Origins of Dracula and the Research Proposal

As Frost emphasizes, "Although there is no reason to believe that Stoker regarded Dracula as anything other than a straightforward story of Good vs. Evil, most commentators today interpret it as a sexual rather than a theological allegory, even going so far as to call it one of the most erotic novels ever written" (55). The legends of vampires that prevailed well into the 19th century throughout Europe were enough to give anyone nightmares, and the author consistently maintained that this was in fact the source of his inspiration for Dracula. As Frost points out, "Stoker, himself, always maintained that the genesis of his novel was a vivid nightmare; but following recent disclosures about his private life the book has taken on a new significance, and is now generally regarded as an expression of the author's frustrated sensuality" (55).

Although the novel is slightly flawed in places from a purely literary perspective, Stoker's Dracula remains the quintessential vampire in literature and cinema alike. According to Holte (1997), Stoker's novel was influenced primarily by three traditions, Le Fanu's novella "Carmilla," Eastern European folklore concerning vampires and Vlad the Impaler. In this regard, Holte advises, "The prototype of the female vampire appeared in Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's 1871 novella, 'Carmilla,' a tale that inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula" (7). This author adds that, "Stoker drew on two other traditions, however, the Eastern European folklore about vampires and the actual history of Vlad Dracula, or Vlad Tepes, the fifteenth-century Wallachian prince otherwise known as Vlad the Impaler. The success of Dracula is a result of Stoker's combining elements from all three traditions" (8).

Furthermore, and notwithstanding the controversy concerning the precise origins of the novel, it is equally clear that Stoker's did his historical homework as well in researching Dracula in ways that contributed to its enduring popularity.In this regard, Frost confirms Holte's observation that, "Stoker is thought to have based his character, Dracula, on the merciless Walachian warlord, Vlad the Impaler" (53). A final source of influence on Stoker may well have been Varney the Vampire: or, The Feast of Blood, initially published in 1847 and subsequently reprinted in installments in 1853 (Holte 6). The work, Varney the Vampire, represents a significant influence for Stoker's novel for several reasons:

1. Varney is the first literary vampire who can turn his prey into other vampires;

2. Varney's association with an earlier aristocracy, the Stuarts', sets the pattern for Dracula's noble family history; and,

3. Varney's ability to transform himself from a monstrous bloodsucker to an attractive member of the aristocracy will become a central part of Stoker's novel (Holte 7).

Works Cited

Frost, Brian J. The Monster with a Thousand Faces: Guises of the Vampire in Myth and Literature. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1989.

Glover, David. Vampires, Mummies, and Liberals: Bram Stoker and the Politics of Popular

Fiction. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996.

Holte, James Craig. Dracula in the Dark: The Dracula Film Adaptations. Westport, CT:

Greenwood Press, 1997.

Johnson, Major E.C. On the Track of the Crescent. 1885. Excerpted in The Origins of Dracula:

The Background to Bram Stoker's Gothic Masterpiece, edited by Clive Leatherdale, 97-

107. London: William Kimber, 1987.

Leatherdale, Clive. The Origins of Dracula. Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex: Desert Island Books, 1987

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