Vampire and Vampirism have raised the interests of the public from 1700s. Vampire is being used as a lens to discuss social issues in the real world. However, it is seen that there are limited works discussing the situation of coloured communities. This project is to examine female vampire figures in select works and evaluate the extent to which those figures are able to represent an empowered image of women of colour. To achieve this aim, textual analysis will be used to examine classical vampire literature, such as Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" (1872/2003), Mary E. Wilkins Freeman's "Luella Miller" (1902/2014), Bram Stoker's Dracula (2007), Anne O'Brien Rice's Interview with the Vampire (1976/2010) and L. A. Banks's Minion (2003). There will be interdisciplinary reading of the social situation and behavior of the colored alongside with textual analysis of Jewelle Gomez's The Gilda Stories: A Novel (1991) and Octavia E. Butler's Fledgling: A Novel (2005). I will conclude that vampire literature has the ability and potentiality to reflect social behavior and environment of the coloured, especially coloured women. The contribution of this thesis is to demonstrate that reflecting the situation of the coloured can be a new area for vampire literature to explore in the future development and evolution of vampire literature as a genre. This is also breakthrough to the function of vampire literature as a genre because on top of appearing as entertainment and reflection of society, vampire literature is able to serve social function to empower and enlighten readers by raising their awareness to social issues that people are used to neglect.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 262).

Comparative literature enables to create the most different modes of reading from a perception of the world quite keen. In a certain way, it can connect a particular literary text to another by means of their similarities and differences, which depends on the capacity of each comparative man, since the individual guides its reading through a socio historical context, in which it is inserted. Therefore, in this work we undertake a possible closeness between Dracula, of the book homonym (1897), by Bram Stoker and Inácio, which travels over the trilogy of Lúcio Cardoso, Inácio (1944), O enfeitiçado (1954) and Baltazar (unfinished). The Cardoso s character brings the vamp essence and malevolent of Stoker, but it is not a vampire in the restrictive sense of the word. Inácio has its particularities, which are essential to understand Dracula better. So, because it is a comparative study, it resorts as the theoretical basis the Literatura comparada (2010), by Sandra Nitrini and A intertextualidade (2008), by Tiphaine Samoyault. In relation to the concept of monstrosity, História dos vampiros: autópsia de um mito (2005), by Claude Lecouteux, Monstros e monstruosidades na literatura (2007), organized by Julio Jeha, "A cultura dos monstros: sete teses" (2000), by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, and Da natureza dos monstros (1998), Luiz Nazario, among other texts, which have contributed significantly to the development of this research. / A literatura comparada possibilita criar os mais diferentes modos de leitura a partir de uma percepção de mundo bastante aguçada. De certa forma, pode-se ligar um determinado texto literário a outro por meio de suas semelhanças e diferenças, o que depende da capacidade de cada comparatista, já que o indivíduo norteia sua leitura através de um contexto sócio histórico, no qual está inserido. Assim, neste trabalho se empreende uma possível aproximação entre Drácula, do livro homônimo (1897), de Bram Stoker e Inácio, o qual transita pela trilogia de Lúcio Cardoso, Inácio (1944), O enfeitiçado (1954) e Baltazar (inacabada). O personagem cardosiano traz a essência vampiresca e maléfica do de Stoker, mas não é um vampiro no sentido restrito da palavra. Inácio possui suas particularidades, as quais são imprescindíveis para que entendamos melhor Drácula. Para tanto, por ser um estudo comparativo, recorreu-se como embasamento teórico a Literatura comparada (2010), de Sandra Nitrini e A intertextualidade (2008), de Tiphaine Samoyault. Em relação ao conceito de monstruosidade, História dos vampiros: autópsia de um mito (2005), de Claude Lecouteux, Monstros e monstruosidades na literatura (2007), organizado por Julio Jeha, "A cultura dos monstros: sete teses" (2000), de Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, e Da natureza dos monstros (1998), de Luiz Nazário, entre outros textos, que contribuíram significativamente para o desenvolvimento desta pesquisa.