The Art History of Women & Vampire Literature

Though the most famous vampire, Dracula, is a man, Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel depends on two women – Mina and Lucy – falling victim to, and ultimately destroying, the vampire of its title. Their storylines open a wider exploration of women in vampire narratives: the fears of unnatural femininity that female vampires have long embodied, from inverted maternal instincts to monstrous sexuality, and the suggestion that women can exist as something beyond victims of male monsters.

Drawing on vampire-like creatures from around the world, this talk traces how female vampires evolve and morph to reflect the fears and concerns of their time. From the sapphic Carmilla of Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 novella to Octavia Butler’s Fledgling (2005) and Ana Lily Amirpour’s A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014), we’ll uncover shared bloodlines, themes and tropes.

Doors open at 7pm, talk starts at 7:30pm - come down early to grab a good seat!

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Speaker Bio:

Dr Kaja Franck is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Programme Lead for the MA: Literature & Culture at the University of Hertfordshire. Her research centres on monsters and monstrous animals, and she has shared her work at conferences across the world. Recent publications include chapters on troll horror, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series (2005-8), Sous La Seine (2024) and John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819), alongside organising international conferences on werewolves, vampires and haunted seascapes in literature and popular culture. Her monograph, The Ecogothic Werewolf in Literature: Wolves, Woods and Wilderness, was published last year. She has a soft spot for terrible shark horror.

This talk is 18+

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