by David Keyworth (July 2007) Hardback.
Index. 240x159mm
320 pages
ISBN 978-1-905328-30-7
£30.00
Since earliest times man has feared
troublesome corpses - the bodies of the dead which do not lie
still and decompose, but rise again to revisit the living. European
folklore is particularly rich in tales of vampires and reanimated
cadavers. The Undead take many forms, as do precautions to avert
an attack and methods of destruction should precautions fail.
What distinguishes vampires from other revenants? What metaphysical
agencies empower the Undead, and how do theological contortions
help explain them? And why did popular belief in the existence
of the Undead wane during the eighteenth century? These and other
vampiric questions are addressed in David Keyworth's encyclopaedic
survey of Troublesome Corpses.