The enduring influence of Dracula on the image of Romania (Keynote)

Conference: Children of the Night International Dracula Congress

Dates: 25-26 October 2024

Abstract:

Although Bram Stoker had never visited Transylvania, his evocative portrayal of the region is one of the most striking features of the novel. In writing Dracula, Stoker created an enduring ‘place myth’ of Transylvania as a remote, backwards and sinister place on the edge of Europe where vampires and the supernatural have free reign. The global popularity of the novel and its later popularisation through cinema has meant that this myth of Transylvania has circulated globally, and it has had an enduring impact on the way that Romania is perceived. This paper starts by examining the place myth of Transylvania that was set in motion by Stoker’s novel. With reference to the UK, it goes on to examine how this myth of Transylvania continues to structure the ways that Romania and Romanians are perceived within the popular imagination. In particular, representations of Romania are structured around tropes of Eastern European otherness that can be directly traced back to Dracula

Source: Manual