Indeed, Stoker not only created a wonderful fictional villain, he also created a terrific horror story that would continue to entertain readers for centuries to come. “Scholars and critics have found cultural anxieties peculiar to the Victorian fin de siècle darkly reflected in Dracula.” (Clasen) These different cultural anxieties included degeneration, reverse colonization (what I like to call blood culture), homosexuality, the ‘New Woman’, Darwinism Materialism and so on. The major question or questions that come to mind are how, after all of this time is Dracula still so popular? It is popular in the eyes of the academic reader as well as the leisure reader. What is it that has allowed this text to withstand the test of time and still sell?
“I draw from evolutionary and cognitive psychology partly to take advantage of advancements in the evolutionary social sciences, partly as a corrective and academic horror studies that have for a long time been mired in untenably reductive explanatory paradigms (versions of cultural determinism) and a reliance on arcane and unscientific psychologies.” (Clasen) This is clearly referring back to the two cultures debate that C.P Snow made in his lecture in 1959. There are major advancements in the sciences sector over the humanities sector. The advancements in science and in ideas and sections within the novel that are science related have helped in keeping Dracula just as popular now then when it was first produced.
Readers are reading the text and taking a scientific approach while reading it. “By adopting a biocultural perspective, we can see how Dracula gives strong emotional shape to conflicts and fears that are deeply ingrained in human nature, but also how the novel is a product of its time.” (Clasen) It is also that feeling of the supernatural that gives Dracula the ability to stand the test of time. Readers tend to latch onto texts that have a sense of mystery and supernatural nature about them. Moreover, in this particular novel, supernaturalism plays a crucial role. On one hand, Count Dracula embodies ‘bad’ supernaturalism. On the other hand, Van Helsing’s group of vampire hunters takes the part of the ‘good’ supernaturalism. Stoker intertwines these two to help create the conflict rooted within the characters and Dracula. It makes Dracula bad and the vampire hunters good.
Finally, Dracula is a mixture of folklore, history and awesome imagination. It keeps the reader in suspense. The setting of the novel, the Gothic territory, monster-like characters, the Count’s old decaying castle, are all very sensational and continue to capture the reader to this day.
Works Cited
Ciasen, Mathias. "Attention, Prédation, Counterintuition: Why Dracula Won't Die." Style 46.3/4 (2012): 378. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.
“I draw from evolutionary and cognitive psychology partly to take advantage of advancements in the evolutionary social sciences, partly as a corrective and academic horror studies that have for a long time been mired in untenably reductive explanatory paradigms (versions of cultural determinism) and a reliance on arcane and unscientific psychologies.” (Clasen) This is clearly referring back to the two cultures debate that C.P Snow made in his lecture in 1959. There are major advancements in the sciences sector over the humanities sector. The advancements in science and in ideas and sections within the novel that are science related have helped in keeping Dracula just as popular now then when it was first produced.
Readers are reading the text and taking a scientific approach while reading it. “By adopting a biocultural perspective, we can see how Dracula gives strong emotional shape to conflicts and fears that are deeply ingrained in human nature, but also how the novel is a product of its time.” (Clasen) It is also that feeling of the supernatural that gives Dracula the ability to stand the test of time. Readers tend to latch onto texts that have a sense of mystery and supernatural nature about them. Moreover, in this particular novel, supernaturalism plays a crucial role. On one hand, Count Dracula embodies ‘bad’ supernaturalism. On the other hand, Van Helsing’s group of vampire hunters takes the part of the ‘good’ supernaturalism. Stoker intertwines these two to help create the conflict rooted within the characters and Dracula. It makes Dracula bad and the vampire hunters good.
Finally, Dracula is a mixture of folklore, history and awesome imagination. It keeps the reader in suspense. The setting of the novel, the Gothic territory, monster-like characters, the Count’s old decaying castle, are all very sensational and continue to capture the reader to this day.
Works Cited
Ciasen, Mathias. "Attention, Prédation, Counterintuition: Why Dracula Won't Die." Style 46.3/4 (2012): 378. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.