Saturday 20 October 2007

The Vampire and the Devil

According to the September newsletter of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula, the theme of their conference in 2008 will be "The Vampire and the Devil":

"The Transylvanian Society of Dracula holds its next annual conference in Romania between May 23-25, 2008, on "THE VAMPIRE and THE DEVIL" - a debate involving compared folklore, religions, literature and cultural anthropology, tracing the destiny, the evolution of the vampire in the Age of Christianity, Enlightment, Cartesianism and post-industrialism.

A tiny scene in the grand fresco of "The Last Judgment" on the outer wall of Voronet monastery (Bucovina, Romania), made almost 500 years a, shows an Angel and a Devil cooperating in punishing an evil man, upon his death - a rare instance in which the contraries agree, for once, on a joint course of action Has our perception of the role of Evil changed ever since? Did the devil manage to replace the Vampire, or has the vampire prevailed, acquiring devilish qualities?"


I don't quite understand how vampires got involved with that The Last Judgment fresco, but the theme probably allows speakers to choose suitable topics concerning both vampires and the devil.

A photo of the Voronet monastery from a Romanian tourist leaflet.

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...