Issue Details: First known date: 2019... 2019 'In Need of Vitamin Sea': The Emergence of Australian Identity through the Eyes and Thirst of Kirsty Eager’s [Eagar’s] Vampires
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This essay seeks to unpack the nature and associated symbolic meanings of the vampires in Kirsty Eager's Saltwater Vampires (2010). Eager's text still remains a bestselling text for young adults in Australia, roughly corresponding to a time period in which it became increasingly clear that this country's meta-narrative was itself in a state of flux. As a vampire narrative its emphasis is naturally linked to "the symbolics of blood" is already located in a "liminal position" (Stephanou 2014, 5). However, this Young Adult fiction is even more so in that it also lies between several intersecting urtexts related to the Australian context and its underpinning history. In particular Eager has used the destruction of the Dutch East India trading vessel the Batavia, which ran aground off the coast of Western Australia on the fourth of June 1629 as an entree and mimetic foundation for her vampire narrative. As is often the case with historical narratives, and in particular vampire accounts, an initial destructive event then "fans forward, ... to become different moments of the one process of sensing" (Taussig 1992, 21). To further elaborate on this process and the context of this essay, "the connection between humans and vampires—whether constructed within fantasy, fiction, fandom or real-life emulation—is a symbiotic one, and one which is sustained by the umbilical cord of memory" (Bacon and Bronk 2013, 2). Wherever blood and memory are comingled in text, understanding the context is an imperative (Gilders, 2004). Therefore, as summarized in ensuing sections, in the Australian socio-historical and literary contexts the linking thread of actuality and memory is "the imperative of blood" (Brisbane 2009,400), of which the Batavia disaster is the first recorded instance.' (Introduction)
 

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon The Global Vampire : Essays on the Undead in Popular Culture Around the World Cait Coker (editor), Donald E. Palumbo (editor), C.W. Sullivan III (editor), Jefferson : McFarland and Company , 2019 18773485 2019 anthology criticism

    'The figure of the vampire is a truly global phenomenon, with popular interpretations appearing in Europe and Asia that are distinct from any versions found in the Americas. Instead, the global vampire draws from indigenous mythology as well as popular culture, and is freed from typical readings of monstrosity and otherness. This collection features over a dozen interdisciplinary scholars reading popular texts through critical lenses that range from traditional literary studies, to video game scholarship, to ecocriticism. Challenging the field of popular vampire studies, this book asks the question: What is the vampire in different global contexts, and what does it represent?' (Publication summary) 

    Jefferson : McFarland and Company , 2019
    pg. 177-186
Last amended 5 Mar 2020 12:58:46
177-186 'In Need of Vitamin Sea': The Emergence of Australian Identity through the Eyes and Thirst of Kirsty Eager’s [Eagar’s] Vampiressmall AustLit logo
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