A New Historical Approach to Dracula and Spiritualism/Psychical Research

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370313
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Hosei University
• Principal Investigator: TANJI Ai 法政大学, 文学部, 教授 (90133686)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 『ドラキュラ』 / ブラム・ストーカー / 心霊主義 / 心霊研究 / 幽霊 / 催眠術 / ヒステリー / テレパシー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, while taking notice of such motifs related with spiritualism and psychical research as communication with the spirits of dead people, ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance, mind-reading, hypnotism, in British novels from late 19th and early 20th century, I read Bram Stoker's Dracula in the interdisciplinary context with spiritualism and psychical research.
Also, while studying the mental attitudes toward the supernatural by classifying them into spiritualism, psychical research and scientific naturalism, and defining the ideological significance of the spiritual phenomena in this period, I attempted some new interpretations of Dracula.

Free Research Field

英米文学