the...
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