Bloom's Literary Themes - ymerleksi - home

36
Bram Stoker
15. Richardson, p. 428.
16. See, for instance, Richardson, p. 427.
17. Richard Wasson, “The Politics of Dracula,” English Literature in
Translation, IX, pp. 24–27.
18. Freud, Totem and Taboo, trans. James Strachey in The Standard
Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Vol.
XIII (1913–1914) (London: Hogarth press, 1962), 60–63.
19. Wasson, p. 26.
20. Freud, pp. 37ff.
21. Bentley, pp. 29–30; MacGillwray, p. 522.
22. Bentley, p. 30.
23. Bierman, p. 194. Bierman’s analysis is concerned to demonstrate
that “Dracula mirrors Stoker’s early childhood . . . ,” and is a
highly speculative but fascinating study. The emphasis is on
Stoker’s rivalry with his brothers but it provides, albeit indirectly,
further evidence of hostility toward the rejecting mother.
24. Ludlam cites one of the actors in the original stage production
of Dracula as indicating that the adaptation was so successful
that “Disturbances in the circle or stalls as people felt faint
and had to be taken out were not uncommon—and they were
perfectly genuine, not a publicity stunt. Strangely enough, they
were generally men” (Ludlam, I. 165).
25. See, for instance, Wolfgang Lederer, M.D., The Fear of Women
(New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1968), especially
the chapter entitled, “A Snapping of Teeth.”
26. Otto Rank, The Trauma of Birth (New York: Harper & Row,
1973), p. 73.
27. When discussing this paper with a class, two of my students
argued that Dracula is not, in fact, destroyed at the novel’s
conclusion. They maintained that his last look is one of triumph
and that his heart is not staked but pierced by a mere bowie
knife. Their suggestion that, at least, the men do not follow the
elaborate procedures to insure the destruction of Dracula that
they religiously observe with regard to that of the women, is
certainly of value here, whether one agrees that Dracula still
stalks the land. My thanks to Lucinda Donnelly and Barbara
Kotacka for these observations.