Quote:
Originally Posted by Bęthberry
What I find fascinating is that Tolkien gave to Luthien this identity. Did he read Bram Stoker's Dracula? ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula_%28novel%29 Did he know of the relationship between Lucy and the vampire and all the subversive sexuality of the Victorian genre?
What went through his mind as he gave these characters of the vampire and the werewolf to Luthien and Beren? And then had Luthien and Beren chistled onto the gravestones of himself and Edith? |
He almost certainly knew the Bram Stoker story and will likely have read it. He took a holiday in Whitby as a young man and already by that time (in fact as soon as the novel came out - it sold pretty well) Whitby was trading on the Dracula story. His drawing of Whitby Harbour was made directly outside the old lending library where Stoker did much of his research and writing - at that time it was still a library I believe - now it is The Magpie, mecca for lovers of Fish and Chips and the spot Tolkien stood on is the Fish Market. Since Stoker's story came out, Whitby and Dracula have gone hand-in-hand.
Plus there are Tolkien's tastes, which as they included H Rider Haggard I don't doubt would include something of a similar bent as Dracula was very much part of that genre of Boys' Own adventures. As such, I don't think the undercurrents of sex and disease were as apparent to early readers as they are today, if at all! Even if it would be exciting to think Tolkien had drawn something of this dark side into his work
Now as to the form of Vampires in Tolkien's work, I think that the 'bat form' which Luthien takes is just that, i.e. a large flying bat. I don't think of demonic figures, just of a 'corrupted natural form' rather like Shelob is at heart, in the form of just a giant spider. That's good as that's also the classic notion of a vampire when he/she is flitting about.
The interesting part is what the vampire looks like when not in 'bat form'. Did Thuringwethil merely have 'folded wings' when at rest? Did she look more like a woman? Would she have been able to hide her vampire nature?
One of the scary things about vampires in popular culture of course is how they can blend in with other people - did Tolkien take that kind of template? Maybe, maybe not. What really is interesting is that he did not describe his Vampire - and really, the notion of a Vampire is one of deep-seated, dark, psychological terror. Fear of the darkness in us and in other human beings. Fear of the predator. Fear of the unknown side of human nature. I think Tolkien was playing off that in not deliberately describing his Vampire, just as he was shady and shadowy in describing, or not describing so many of his other nightmare creations. It's up to
you to imagine them, if you dare...
