Writing Back: Identity and Representation in The Journal of Dracula
Writing Back: Identity and Representation in The Journal of Dracula

Summary/Abstract: The Journal of Dracula (2004) by Marin Mincu is Vlad Dracula’s fictional journal, in which historical Vlad Ţepeş, the ruler of the Romanian province of Wallachia in the fifteenth century, reacts to the historical events that occurred during a period of one and a half years (February 1463 to August 1464) when he was imprisoned by the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus in the castle of Visegrád (Hungary). Vlad Dracula’s quest for identity is depicted in a multilayered narrative that unfolds in contact zones between the East and the West, and his journal entries illustrate the tensions between his private story and the public history, which has cast him into the role of a bloodthirsty ruler because of his impaling practices. Thus, this essay examines the complexity of Vlad Dracula’s quest to claim his voice and identity by writing back to his contemporary enemies.

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