Civilization Confronted with the Wilderness of Europe: Dracula and the Balkans
Civilization Confronted with the Wilderness of Europe: Dracula and the Balkans

Summary/Abstract: The essay will explore the Western image of Eastern Europe as a land of the supernatural and of living myths, where evil reigns uncontested, as manifested in Bram Stoker’s classic masterpiece Dracula. It will therefore focus on how Transylvania, as a representative part of the region, is represented in the novel, by tracing the trajectory of Jonathan Harker’s fictional travel writing. The way in which the inhabitants of this region are portrayed as wild, uncivilised, and powerless in their silent cohabitation with evil incarnate will also be taken into consideration. As it will be demonstrated, the region is placed in a dichotomic opposition to England, which, on the contrary, is presented as embodying the Western values of reason, civilisation, organisation, resourcefulness, innovation, and active implication in changing the world. In this context, the essay will also consider the notions of Balkan semi-Oriental backwardness and underdevelopment, with a particular focus on discovering what sort of an image of Eastern Europe in general and of Romania in particular this novel would have implanted in the minds of its Western audience.

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