This episode of The Case Study of Vanitas‘ Japanese title may be “Love,” but the French title is “Femme Fatale.” You’ve probably heard the phrase before. It literally translates to “lethal woman” (or “deadly woman,” if you prefer), and over the years it’s become a term meaning a female character who uses her wiles to get what she wants, even (or especially) if that means unfortunate things for the men who fall into her trap. But there’s another term for femme fatale from the early 20th century that bears noting: vamp. Why yes, that is short for “vampire;” it comes from Rudyard Kipling‘s 1897 poem The Vampire, which he wrote in response to Philip Burne-Jones’ painting from the same year, which is also the year that Dracula was published. (You can see them side-by-side here.) Unlike most vampire novels of the 19th century, with the exception of Sheridan…
