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The latter, titled Bram Stoker and Gothic Transformations and held on 12-14 April, was convened by Catherine Wynne, senior lecturer in English at Hull, and set out, she said, to “look back from Stoker and look forward from Dracula ”. In the conference’s keynote lecture, Clive Bloom, emeritus professor of English and American literature at Middlesex University, argued that “Gothic studies have become institutionalised and safe. We need to return to a more visceral and scary notion of the Gothic. We need to stop using Freud and go back to de Sade – it’s all about perversity and the will to power.” Professor Bloom also regretted “the Americanisation of the vampire” to be found, for example, in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books, where “the dangerous violent aristocrat has become the dark boy no one talks to and who’s eternally 17”. Speakers related Dracula to its original context of Victorian spiritualism, urban legends of a “monster” called “Spring-heeled Jack” and anxieties about religion, invasion and masculinity. Others looked at the novel’s reinvention everywhere from Turkey to Mexico and attempted to “rethink the menstrual vampire”, to explain why vampires are “as ubiquitous as the Big Mac” in the US and to decide whether “every generation gets the vampire it deserves”. The Hull conference featured a lecture in Whitby about “the birth of horror” by Sir Christopher Frayling, former chairman of Arts Council England, appropriately held on Friday 13. Another conference, titled Open Graves, Open Minds, has been organised by Sam George, senior lecturer in literature at the University of Hertfordshire. It is taking place at Keats House in London today and tomorrow and includes papers on necrophilia, Keats and vampires, comic vampires and “the televisual Dracula ”, as well as a “Dracula-themed wine reception”. Delegates will also get a chance to visit Golders Green Crematorium, where Stoker’s ashes share company with Marc Bolan’s and Sigmund Freud’s. A full moon should only add to the atmosphere. matthew.reisz@tsleducation.com Readers' comments Mike 20 April, 2012 A Dracula-themed wine reception? That sounds boring. He doesn't drink ... wine. Vincent 23 April, 2012 It is not fair to call twilight's effect as "Americanization." Many Americans hate twilight, mainly because it is terribly written and romanticises abusive relationships. Feel free to say the Stephanie Meyers and her subsequent bandwagon ruined vampires, but don't blame it on America, because we don't like it either. Fiction-economies 24 April, 2012 “My revenge is just begun...I spread it over centuries, and time is on my side.” sounds eerily like the ramifications of the current global financial crisis – would be interesting to hear if anyone has any comments on relationships between economic cycles and the content of fiction novels? RenZelen 10 May, 2012 Keats and vampires??...Good grief...Don'cha just love academia? Wish I'd thought of that paring first...haha! brooke danner 11 May, 2012 This article sucks! Disclaimer: All user contributions posted on this site are those of the user ONLY and NOT those of TSL Education Ltd or its associated trademarks, websites and services. TSL Education Ltd does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify or agree with any comments, opinions or statements or other content provided by users. Comment on this story Post your comment You must fill in all fields marked * Story date 20 April, 2012 This is a security check, please do not complete. 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