This week I attended a lecture on the subject of the
literary, social, and political evidence of the vampire.

Much was made of the embattled Serbians in the 18th century
who were caught trying to exterminate "vampires" with rituals,
and who refused to desist even when it was forbidden.
I almost typed forbitten. Anyway.

The Serbians were stuck between the
Austro-Hungarian empire on one side and
the Ottoman empire on the other.
The lecturer remarked that vampire extermination rituals by the Serbians
expressed their hostility toward the foreigner, the other,
and acted out their hostility towards either empire.

The lecture then proceeded towards Bram Stoker, Polidori,
Anne Rice, and Stephenie Meyers,
authors of fiction about vampires,
complete with slides with stills from the film versions.