Good Afternoon Everyone,
I wanted to put some brain storming for our next paper on here because I have a feeling no one has read the novel I am going to be writing about. It is called The Last American Vampire and it is written by Seth Graham Smith. If you all ever get the chance I highly recommend it especially if you are a lover of history.
The story follows the life of Henry Sturges over the course of 500 years. It starts all the way back in the 1500 when Henry is originally plunged into "vampiredom" against his own will. Henry's life if very unique because not only does he not age, but he comes into contact with huge major historical figures and impacts them in many ways. Some of those people include Abraham Lincoln, Nicola Tesla, Teddy Roosevelt, and much more that I will talk about in my paper.
My idea for the paper is to use Reader-Response Criticism to show that since Henry cannot age he tends to project his life onto everyone he meets (Vampire and Human). He is in a way vicariously living through all of those around him because he was never given the chance to age properly. He does this by impacting all of those that he meets in many different ways, but all in ways in which he would not be forgotten. Henry's goal is to not actually live forever, but to have the memories of everyone he meets to live forever.
Although this is just the beginning of my brain storming I hope to conjure up more juicy material to add to my paper. Any thoughts?
Thank you- Kayleigh
Ooh, Kayleigh, vampiricism as a form of reading! That's incredibly cool. I'd caution you to make sure you are using the terms read/reading/reader along with the term projecting because the word "projecting" alone will make your essay sound like psychoanalysis instead of reader response. Does that make sense? I am loving, though, the idea of the vampire as the ultimate reader, as perhaps reader of aging, since they can only observe this, cannot experience. A compelling and original theory!!
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