The Things That Fly in the Night : Female Vampires in Literature of the Circum-Caribbean and African Diaspora / Giselle Liza Anatol.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Anatol, Giselle Liza, Author.

Series:

Critical Caribbean Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

African diaspora.

Tales--Caribbean Area.

Tales.

Vampires in literature.

Literature--Black authors--History and criticism.

Literature.

Caribbean literature--History and criticism.

Caribbean literature.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (312 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The Things That Fly in the Night explores images of vampirism in Caribbean and African diasporic folk traditions and in contemporary fiction. Giselle Liza Anatol focuses on the figure of the soucouyant, or Old Hag-an aged woman by day who sheds her skin during night's darkest hours in order to fly about her community and suck the blood of her unwitting victims. In contrast to the glitz, glamour, and seductiveness of conventional depictions of the European vampire, the soucouyant triggers unease about old age and female power. Tracing relevant folklore through the English- and French-speaking Caribbean, the U.S. Deep South, and parts of West Africa, Anatol shows how tales of the nocturnal female bloodsuckers not only entertain and encourage obedience in pre-adolescent listeners, but also work to instill particular values about women's "proper" place and behaviors in society at large. Alongside traditional legends, Anatol considers the explosion of soucouyant and other vampire narratives among writers of Caribbean and African heritage who in the past twenty years have rejected the demonic image of the character and used her instead to urge for female mobility, racial and cultural empowerment, and anti colonial resistance. Texts include work by authors as diverse as Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, U.S. National Book Award winner Edwidge Danticat, and science fiction/fantasy writers Octavia Butler and Nalo Hopkinson. This book is available as an audio book (https://www.abantuaudio.com/books/1197052/The-Things-That-Fly-in-the-Night).

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Conventional Versions: The Soucouyant Story in Folktales, Fiction, and Calypso

2. Nineteenth-Century Connections: European Vampire Stories and Configurations of the Demonic Black Woman

3. Draining Life Rather than Giving It: Maternal Legacies

4. "Queering" the Norm: Vampirism and Women's Sexuality

5. Reconstructing a Nation of Strangers: Soucouyants in the Work of Tessa McWatt, David Chariandy, and Helen Oyeyemi

6. Shedding Skin and Sucking Blood: Playing with Notions of Racial Intransigence

Conclusions

Notes

Works Cited

Index

About the Author

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 21. Dez 2019)

ISBN:

0-8135-6575-8

OCLC:

898125712