PULLMAN – Vampires are a hot topic in pop culture, as evidenced by the popularity of TV’s “True Blood” and film’s “Twilight Saga.” But these ghouls have been reflecting society and culture for centuries.
Anne Stiles, a WSU assistant professor of English, has been researching how vampire tales reflected Victorian society’s views of science and psychology.
Her work will be featured in her upcoming book, “Popular Fiction and Brain Science in the Late Nineteenth Century” (Cambridge University Press). It examines the cultural impact of neurology on popular fiction by “Dracula” author Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, H.G. Wells and other novelists.
In the 1860s and 70s, neurologists began using animal experimentation to establish that discrete sections of the brain regulate specific mental and physical functions. These controversial experiments raised questions about the role of the soul or will in human behavior – questions that also were raised by the soulless monsters that populated the Gothic novels of the period.
“There has been a significant change from the Victorian period,” Stiles said. In the video, she discusses what today’s vampire fascination might mean.
To learn more about Stiles and her research, click here.