Allure of the Undead

Allure Of The Vampire: Our Sexual Attraction To The Undead by Corvis Nocturnum
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Allure of the Undead

Would not be so presumptuous as to call vampires dead or undead when they seems to be peeking in their popularity. In fact they are very much alive. People are magnetically drawn to vampires and there is no questions about that. What draws people to these vampires or nocturnal beings that prey upon humans as food?  Author Corvus Nocturnem does a thorough job of analyzing the vampire going all the way back to John Polidfori's vampire and covering a whole scope of literature up to an including modern times. Corvusd also delves into the movies and moves all the way through to the modern vampire scene.

THe vampire has always been an outsider. Living and lurking in the shadows he preys on human victims, his fangs piercing their flesh he drains his victims of their blood.  Vampires are about sex, they are seductive and alluring. THey do not chase their pray like some devious maniac but rather they seduce their victims so they come willingly. THey are the escape valve of our repressed fantasies. THey are allowed to do the things that we are not allowed to do. In Victorian times when the Vampire was most feared and reviled was at the same time quite well loved. Victorians had sexual fantasies oft of forbidden nature yet they never spoke of it. THe Vampire was allowed to pull it off. They could get away with being gay, multiple partner and being dominant. THe vampire is the anti hero who lives our dreams.

Our dreams are many. The vampire is the horrific embodiment of those dreams. THe vampire lives forever,he can seduce who ever he wants. His fangs piercing the flesh is a metaphor for another type of penetration. Victims can also get their needs met. After all if your compelled by the vamp it ain't your fault.

Corvus has done some thorough research as is evidenced by what he writes and the sources available to look up at the back of the book. a log the way I learned several tidbits. Bram Stoker was best buds with Teddy Roosevelt, this president later became the model for Van Helsing.Washington Irving  was a suave debonaire gent who later became the model for Count Dracula. Teddy hated the vamps by the way. Bram Stoker did not have normal relations with his wife and there are homo erotic overtones in his work.

For Anne Rice the issue was a metaphor for gay rights, as the vampire was the metaphorical homosexual, an out case shunned and mistreated. With the Twilight series the vampires try to be good guys by drinking animal blood and getting involved in a caring relationship with a human. What is not to like the guy lives forever, so can she by the way and he has accrued enough assets to provide quite well. Many of the books and movies delve into the suxually erotica up to the point of becoming erotic in and of themselves.

Not everything about vampires is sexy though. Before going into all that let us say that there are different types of vamps. Some are sanguinarian and they maintain that they need to feed off human blood every so often. Not too much though or it makes you sick. Some vamps called psi or psy vamps feed off of energy. Then there are the life styulers who get into goth stuff and just look like a vamp. The vamp movement has spawned many wannabes , several murders and several clothing lines, wine lines and energy drinks.

Chaos Magickinans recognize that the vampire is a powerful archetype to access and a whole gang of fang merchandise has risen up around. THe book is very thorough and very light enjoyable reading. In hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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