TLRH | Medical and Health Humanities Seminar | 'Why They Suck So Much: A Short Cultural History of Vampirism'
Wednesday, 24 November 2021, 12:30 – 1:30pm 
'Why They Suck So Much: A Short Cultural History of Vampirism (with a small medical focus)'
This event has unfortunately been cancelled and will be rescheduled in the new year.
A seminar by Dr Clemens Ruthner (Germanic & European Studies, TCD) as part of the Medical and Health Humanities Lunchtime Seminar Series in association with Trinity Long Room Hub.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities Initiative brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines including history, philosophy, sociology, drama, health sciences, religion, cultural studies, arts, literature and languages.
Medical and health humanities seeks to provide insights into the cultural and social contexts within which diverse but interrelated concerns such as the human condition, the individual experience of illness and suffering, and the way medicine is (or was) practiced, might be understood.
The Trinity College Dublin Medical and Health Humanities initiative seeks to cultivate a richer understanding of the interactions and synergies between practices and discourses of wellness, health or medicine and the arts, humanities or culture through interdisciplinary research and education.
This talk will lead you through the different stages of the cultural appropriation of the most famous undead monster of Western culture: from the demonic "proto-vampires" of Antiquity to spectacular historical cases of mass hysteria in Serbia (18th c.), and then further to the first literary texts, until the narrative of vampirism as a secular cultural phantasma is fixated by Stoker's Dracula in 1897, and in its current, postmodern format by Anne Rice - not to forget the films, and the various 'young adolescent' versions of vampire, most notoriously by US writer Stephenie Meyer. A special focus will be laid on vampirism as a naive template for explaining epidemic events and its relation with Enlightenment medicine in the 18th century.
Dr Clemens Ruthner is not undead, but Assistant Professor in German and European Studies at Trinity College Dublin. His research interests include cultural narratives of Otherness (e.g. monstrosity, ethnicity, gender, sexuality etc.), cultural theory and Central European Studies (19th and 20th centuries). He has authored two books on the fantastic in literature (Unheimliche Wiederkehr,1993; Am Rande, 2004) and is editor or co-editor of numerous anthologies of essays. In 2018, his latest monograph Habsburg's 'Dark Continent' attempted a postcolonial reading of the literatures and culture of the Austro-Hungarian empire in the 'long 19th century'. He is currently working on a literary and cultural history of vampirism.
This event has unfortunately been cancelled and will be rescheduled in the new year.Attendance is open to all with relevant interests inside and outside TCD. Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: doneill@tcd.ie
Campus Location: Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute
Accessibility: Yes
Event Category: Lectures and Seminars
Type of Event: One-time event
Audience: Undergrad, Postgrad, Alumni, Faculty & Staff, Public
Cost: Free but registration is required
Contact Name: Prof Desmond O'Neill
Contact Email: doneill@tcd.ie
