Abstract
This chapter explores the genesis of Stoker’s novel and how it relates to the wider contextual issues of the period such as theories of degeneration. The chapter also outlines a number of critical approaches to Dracula enabling an analysis of the representations of gender, colonialism, medicine, and forms of technology. The novel is also related to the Gothic context of the period and the chapter examines how ideas about doubling, drawn from that context, influenced the representation of the relationship between vampire and vampire hunter. In summary, the chapter provides an important critical overview of the novel and the principal approaches taken to it. It also outlines how Dracula can be related to the social and literary contexts of the time.
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Smith, A. (2023). Bram Stoker’s Dracula in Context. In: Bacon, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82301-6_10-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82301-6_10-1
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