44 pages • 1 hour read
Sunyi DeanThe Book Eaters
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Geographical Context: The Gothic Literature of Yorkshire
The Book Eaters takes place throughout the UK, primarily in Devon’s home of North Yorkshire. This is an area rich with storytelling history. Hester intentionally makes note of this when she says, “Next you’ll be telling me you grew up in a manor, like something out of Wuthering Heights” (43). For someone growing up away from damp isolation, the “moors” seem like a romantic ideal out of a gothic novel. Ironically, it’s Hester who has a literary connection with North Yorkshire; her surname, Ravenscar, is an empty village near Scarborough that was initially intended as a resort town. (“Discover Ravenscar, the Town That Never Was.” Top 10 Trail Experiences). However, planning fell through, and now the unpopulated town remains a coastal curiosity. It’s very likely that Dean used this name intentionally to heighten the overall tone of the novel.
Two of the most famous gothic novels to be set in and inspired by Yorkshire are Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Wuthering Heights is predominantly driven by its setting, so much so that it became the novel’s title. Without Wuthering Heights, there would be no Wuthering Heights. This novel is often associated with the austere romanticism of the North of England. Much of Dracula was inspired by Stoker’s travels to Whitby and Robin Hood’s Bay, a seaside town and nearby village edging the moors. Today, Whitby celebrates this connection with museum exhibits and a biannual Goth Festival. Although Devon grows up inland away from the sea, her home is still very much a part of this natural landscape and its literary history.
Literary Context: Nontraditional Vampires
The Book Eaters incorporates many of the conventions of a vampire novel, but with a new approach. Cai and the other mind eaters exhibit vampiric tendencies in that they drain their victims. However, instead of killing them, they strip them of their energy and agency. Contrary to zombie stories, in which the antagonists mutilate and murder their victims, Dean’s mind eaters are more reminiscent of “psychic” or energy vampires. They deplete their victims of energy and life force, leaving them inert or catatonic. They are also reminiscent of incubi, a close relative of vampires who feed off sexual energy.
The vampire genre, which particularly exploded following hits such as the Twilight series and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, is deeply saturated. Therefore, it’s more important than ever for writers to come up with fresh approaches. The short story “Krishna Blue” by Shveta Thakrar exemplifies an innovative take on vampirism. It is reminiscent of The Book Eaters and features a vampiric character who feeds off color.
The relationship between book eaters and mind eaters suggests that what they’re really devouring in those moments is creativity—the ability to think imaginatively and develop stories, something that the eaters themselves lack. This is very similar to Suzy McKee Charnas’s short story “Late Bloomer,” in which vampires lack the ability to create. The protagonist struggles with finding his artistic niche until becoming a vampire strips him of the choices. These stories create a new dynamic between vampires and humans, predator and prey.
