Ireland's Fairies and Vampires

This course traces connection between Ireland's fairies and vampires in Western culture. We will see how Count Dracula, the creation of Irish writer Bram Stoker, coincides with ideas of the land of Ireland as an entity with an appetite for blood sacrifice. Dracula is one of a number of vampire figures created by Irish writers and we will see how Irish horror writing is produced against a cultural folklore replete in blood thirsty creatures. This will bring us into the realm of Irish fairy and through exploration of the origin of Irish fairy, in ancient Irish myth and legend, we will discover the supernatural creatures hovering behind Ireland's celebrated generation of the vampire.