Search the Fresh Air Archive

Close Search

The Grim History and Folklore of Vampires

Professor and writer Raymond McNally has studied the many portrayals of vampires in folklore and film. He has traced the origins of the Dracula story in Transylvania. His book about what he's found is called "In Search of Dracula," written with Radu Florescu. McNally is a professor of Rumanian and Eastern European culture at Boston College. (Rebroadcast)

16:29
Queue

Guest

Host

Related Topics

Other segments from the episode on October 28, 1994

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, October 28, 1994: Interview with Raymond McNally; Interview with John Carpenter; Interview with Patrick McGrath; Review of the film "Bullets Over Broadway."
Queue
16:06

Horror Writer Patrick McGrath on the Evolution of Gothic Fiction

McGrath has been described as "a Poe for the 80s," a postmodern-gothic storyteller. Horror writing comes easily to McGrath, who grew up on the grounds of an English asylum for the criminally insane. He's written a collection of short stories and several novels. In this 1990 interview, he reads from his book, "Spider." His latest is called "Doctor Haggard's Disease." (Rebroadcast)

Interview

Transcript

Transcript currently not available.

Transcripts are created on a rush deadline, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of Fresh Air interviews and reviews are the audio recordings of each segment.

You May Also like

Queue
28:07

Vampire History and Folklore.

Raymond McNally studies vampires in folklore, literature, and film. He is a professor of Romanian and Eastern European History at Boston College. His books include "In Search of Dracula" and "Dracula was a Woman." He discusses the man who was the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Count Dracula, Vlad Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler.

Interview
Queue
35:01

The Undead Dracula Lives On

Writer Leonard Wolf. His latest book "Dracula: The Connoisseur's Guide" is about our attraction to vampires and the curiosity they have provoked over the past 100 years. Wolf is thought of as a specialist on the subject, having written such books as "The Essential Phantom of the Opera," "The Essential Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde," "The Essential Dracula," and a number of other horror related books. Wolf is also the winner of the O.

Interview
Queue
14:06

Why Are We So Captivated by Vampires?

Film historian David J. Skal. He's an expert on the horror film genre. His books include Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen (W.W. Norton) and The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror (Penguin, paperback). His newest book (written in collaboration with Elias Savada) is Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning, Hollywood's Master of the Macabre (Anchor Books).

Interview

Did you know you can create a shareable playlist?

Learn How
Advertisement

Recently on Fresh Air Available to Play on NPR

52:30

Daughter of Warhol star looks back on a bohemian childhood in the Chelsea Hotel

Alexandra Auder's mother, Viva, was one of Andy Warhol's muses. Growing up in Warhol's orbit meant Auder's childhood was an unusual one. For several years, Viva, Auder and Auder's younger half-sister, Gaby Hoffmann, lived in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan. It was was famous for having been home to Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas, Virgil Thomson, and Bob Dylan, among others.

Queue

Related segments from the Fresh Air Archive:

43:04

This fake 'Jury Duty' really put James Marsden's improv chops on trial

In the series Jury Duty, a solar contractor named Ronald Gladden has agreed to participate in what he believes is a documentary about the experience of being a juror--but what Ronald doesn't know is that the whole thing is fake.

Queue

Related segments from the Fresh Air Archive:

See All Recent Segments

There are more than 22,000 Fresh Air segments.

Let us help you find exactly what you want to hear.
Just play me something
Your Queue

Would you like to make a playlist based on your queue?

Generate & Share View/Edit Your Queue