Sucking, Bleeding, Breaking: On the Dialectics of Vampirism, Capital and Time

Godfrey, Richard; Jack, Gavin and Jones, Campbell (2004). Sucking, Bleeding, Breaking: On the Dialectics of Vampirism, Capital and Time. Culture and Organization, 10(1) pp. 25–36.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14759550410001675181

Abstract

In this paper we argue for a dialectical understanding of vampirism, capital, and time, which involves placing each of these elements in tension, both internally and in relation to each other. Starting from Marx's comments on the vampiric nature of capital, we draw out the importance of time in his argument. Rather than simply adding time to vampires and capital, we argue for a critical rethinking of time which, responding to Bergson, poses a ‘dialectic of duration’ in which time is neither simply continuous nor discontinuous. Drawing on vampire literature and film, we trace this dialectic of duration through the erratic feeding habits of vampires, of capital, and of contemporary producers and consumers. Reflecting on the meaning of time for Marx and for capital, we raise questions about resistance and the future, and conclude by outlining a temporal dialectic of capital that stresses both the reproductive risk and the political promise of the vampire.

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