Magic and Vampirism in Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana and Bram Stoker's Dracula

This essay considers the intersection of magic and vampirism in Philostratus's Life of Apollonius of Tyana and Bram Stoker's Dracula. It demonstrates that these texts, though separated by more than sixteen hundred years, present a similar picture of the beguiling monster—one that is not simply the product of literary influence. Both bind vampiric sorcery—primarily mesmerism and shape-shifting—to anxieties about foreignness, gender, and sexuality. Given the late antique and Victorian obsession with the occult, as well as the apprehension of marginality and femininity, the vampires of Philostratus and Stoker may be said to embody a "Return of the Repressed." The essay also acknowledges the particular features of the two periods, such as the rise of asceticism in the former and the triumph of science in the latter, but it emphasizes the parallel and virtuosic representation of the vampire-magician.