4. Society

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about how the novel reflects the social and political developments of Britain in the 1890s. In particular, we focus on: (i) the influence of the Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and the related idea of degeneration; (ii) Cesare Lomboro’s theory of criminal anthropology and the novel’s interest in the physiognomy of its ‘criminal’ characters; (iii) the character of Lucy and idea of the New Woman; and (iv) the extent to which the novel reinforces the traditional social hierarchy of Victorian Britain.

Course

In this course, Professor Nick Groom (University of Exeter) explores Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel, ‘Dracula’. In the first module, we provide a short history of vampires from the blood-sucking demons of the ancient world to the present day. In the second module we think about some of the political concerns of the novel, before turning in the third module to the importance of medicine in the novel. In the fourth module, we think about how the novel reflects the social and political developments of late nineteenth-century Britain, before turning in the fifth module to the question of whether or not ‘Dracula’ is a Gothic novel.

Lecturer

Nick Groom is Professor of English Literature at the University of Exeter, a critically acclaimed author on subjects ranging from the history of the Union Jack to Thomas Chatterton, has edited several books and regularly appears on television, radio and at literary festivals as an authority on English Literature, the ‘Gothic’ and ‘British’ identity.