Traditional Vampirism

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 88707

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Campbell, 
Anne-TMC-Rcvg" <silverthorne.dragon at v...> wrote:
> {Pippin}
> 
> Stoker is in the public domain and Rowling has already 
> borrowed from him, at least I believe he is the one who 
> integrated bats into the vampire legend. The vampire bat, 
though 
> of course named for the monster, is a South American animal 
> and was not part of European legends.
> 
> {Anne}
> Has she?

My copy of QTTA remains AWOL, but according to the  Lexicon, 
QTTA tells that the Transylvanian team has been known to 
conceal vampire bats under their robes.
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/q_teams_europe.html



> And as for Bram borrowing bats....I think that Vlad turned 
himself into a bat-like creature while at the castle with Harker, in 
order to spy on his guest from unique places, but don't recall him 
actually going completely 'batty' (if you will pardon the pun). 
Again, an actual passage clip would be appreciated, since my 
copy of Dracula was one of the things absconded by my former 
BF...<

 There's a searchable Dracula online 
http://www.online-literature.com/view.php/dracula/25?term=bat

"The Count, even if he takes the form of a bat, cannot cross the 
running water of his own volition, and so cannot leave the ship."

> {Anne}

> However, back to my point about what vampire influences are 
most predominant now, Bram was not using the Jewish myths 
to refer to--he was referring to Slavic ones (influenced heavily by 
Christian, not Jewish beliefs), which had a much different view of 
vampires and their roles in the great scheme of things.
 Also, as far as I knew, the Jewish actually had "Succubi" and 
"Incubi"--which are demons that prey on the sexual dreams of 
their victims. Although they could be easily identified as 
'Vampires" by modern interpretations, they were considered a 
completely different entity--and demonic, not cursed 
humans--way back when folklore was not contaminated by the 
alterations of writers and movie scripters....<<

Hmmm....Stoker was a pretty cosmopolitan fellow. I  wish *I* 
could have dined with Oscar Wilde. He certainly seems to have 
drawn on the Jewish legend of the  Lilit for his female vampires.  
Like her, they  are creatures of night, drink blood, are seducers, 
prey on children and can be repelled by religious symbols.  

But then the Slavic vampire legend itself is supposed to owe 
something to the Lilit, so you could say that Stoker was returning 
to original sources. <g>

The line between demon and cursed human is not  firmly drawn 
in Jewish tales. The Lilit was said to be Adam's first wife, created 
a human as he was and transformed into a demon after she 
rejected him.  The Yiddish word dybbuk translated as 'demon' 
can refer to any kind of possessing entity and might even refer to 
a purely psychological obsession such as, erm, Harry Potter 
books <g>.  

Anyway to steer this back to the topic, there is no question in my 
mind that the Bela Lugosi interpretation of  Stoker's Dracula has 
influenced the appearance of Snape;  look at Rowling's picture of 
him. It's in the photos section of this group in the Harry Potter 
and Me folder.
 

Pippin