The Literature Network - Monstrous infants and vampyric mothers in Bram Stoker's Dracula

Monstrous infants and vampyric mothers in Bram Stoker's Dracula

Content courtesy of

From: International Journal of Psychoanalysis
Date: 20070201
Author:Almond, Barbara R

Bram Stoker's Dracula continues to fascinate and horrify audiences, inviting a psychoanalytic explanation. While previous interpretations have emphasized oedipal dynamics and perverse sexuality, this paper proposes that early developmental issues are central. Vampires and the state of being 'undead' are representations of intense oral needs, experienced in a context of passivity and helplessness. Aggressive invasion and possession of the other, with a colonization of body and soul, offer a solution to this dilemma but one devoid of true object-relatedness. The imaginative source of the ...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Other Articles on Bram Stoker

Hannon hoping for a happy ending to Bram Stoker story.(Sports)

Stoker's 'Dracula.' (Bram Stoker)

Stoker, Bram

My Own Vampire: The Metamorphosis of the Queer Monster in Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula

The decent chap and his hungry vampire; Bram Stoker's businesslike mind teemed with the stuff of nightmares.

Bram Stoker

PICK OF THE DAY: Biting into Bram Stoker's Dracula; Arts Lives, 10.10pm, RTE1.(Features)

Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula

A crab supper and a pain in the neck This biography of Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula, has more bumf than bite, says Aileen Reid

Bram Stoker and Russophobia; evidence of the British fear of Russia in Dracula and The lady of the shroud.(Brief Article)(Book Review)

Find More Articles

About Our Articles: We've partnered with Highbeam Research to provide these article excerpts for your research needs. However, due to copyright laws, we cannot publish the whole article. To view these articles in full length you'll need to use the link above to access the free trial at Highbeam.