Dracula, the Vampire in Catalonia: Between Literature and Cinema through Pere Gimferrer

Abstract

This article analyzes the figure of the vampire as it emerges in both Catalan literature and cinema. More specifically, I consider the use of this dark figure in the works of one of the most important contemporary Catalan writers, the Barcelonan poet Pere Gimferrer. The first part of the essay underlines the relationships that Pere Gimferrer established with other writers, most notably Joan Perucho, and I show that a specific atmosphere is created to evoke the uncanny shadow of the dark count. In the second part, which considers the work of select Catalan filmmakers, I argue that auteurs like Pere Portabella and Albert Serra re-invent and deconstruct the myth of the vampire, inspired, as suggested by Gimferrer, not only by literature but even more so by horror movies.