We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA. A STUDY ON THE HUMAN MIND AND PARANOID BEHAVIOUR.
- Authors
Jódar, Andrés Romero
- Abstract
The Victorian fin-de-siècle experienced the growth of scientific naturalism, and witnessed the birth and development of sciences such as modern psychology, supported by the scientific efforts to unravel the processes of the human mind. Nevertheless, the 1890s were also notable for the participation of educated people in Spiritualism and other occult activities, their interest in folklore of all sorts and the writing of a great corpus of fantasy literature. The aim of this essay is to offer a reading of Bram Stoker's Dracula as an example of the dialogue established between science, literature and the study of the supernatural in Victorian England. The novel, as part of the fin-de-siècle scientific period, can be interpreted as a conscious inquiry into the functioning of the mind and, most especially, into the aetiology of paranoid behaviour . Thus, Stoker's text becomes a testimony of a mental disorder known as folie à deux, or shared madness.
- Subjects
STOKER, Bram, 1847-1912; DRACULA (Book : Stoker); FOLIE a deux; SPIRITUALISM in literature; PARANOIA in literature; ENGLISH fantasy literature
- Publication
Atlantis (0210-6124), 2009, Vol 31, Issue 2, p23
- ISSN
0210-6124
- Publication type
Literary Criticism