The old monster in the new world: The Americanization of the vampire

This article sets out to explore how the vampire, a quintessential European monster which has been related to aristocracy, blood purity and colonialism, has been radically transformed following its migration to America. By adapting to the conditions of the New World, the creature has been Americanized by gradually abandoning its European traits – a process similar to the one described by exponents of Americanization such as Frederick Jackson Turner. During this transformation, the creature that once was a destructive force of nature has essentially been humanized. Instead of an animated corpse that lurks in the shadows, the vampire becomes a historian and an agent of history, occasionally a positive one. In this re-imagination of the American vampire we can discern ideas of American exceptionalism. At the same time, this transformation allows the vampire to become a vocal critic of the negative aspects of American history. The article explores the Americanization of the vampire by underlining the balance between the concepts of the vampire as an agent of American superiority and as a reliable narrator of the country’s history as expressed in seminal works of American vampire fiction.