Vampire Mania

Here’s Fr. Barron commenting perceptively on the Vamp craze:

And John Granger, the Hogwarts Professor, turns his lit crit acumen on to the Mormon roots of the Twilight Craze:

“The Dean of Harry Potter Scholars” takes on the Twilight Series

Author John Granger, whom Time Magazine has called “the Dean of Harry Potter Scholars” focuses his expertise on the popular Twilight vampire chronicles in the November/December issue of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity.

“Mormon Vampires In The Garden of Eden: What the Bestselling Twilight Series Has in Store for Young Readers” is a great piece claiming that the Twilight series is so popular because it is filling a spiritual need in young people while it also subtly dissects, and at times defends, Mormonism. Here are a few excerpts from the article. . .

“I suggest that the Twilight series is something for thoughtful people to be aware of and to think seriously about, first, because of its remarkable hold on the imagination of American readers and movie-goers, but second, and more important, because of the reason these books are so popular: They meet a spiritual need. . .

Twilight mania is largely a function of the reader’s identification with Bella, whose love and longing for union with Edward as Word or Christ enables the reader to transcend his individual concerns for an imaginative experience of something more real and lasting.

Thus, we find, in this Harlequin edition of the Song of Songs, the God-Man love story that is the key to unlocking Twilight’s appeal.

The story is a romantic allegory depicting the roles and responsibilities of the divine and human lovers, but it has the specifically Mormon hermetic twist that sex within marriage is the endgame and the only means to personal salvation and immortal life.”

The full content of this article is available to members of the media for review and/or reprint. The entirety of the article is NOT available on-line. The author, John Granger, is also available for interviews. If you would like a copy of John Granger’s article, please email Julie Grisolano, Development Director, at [email protected] or call her at (773) 481-1090.

Read more of the November/December issue of Touchstone magazine by clicking here.