However, I think that there probably is no way of rescuing the vampire or returning it to the notion of the unmourned, since that’s not really culturally relevant now. While I think Twilight is ridiculous (and everyone though Dracula was ridiculous when it came out, though it’s a far superior text to Twilight), it does reveal a certain cultural need…for what, I haven’t totally figured out, but it has something to do with teenage girls sexual needs. In fact, it might be interesting to see how vampires actually serve to reinforce the status quo (this can be seen w/ Draculas imperialistic bent, as well as his double of Van Helsing), which is what Twilight seems to be doing. Some of the moral undertones of the book (of which I have only read half) are really disturbing and anti-feminist. But now I’m off on a tangent. In any case, thanks for posting! I’ll definitely continue to read.