Vampire Literature Vampire fiction is rooted in the 'vampire craze' of the 1720s and 1730s, which culminated in the

somewhat bizarre official exhumations of suspected vampires Peter Plogojowitz and Arnold Paole in Serbia under the Habsburg Monarchy. One of the first works of art to touch upon the subject is the short German poem The Vampire (1748) by Heinrich August Ossenfelder. In a passage in his epic poem The Giaour (1813), Lord Byron alludes to the traditional folkloric conception of the vampire as a being damned to suck the blood and destroy the life of its nearest relations: But first, on earth as vampire sent, Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent: Then ghastly haunt thy native place, And suck the blood of all thy race; There from thy daughter, sister, wife, At midnight drain the stream of life; Yet loathe the banquet which perforce Must feed thy livid living corse: Thy victims ere they yet expire Shall know the demon for their sire, As cursing thee, thou cursing them, Thy flowers are withered on the stem. A milestone in vampire literature was Elizabeth Caroline Grey's The Skeleton Count, or The Vampire Mistress (1828), believed to be the first vampire story published by a woman. Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) has been the definitive description of the vampire in popular fiction for the last century. Though Stoker's Count Dracula remained an iconic figure, especially in the new medium of cinema, as in the

film Nosferatu, 20th century vampire fiction went beyond traditional Gothic horror and explored new genres such as science fiction. An example of vampire science fiction was I Am Legend by author Richard Matheson in (1954). The novel is set in a future Los Angeles overrun with undead cannibalistic/bloodsucking beings. Many books based on vampires are still being published, including several continuing series. In these novels, vampires fall under the category of Paranormal Romance.