Transvaal, Transylvania: Dracula's World-system and Gothic Periodicity
Abstract
Gothic productions appear in clusters during the capitalist world-market's transition from one economic cycle to another. Using a world-systems approach, I argue that Gothic narrative devices and sensations are both historically specific to the time of their production and representative of the general logic of capitalist time-space contortions. A world-systems perspective insists on an inter-state relational approach relatively unexplored within Gothic studies. Using Stoker's Dracula as a case study, the article claims that Dracula encodes inter-imperialist tensions, primarily those between England and Germany and their proxy agents over South African gold mines in the Transvaal. This antagonism provides the background to the Boer War, itself a forerunner to the First World War's battle among imperialists.
Cite this
Stephen Shapiro (2008). Transvaal, Transylvania: Dracula's World-system and Gothic Periodicity. Gothic Studies. https://doi.org/10.7227/gs.10.1.5
@article{stephen2008transvaal,
title = {Transvaal, Transylvania: Dracula's World-system and Gothic Periodicity},
author = {Shapiro, Stephen},
year = {2008},
journal = {Gothic Studies},
doi = {10.7227/gs.10.1.5}
}Citations in this library
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