Uncanny Others: Vampires and Doubles

Abstract

After examining the development of the motif of the ‘sympathetic vampire’ by writers working in the homophobic period of the 1980s as a vehicle to discuss and promote lesbian and gay sexual-political perspectives, the chapter explores Gary Bowen’s representation of the motif in Diary of a Vampire to explore the problematic aspects of gay coming out and Meg Kingston’s utilisation of it Chrystal Heart with reference to bisexuality and queer sexual mobility. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the representation of the double in Vincent Brome’s AIDS narrative Love in the Plague, as well as its utilisation in Susan Swan’s The Wives of Bath as a vehicle for depicting transsexuality and society’s prejudiced attitude towards it.