Houses, Castles and Holy Circles. Concepts of Captivity in Bram Stoker's "Dracula" - Paperback

by Thomas Akehurst (Author)

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, University of Duisburg-Essen (Anglistik), course: The Empire as Horror: Imperial Gothic, language: English, abstract: Bram Stoker's novel Dracula is known and read all over the world ever since it was first published 1987. It is regarded as a classic work of horror literature, and as such has attracted the attention of many scholars and students in the field of literary studies. As with many other canonical books, one reason for the novel's popularity lies in the number of possible interpretations. But even though the possibilities are many, over the years certain readings have come to dominate the discourse. This paper aims for a reading of Dracula that is less common. The focus in the following chapters lies on the concepts of captivity presented in the novel. Their content is meant to answer the following questions: How is captivity explored as a literary concept or device? How is it framed in the larger context of the narrative? Is there more to captivity as a concept in the novel than literal imprisonment?