As King’s definition of a vampire becomes more and more clear, I realized that his definition and Stoker’s definition are extremely close. King likes the age old clichés laid out in the world first vampire novel Dracula. These vampires can’t go out into day light, they sleep in coffins, they are repelled by religious artifacts like crosses and holy water, and they try to turn other humans into vampires. These vampires are malevolent. Creatures of pure evil. They seem to truly enjoy creating chaos and trouble for the lives of good, god-fearing humans. We’ve read a fair amount of vampire literature throughout the course and different authors have different definitions of what vampires are. One particularly frightening aspect of King’s vampires is their obsession with multiplying their numbers. This seems to be their main objective once they become vampires. It reminds me of a zombie invasion. However, King doesn’t stray much from Stoker’s definition of a vampire. This makes me think ‘Salem’s Lot is King’s homage to the late Bram Stoker. In the introduction at the beginning of the novel King talks about he read Dracula at a young age and enjoyed it thoroughly. Considering how this is Stephen King we’re talking about I think Dracula had some influence on the young, impressionable King.
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