A class you can sink your teeth into

There’s only a few ways to get extra credit in professor Eric Anderson’s upcoming English course at George Mason University, simply titled “Vampires.” One of them? To slay a vampire.

“You got extra credit if you brought in proof that you killed a vampire,” says Maggie Haynes, a senior at the Fairfax, Va. school, who took the class last spring. “Proof could include dust … a jar of sparkles. I cut up several classic vampire fangs and dipped them in red paint and strung them up on a string and said I brought in a vampire fang necklace, and I got extra credit off of that.”

Just in time for Halloween, Anderson is gearing up for his third go-round at teaching Vampires, an English 202 class that fulfills GMU students’ literature requirement. Anderson previously taught the course in the Spring 2013 and 2015 semesters but says he looks forward to revamping the course material.

“I’m not pitching this as high-level literary analysis, (I’m) just kind of hoping to get the students reading and interacting with the texts and with each other and having some fun,” Anderson says. “For next semester, I’m thinking about rebooting the course and doing more with modern and contemporary vampires … there’s just so much going on right now with vampires that I’d like to tap into that a little bit more.”

The 40-person Vampires class reads a mix of classics such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Stephen King ’s ’Salem’s

Lot, as well as some modern short stories.

Anderson says he first got interested in vampires in grade school after watching classic black-and-white horror films.

“I’m really interested in why horror and fear are popular at all. Why do people enjoy that experience?” he says. “It’s sort of something I’ve been trying to figure out for decades with my own almost lifelong attraction to it.” He says he sees vampires as “flexible” because they can take on different meanings and interpretations depending on the story.

Anderson has one simple rule: No Twilight.

“We’re not here for sparkling, mopey vampires,” he says.

AP Vampires, such as Dracula, as portrayed by Bela Lugosi in the classic 1931 film, are studied in Eric Anderson’s English class at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.