A Gothic Ecocritical Analysis of Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Date

2015-12-01

Author

Ağın, Başak

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

693
views

0
downloads

This article extends the term “gothic ecocriticism” to encompass the study of literary texts as part of the task of bridging the great divide between the theoretical and practical dimensions of environmental thought. It illustrates an ecocritical reading of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), by especially focusing on its ecophobic configuration of nature and animals, as oppositional forces to the human domain. After setting a theoretical and contextual framework by explaining the origins of gothic ecocriticism and drawing a line of thought following the gothic literary tradition, the article then delves into Dracula as a site of discussion that revolves around ecophobia. Arguing that the novel is based on ecophobic feelings, such as fear of the unknown in nature, the fearsome depictions of the animals as ill-omens, and the heavy employment of other scary conventions like dark clouds, black sky, and huge mountains, the article discusses whether or not Dracula can be viewed as an illustration of queer nature. It concludes that gothic ecocriticism may familiarise the unfamiliar, and by doing so may help contribute to the development of a union between the theory and praxis of environmental thought and action. It also underlines the importance of drawing upon posthumanist endeavours for the fulfilment of a better development in the field

Subject Keywords

Bram Stoker, Dracula (1897), Gothic ecocriticism, Posthumanism, Ecophobia, Bram Stoker, Drakula (1897), Gotik ekoeleştiri, İnsan-ötesi çalışmalar, Ekofobi

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/74087

Journal

Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi

Collections

Department of Basic English, Article

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

A New ontological approach to urban form: towards a model of heterarchy / Temizel, Ensar; Bilsel, Fatma Cânâ; Sargın, Güven Arif; Department of Architecture (2014) This thesis focuses on the ontology of urban form in order to develop a strategy to explore the formal capacities of the elements of urban environments. Through an analysis of the structural logic behind the systems of hierarchy and heterarchy with regard to the set theory, it argues that the tree model is inadequate for this endeavor with its highly rigid, genealogical binary structure. Hence, it proposes that the set-dependent tree model based on principles of hierarchy should be abandoned in favor of a s...
An analysis of the conservation of the twentieth century architectural heritage in Turkey : the case of Ankara Elmas, Nimet; Altan, Tomris Elvan; Department of History of Architecture (2005) This thesis examines the twentieth century architecture from the perspective of conservation. The criteria of conservation have changed as the idea of conserving a single monument has progressed into the acceptance of the need to conserve different cultural properties and the field has been enriched with new notions, such as the twentieth century architectural heritage. The main concern in this thesis is to present these current debates about and developments in the conservation of the twentieth century arc...
An critique of housing classes approach : the case of Şentepe-Ankara Özcan, Pınar; Şengül, Hüseyin Tarık; Department of Urban Policy Planning and Local Governments (2005) This thesis analyzes the validity of main assumptions of housing classes approach, which is a Weberian mode of analyses developed to explain the effects of spatial stratification on social structures of cities, in an empirical level through a case study. According to this approach, housing is a scarce resource which is subject to processes of competition between different social groups and struggles among these groups to get access to desirable housing types constitute the basis of urban social processes. I...
A typology of ancient theatres in modern Spain and Greece a geo-historical approach Aktüre, Zeynep; Erder, Cevat; Department of Architecture (2005) This study offers an inquiry into the historical context of the invention, consolidation, and on-going popularity of the ancient theatre typology based on the Greek-Roman ءbinarism̕, for a better understanding of its philosophical and theoretical foundations. It scrutinises those foundations in order to discover, in their limitations for an assessment and restitution of the architectural characteristics of extant ancient theatre remains, a new set of variables for devising an alternative method of classific...
A historical and social analysis of an urban transformation : Akay Junction in Ankara Sönmez, Çağlayan; Önür, Selahattin; Department of Architecture (2005) This thesis explores the ways in which the concept of أcity junctionؤ has been considered as an element of the urban image within the network of circulation. The aim of this study is to make an historical analysis of urban transformation in Inönü Square at Ankara, instigated by the respect to recent traffic problem-centered nodal interventions in the area. Akay Junction, which is thought as 1930̕s representative space also having historical power as well as being a node where two significant axis intersect,...

Citation Formats

B. Ağın, “A Gothic Ecocritical Analysis of Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” Hacettepe Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, pp. 15–24, 2015, Accessed: 00, 2021. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/74087.