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Miscellany

Vol. 16 (2023): Literary Microhistories. Models and Perspectives in the Slavic Area

Living as a Vampire in the City of N. The TV Series "Central Russia’s Vampires" Between (Super)naturalism and Cultural Transfer

Published
2024-02-01

Abstract

In this paper we provide an analysis of the first season of the TV series Central Russia’s Vampires, which was a great success in Russia at the beginning of 2021, both for audiences and critics. In particular, the series will be compared with other products of the horror and fantasy genres that were devoted to vampires in Russian and Western literature and cinema. In addition, its similarity to a certain tradition of Russian magic realism and grotesque will be emphasized, with a special focus on the role of the city of Smolensk and its history. Our aim is to show that Central Russia’s Vampires, thanks to its cultural references and its hybridity of drama and comedy, is a faithful mirror of Russian society and mentality at the turn of the 2010s and 2020s.