Beyond Dracula

Also by William Hughes

CONTEMPORARY WRITING AND NATIONAL IDENTITY (co-editor with TraceyHill)

BRAM STOKER: HISTORY, PSYCHOANALYSIS AND THE GOTHIC (co-editor withAndrew Smith)

BRAM STOKER: A BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bram Stoker, THE LADY OF THE SHROUD (editor)

Beyond DraculaBram Stoker's Fiction and its CulturalContext

William HughesLecturer in EnglishBath Spa University College

First published in Great Bri tain 2000 by

MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmil ls. Basingstoke. Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world

A catalogue record for this book is available from the Brit ish Li brary.

ISBN 978-1-349-40967-9 DOI 10 1057/9780230598874

ISBN 978-0-230-59887-4 (eBook)

First published in the United States of America 2000 by

ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division. 175 Fifth Avenue. New York, N.Y. 10010

ISBN 978-0-312-23136- 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hughes. Wi lliam. 1964-Beyond Dracula: Bram Stoker's fiction and its cultural context I Wil l iam Hughes. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-23136- 1 (cloth)I. Stoker. Bram. 1847- 1912- Criticism and interpretation. 2. Literature and society-England- History - 19th century. 3. Popular literature-England­- History and crit icism. 4. Horror tales. English-History and criticism. S. Gothic revival (Literature)-Great Britain. !. T itle. PR6037.T617 Z68 2000 82Y.8-dc21

99-054480

© William Hughes 2000 Softcover reprint of the hardcover I st edition 2000 978-0-333-74034-7

All rights reserved. No reproduction. copy or transmission of this publication may be made without wriuen permission.

No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced. copied or transmiued save with wriuen permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright. Designs and Patents Act 1988. or under the terms of any licence permining limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. 90 Tollenham Court Road, London WI P OLP.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

The author has asse11ed his right to be identi fied as the author of this work in accordance wi th the Copyright. Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I 09 08 07 06 OS 04 03 02 0 I 00

For my Mother,Emily Hughes(1928-1991)

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Contents

Copyright Acknowledgement viii

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction: Reading beyond Dracula 1

Pity and Terror: Theology, Morality and Popular Fiction 14Moral Allegories and Biblical Parables 16Sin and Repentance 23Unspeakable Terror 35The Great Experiment 46

2 'Un Vrai Monsieur': Chivalry, Atavism and Masculinity 54To Introduce Patrick to His New Self 57The Fighting Quality 67The Lesson of the Wilderness 80

3 The Taming of the New: Race, Biological Destinyand Assertive Womanhood 97

The Fighting Blood of Her Race 98A Bonnie Bit Lassie in the Power 0' Wicked Men 103Wild Desires, Vague and Nebulous as Yet 112At One with the Grandeur of Nature around Her 121

4 The Sanguine Economy: Hysterical Pathology andPhysiological Medicine 139

Unconscious Cerebration 141Obscure Diseases 151Into the Very Soul of the Patient 167

Afterword 178

Notes 180

Bibliography 201

Index 210

vii

Copyright Acknowledgement

Quotations from the Oxford University Press paperback editions ofDracula (1996, edited by Maud EHmann) and The Jewel ofSeven Stars(1996, edited by David Glover) appear by permission of OxfordUniversity Press. Quotations from the uncut edition of The Lair oftheWhite Worm, published in hardback with Dracula, appear by permis­sion of Foulsham Press. Quotations from the second edition of TheSnake's Pass and from the paperback reprint of Dracula's Guest appearby permission of Brandon Book Publishers, Ireland. Quotations fromthe second edition of Miss Betty appear by permission of Hodder andStoughton Publishers. I would also like to express my particular grati­tude to Mr Noel Dobbs for granting permission to quote from themanuscript of Bram Stoker's Seven Golden Buttons, now held at theBrotherton Library, University of Leeds.

viii

Acknowledgements

I began the research for Beyond Dracula whilst a PhD student at theUniversity of East Anglia, Norwich, between 1989 and 1991. My returnto the university was encouraged and supported by a small group ofpeople whom I am proud to know both as true friends and as intel­lectual colleagues. Their consistent support gave me the courage tocontinue during frequently difficult times. I express my deepestthanks, therefore, to Dr Elaine Hartnell, Ms Alita Thorpe, Mr PeterHall, Dr Clayton Mackenzie, Dr Roger Sales and Dr Victor Sage. I hopethat Beyond Dracula fulfils their expectations.

This volume has also benefited from the many people and organisa­tions who, over the past ten years, have responded readily to myrequests for information and often scarce biographical or textualmaterial. I am particularly grateful to David Lass of Trinity College,Dublin, who generously provided me with copies of otherwise un­obtainable illustrations and textual material related to Stoker's time inIreland, and to Professor Benjamin Franklin Fisher IV, who signifi­cantly supplemented the bibliography of this volume by tracing manyof the contemporary reviews mentioned in the footnotes. Ms DianeMason, whom I am proud to know both as a colleague and as a friend,has been a particular source of both practical help and intellectualinspiration over the past four years. I would also like to thank DrRobert Mighall and Dr Antonio Ballasteros Gonzalez for their assist­ance and encouragement, and Ms Charmian Hearne of Macmillan forher consistent support.

The list of friends and colleagues who have followed Beyond Draculathrough its various stages is embarrassingly long. I hope, therefore,that they will forgive me for the necessary brevity of this acknow­ledgement: Peggy and Bill Burns; Rita and the late Brian Hartnell; KimSmith; Nicholas Groves; Peter Welsh; Barry Adamson; Dr Allan LloydSmith; Ruth Fagg; Neil Croft; Dr Graham Ford; Dave Thorpe; Dr JeffRodman; Dr Marie Mulvey-Roberts; Dr Paul Edwards; Dr AndrewSmith; Dr Tracey Hill; Dr Guy Stephens; Dr Colin Edwards; FrankShepherd; Dr Brian Griffin; Martin and Anna Wrigley; Mike Downand Estelle Corke; Dr Mary C. Lyons; Professor Lorna Sage; Dr DavidSeed; Dr Alan Marshall; Professor David Punter; Dennis McIntyre;

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x Beyond Dracula

Leslie Shepard; Richard Dalby; Margaret and Gary Fagan; John Cowen;John Pritchard; Professor Geoffrey Searle; Jon Cook; Dr Albert Power;Mrs K. Greville and Eamonn Greville; Sarah Briggs; Julian Honer; RuthWillats; D.L. Manning-Fox; Dave Colley; Miss Caroline Buddery;Karen, Nick and Jenny Baxter; Paul Withers; Simon Withers; ShirleyEdwards; Dave Devlin; Dave Thackwell; the late Mrs Madge Knibbs;Dr Mark Hampton; Dr Andrew Revitt; the late Joseph James.

I would also like to acknowledge the assistance provided by thefollowing organisations and individuals: Mrs Jean Rose (OctopusPublishing Group Library); The Rev. Canon Empey (St Ann's Church,Dublin); Jonathan Newman and The Philosophical Society of TrinityCollege Dublin; M. Jeremy Rex-Parkes (Christie's); Tim Fenna, TonyWalker, Bill Fenna, Nick Sperring and Maggie Patstone at FrontlineSpridget; Harry Ludlam; Major A.J. Dickinson and the Royal HumaneSociety; Graham Snell and the National Liberal Club; WilliamGladstone; Snoo Wilson; Miss Pauline Adams (Somerville CollegeOxford); Dermot J.M. Sherlock (Trinity College Dublin).

My special thanks also go to the many librarians who gave gener­ously of their time and expertise during the writing of Beyond Dracula.I am especially grateful for the assistance of Christopher Sheppard andthe staff of the Brotherton Collection, University of Leeds, to Dr JudithPriestman of the Bodleian Library, and to Dr Leslie A. Morris of theRosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia. Many other librariesgranted me use of their facilities for research, including the Library ofTrinity College, Dublin, Cambridge University Library, the BritishLibrary, and Ohio State University Library. 1 am grateful also for theassistance afforded by the Library of Bath Spa University College. Mygood friends at the University of East Anglia Library deserve a specialmention for their toleration, sympathy and good humour - DavidHarris, Ann Wood, Sue julier, Judith Crabtree, Caroline Onody, FernTranter, Carol Trollope, Elizabeth Goddard, Margaret Myhill, JayneCoombe and Pat Rowly. Thanks.

The research for my PhD dissertation was funded through a threeyear studentship granted by the British Academy, which was supple­mented in 1992 by an award from the Parmentergate EducationalFoundation, Norwich. The Humanities Research Board of the BritishAcademy also generously provided me with further funding in 1998,which enabled me to complete my researches at the BrothertonLibrary, Leeds. I have also benefited from the support of my colleaguesin the Faculty of Humanities at Bath Spa University College, andwould like to express my gratitude to Dr Neil Sammells, Dean of

Acknowledgements xi

Faculty, for the encouragement and practical assistance he has givento my work over the past five years.

William HughesBath