Nick Groom
Nick Groom is the author of The Vampire: A New History.
From his Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: Why did you decide to write this history of vampires?--Marshal Zeringue
A: I’ve written a lot about the Gothic, and my approach has been to think about its political context, particularly in England in the 17th and 18th centuries. It’s a way of looking at constitutional history, Protestantism, and progress.
Vampires don’t fit in that model. They’re supernatural beings. They got me thinking in a different way about politics and theology. It’s not just a history of bloodsucking demons, but that the vampire was a thought experiment used in Enlightenment thinking.
Q: Vampires are very common in today's popular culture. Why do you think that is, and what do you see looking ahead?
A: A lot of people who write books on vampires are keen to write the obituary of the vampire, that the vampire has now lost its allure. But it hasn’t. There might be even...[read on]
