Contagious Horror: Infectious Themes in Fiction and Film

Abstract

As human societies moved forward from the Bronze Age, the stories of frightening beasts and beings became a reflection of the periodic wars and plagues that afflicted the populations.The emerging cultures of medieval Europe continued the horror tradition with stories of witches, vampires and werewolves, often with an infectious element to the mythology.Horror fiction as a distinct literary genre might be said to begin in the early 1800s with Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812), Mary W. Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), and John Polidori's The Vampyre (1819)-the latter two composed simultaneously during the famous retreat at Lord Byron's cottage in the English countryside.These works emphasized the themes of death and decay prominent in The Industrial Age, and presaged an increasing focus on contagion as the 19th Century moved toward the late Victorian era.In 1897, concerns over health and political crises bubbled over in an iconic novel that set the stage for a new era of horror fiction and, soon thereafter, horror movies, which would prove fertile ground indeed for infectious themes. Vampires and Werewolves: Infectious Bites and Rabid TransformationsWhen they become such, there comes with the change the curse of immortality; they cannot die, but must go on age History of Medicine

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