471A3--Week 7 Questions/Comments--Thursday

You can’t cite a search engine. You can site what you find using a search engine but “Google” is not a source (or at least that is what I was always told…). This is one of the main problems that I have, all of the information (minus the stuff about vampires) is real information but there is no way to verify it. And while I understand that it is a fiction book I feel that if there is going to be this much information about his life in the book, I feel that there should be a way to “check” what the author is saying. It may just being me picky but I want to know where he is getting this information. –Kayle P

Like Kayle, I get that this is a fiction book, but if he's going to be that detailed about Lincoln's life, he could at least through in some more significant sources (or at least pretend he has more significant sources other than Abe's Vampire Diary). I know we're supposed to be looking at Graham-Smith's use of history and portrayals of figures within the book, but I've just got to say, I got a good laugh out of his "pictures." For example, the picture of the man on the operating table who HAS to be a vampire because he's strapped down and has on dark glasses (227)--and don't even get me started on the Diego Swanson painting (110). On a note more relevant to what we're looking for, I noticed how even though it's fiction, Graham-Smith portrays Abe as the "leader" in everything he does and uses descriptions that show him in a positive light, thus sticking to the stereotyped national identity that Lincoln has obtained over time. -Carly W.

I agreed with the above comments! I kept looking for footnotes! But, it is fiction, and the rules are very different. I could kind of tell when it was original writing, as it sounded like a modern writer trying to use old-fashioned diction but with modern syntax, versus the original writing that felt more complete. - Carly B.

I loved the ending! I thought that it was a great way to continue the story after the death of Lincoln. I was wondering how he was going to do it since he had following the timeline of his life. Also I loved the way that each chapter started with quotes I will admit that I was skeptical of this book but it managed to entertain me. –Kayle P

The ending was pretty entertaining to me as well. It was cool to see the difference between book and movie too, where in the movie it ends with Lunciln in his way to the theater. The book was enjoyable and I liked how Grahame-Smith made Lincoln's real reason for his abolition cause was to stop the southern production of vampires.- George H

Reading this book was such a nice break from all the scholarly literature from previous weeks. I think Graham-Smith can get away with this portrayal of Lincoln because hes so unapologetic and blunt about it. He fully commits to Lincoln as a vampire hunter and fully develops how his role as hunter impacted his later actions... Like Carly, I can't get over the ridiculousness (in a good way) of the pictures included. I especially like the one portrait of Lincoln and Edgar Allen Poe, because of course they were BFFs. Even though the book is supposed to be a fictional escape from traditional history, its important in the literature world because it introduces people to history subjects that they would ordinarily be bored with. There is a smidgen of truth in the book about Lincoln, and might inspire more people to study him closer. -Cameron F.

I think Grahame-Smith did an excellent job writing a Northern biased historical fairytale based off of the life of Lincoln. As Carly mentioned, Grahame-Smith depicts Lincoln as a strong male character going along with the "strong silent" type Lincoln has been recognized as throughout history. It’s hard to overlook Grahame-Smith's bias toward the North and Northern ideals from the past in his work. Vampires are blood sucking monsters, who live in the South and want to establish their own territory, and fight against the North in the Confederate army...hmm..."So long as this country is cursed with slavery, so too will it be cursed with vampires" (114). In Grahame-Smith's opinion was the institution of slavery just as bad as sucking blood from people? --Mary O.

Graham-Smith's book, although fiction, is remarkably accurate when it comes to Lincolns life and the major events that shaped it, albeit with Vampires. This book is an excellent example of a fiction writer doing his research and writing a book that provides a look into the life of famous figure. However, there Lincoln the character and Lincoln the man are very different and despite the accuracy of the events in the book, the author is unable to replicate Lincoln's personality through the pages.-Sean

Graham-Smith takes a clear side on the argument over why the war was fought. Slavery is central to the plot and to the war. The southerners explicitly state that they are fighting to ensure the continuation of slavery to provide food for the vampires and they believe in racial supremecy, particularly that of the vampire over the human and the white man over the black man.-Sean

I’m not sure what people are looking for from a fictional book. You also must think about who is reading this: a general audience. Can you imagine if he cited every detail? Or even once a page? It wouldn’t make sense. Scholars would tear him apart. Further, did it make you want to look up all those facts and find out more? Then maybe that’s what he wanted. It’s like a movie. I also agree with Mary about the South/Vampires thing. Relating the South, their ideals, slavery to vampirism is a pretty strong statement. He’s basically saying they are evil. Not just evil for wanting to keep slaves, but evil because they are blood-sucking demons.-- Brooke

I do recall some of the controversy regarding this book/movie a few months ago around the time of the movie release. Some people were offended that Lincoln didn't care about slavery, really, but hated slavery because of the connection to vampires. Similar criticisms raised the issue of the portrayal of slavery. I found it to be a bit one dimensional; Grahame-Smith certainly reveals many of our generation's perceptions and assumptions about the Civil War and slavery in this book. - Carly B. I enjoyed the book and took it for what it's worth. The book is intended for the general public, so I don't think many scholars would be outraged with some of Grahame-Smiths claims. The general public are most likely horror fans that probably read this book because they were fans if the first book, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. What I kind of fear though is that the way the pictures are placed with the vampires in dark glasses, I'm actually worried that people believe that this story might be more truth than fiction. It's like the whole zombie craze right now, some people think this is plausible. Hopefully the readers of this book in America don't read it literal because its written as Lincoln's journals.- George H

Ignoring all of the vampire stuff, I find it weird that they would use the Underground railroad like that. I find it odd that he would befriend a slave though. Lincoln didn't believe in slavery but that doesn't make him not a racist. Also this book is clearly for entertainment purposes so it's historical inaccuracies are partly excusable. I will say though that in The Vampire Diaries warewolves' weakness is silver. So reading that that was a vampire's weakness was confusing. But to catch up on my vampire history I went to Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire. - Hannah