Der Vampir

Throughout nearly all epochs and cultures, there have been stories of revenants who roam after death, or of eerie bloodsuckers who rise from their graves at night to seek their victims among the living. Like all myths, vampire tales constantly evolve and adapt to the spirit of the times. Since the publication of the Dracula novel, for example, Transylvania, the "land beyond the forest," has mistakenly been regarded as the homeland of vampires. Thomas Bohn has explored the questions of when and why Eastern Europe was stylized as a refuge for bloodsuckers, seeking the origins of vampirism. The Eastern European historian traces the metamorphoses of the vampire by distinguishing the common people's fear of the plague-ridden corpses from the bloodsucker metaphor of scholars. His journey into the past reveals.