The myth of the vampire existed in a multitude of civilizations and cultures under various names such is strigoi (for the Romanian territory), Apotamkin, etc. But no matter the name, vampires will always refer to gothic creatures that drain the blood of humans, thus being monstrous.
The first writer to introduce the vampire in literature was Lord Byron in the eighteenth century, but the most significant writer to develop the myth was Bram Stoker. He is the „father” of the vampire as he gave a complete description of the vampire in his most famous book” Dracula”. After the release of the book, the myth of the vampire became extremely popular amongst writers and as a consequence the books whose main characters were vampires sky-rocketed. Amongst the most famous contemporary writers which developed and modified the myth of the vampire is Stephenie Meyer with her famous „Twilight”.
In her book we find a multitude of deviations from the myth but still she keeps many things as they are with the main purpose of enhancing the vampire’s romantic features. For instance, when Bella takes on the task of finding out the reason why Edward isn’t allowed to come to the La Push beach, she finds a book which describes what Edward is. When searching the camera focuses on all the key words that point to the unnatural and supernatural abilities which Edward has: „the cold one”, one who drinks” the immortal drink” , „undead”, „immortal” and so on.
When Bella confronts him she says that he is „impossibly fast and strong” that is another stereotype kept by Stephenie Meyer most definitely to put emphasis on the fact that Edward is a character that fits the pattern of romantic characters, and like all romantic characters he need features that make his special, that separate him from the crowd.
Probably the greatest change that the myth of the vampire went through was the fact that it is no longer associated with the figure of „ walking cadavers”