Type
Text
Type
Thesis
Advisor
Tondre, Michael | Newman, Andrew
Date
2015-12-01
Keywords
English literature | Christianity, Dracula, Secular, Stoker, Un-Dead, Undeath
Department
Department of English.
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/77557
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
The primary goal of this thesis is to offer a way of rehabilitating the figure of Dracula by using Victorian and modern death practices to inform our understanding of Stoker’s narrative. The method I propose is to extend Stoker’s antagonist beyond his construction as an “Un-Dead†being lacking complexity into what I am calling the ideology of “Undeath.†Undeath restores the identity of the Un-Dead being, and seeks to legitimatize the being’s current existence. Victorians were hindered from seeing Undeath in the narrative due to the contemporary tension between religious and secular approaches to death, however, modern scholars have the ability to not only see the struggle of Undeath but to understand its implications to the extent that we may acquire a sensitivity for Dracula as a character. | 37 pages
Recommended Citation
Frakl, Kaitlyn, "From “Un-Dead†to “Undeath†: Rehabilitating the Figure of Dracula" (2015). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 3357.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/3357