Elaine Ogden

Andrew W. Mellon Undergraduate Fellow in the Humanities

20122013 Forum on Peripheries

Elaine Ogden

English

CAS, 2013

Peripheral Phenomena: Jane Austen and Vampires

In this study, I examine aspects of Jane Austen, vampire fiction, and contemporary culture through the lens of vampire adaptions of Austen's work. Although a study of vampire fiction may seem peripheral to any serious study of Austen's novels, I contend that studying those adaptations is central to understanding Austen in modern culture, as her work is recycled and reapportioned. Vampire fiction's success in today's marketplace and the prevalence of modern vampire adaptions of Austen's work can reveal much about how the two disjointed parties have been united, and what it says about our culture, which so eagerly consumes them together.