The Curious Allure of Gothic Gore and Vampire Lore

Lillian Lu, an assistant professor of literature in the School of Arts and Humanities, has always been drawn to gothic stories such as these. “As a person from the Asian diaspora whose family came from China and Vietnam, there has always been a reluctance to talk about trauma and grief,” said Lu. “I became very invested in the gothic genre because it shines a light on topics you’re not supposed to talk about, the taboo and secretive.”

Polidori’s “The Vampyre” is one of the earliest examples of vampires in English literature, and the bloodthirsty antiheroes continue to permeate literature and media today. As fictional characters, vampires can represent more than menacing monsters; Lu explains that many authors of the “Long Eighteenth Century” (spanning 1660-1830) wrote gothic novels to process social issues.

“Because the vampire in Polidori’s book is markedly an aristocrat, it can be interpreted as a critique of systems of power and an exposure of anxieties that people may have had about the social order,” she said. “I believe speculative fiction and sci-fi works are informed by sociopolitical events and political context, even if they take place in a world purportedly not our own.”

The gothic story that currently fascinates Lu is the 2022 television adaptation of Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire,” the subject of a conference paper she’s writing. “The adaptation reimagines the main character, Louis de Pointe du Lac; instead of being a slave owner as he is in the book, he is a queer Black man in New Orleans in the early 20th century,” explained Lu. “The casting changes the entire story, the character dynamics and audience’s interpretation.”

On a larger scale, Lu is taking a transhistorical look at how contemporary authors of the Asian diaspora (people of Asian ancestry who live outside Asia) are adapting novels from the 18th century. One example she cites is a video series called “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” that presents a modern narrative based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” One of the main character’s friends, Charlotte Lucas, becomes Charlotte Lu, an Asian American woman who joins a media company run by Mr. Collins.

“Why are all of these creators of color interested in the Regency time period?” asks Lu. “I’m interested in how creators of color write back to or against the canon of white, anglo-American authors who constructed this racist, fictional idea of the ‘east.’ I think about how pernicious and persistent these stereotypes are even though they burgeoned and became popular in the 18th and 19th centuries.”

Lu’s work is inspired and informed by philosopher and author Edward Said, whose readings of Jane Austen were famous case studies in his theory of Orientalism–the portrayal of people from the so-called “east” by writers and artists from the so-called “west.” Lu will engage her students in discovering how Orientalism continues to show up today in her course titled “Gender, Race and AI.” She will discuss techno-Orientalism as applied to contemporary examples like the growing industry of K-pop (Korean popular music).

“I can’t stop thinking about how we live with these narratives even today, and that these narratives define for us who gets to be seen as human,” said Lu. “From the idea that China is becoming so tech-oriented to racist tropes about K-pop idols appearing robotic.”

Lu is one of the newest faculty members in the Department of Literature. The interdisciplinary program invites students to learn the art of writing while discovering the impact of words in shaping cultures and society throughout history. Scholars can explore written and oral literature, film, poetry, popular music and more, with many classes taught in the medium’s source language—from Chinese and French to Korean and Spanish.

Gothic stories to sink your teeth into this season

If you’re looking for some gothic horror recommendations this Halloween season, Lu has several:

• “The Last Man” by Mary Shelley (1826). Known for “Frankenstein,” Shelley also wrote this futuristic yet tragic story about love and friendship that is foregrounded by a deadly plague.
• “The Spirit Bares Its Teeth,” by Andrew Joseph White (2023). A Victorian gothic horror that follows a young autistic trans boy who can commune with spirits, forced into a haunted sanitorium.
• “Carmilla” by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (1872), an early example of queer romance set in a gothic castle, and “Carmilla: The First Vampire” by Amy Chu (2023), a graphic novel and queer Asian diasporic adaptation. 
• “The Salt Grows Heavy” by Cassandra Khaw (2023). A dark horror romance that has been described as “The Little Mermaid” meets “Frankenstein.”
• “Crimson Peak,” a 2015 film directed by Guillermo del Toro. Set in turn-of-the-century England, the story follows an aspiring author who travels with her new husband and his sister to a remote gothic mansion where ghostly visions help decipher a bloody mystery.
• "Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire” television show (2022). Based on the 1976 novel by Rice, this adaptation follows vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in present-day Dubai as he tells the story of his life to journalist Daniel Molloy.