Dirk Lutschewitz

Bram Stoker's Dracula

and the Vampire Genre

ISBN 978-3-9815327-9-1

BWB Verlag & Mediendienste,

Heidelberg 2014

Dissertation (Universität Heidelberg)

Taschenbuch, 265 Seiten

Sprache: Englisch

Preis: 34,90 EUR

Lieferbar seit April 2014

Dracula, the most famous vampire tale of all time, is more than merely a single work. The narrative of the undead Count from Transylvania, who moves to England in search of new victims, has become one of the most popular and well-known myths in contemporary culture – a story which exists in several versions. Apart from Bram Stoker’s original novel (1897), numerous film adaptations, in particular Tod Browning’s 1931 classic starring Bela Lugosi, have profoundly shaped the Western world’s notions of the vampire figure. However, the Dracula myth does not originate with Stoker and Browning but rather is itself deeply rooted in a dark and intriguing literary tradition, which includes masterpieces such as Goethe’s The Bride of Corinth (1797), John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1819), and Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1871).

In this intertextual approach to Dracula, Dirk Lutschewitz analyzes the complex position of Stoker’s novel vis-à-vis both its literary precursors and its film adaptations. Focusing on how the various novels, short stories, poems, and movies deal with the genre’s archetypal conflict between good and evil, he traces the extraordinary evolution of the vampire in literature and film. In addition to the landmarks mentioned above, the often-neglected horror series Varney the Vampyre (1847) and the Dracula movies by F.W. Murnau (1922), Terence Fisher (1958), Werner Herzog (1979), and Francis Ford Coppola (1992) are examined.

Apart from making a contribution to the enduring academic discussion centering on Stoker’s Dracula, Lutschewitz’s study can be read as a guided tour of the most influential and salient vampire classics. It therefore addresses itself not only to Stoker scholars but to anyone interested in the literature and cinema of the undead.

Dirk Lutschewitz studied English and French Philology and American Studies at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg and The University of New Mexico (Albuquerque). In addition to Gothic fiction, his major fields of research include American Romanticism, Hollywood cinema, and Native American culture. Between 2004 and 2008, he worked as teaching assistant for courses in American literature at the Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA). Since 2009 he has been teaching English and French at the Privatgymnasium St. Leon-Rot.

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