Dracula for Doctors: Medical Facts and Gothic Fantasies

by Fiona Subotsky

Exploring how medicine and psychiatry are portrayed in gothic literature, this engaging book illustrates how Stoker's famous work was influenced by nineteenth-century attitudes to disease and medicine and reveals many previously unknown links. Extracts from many sensational stories of the time are presented, and the role of doctors and their appearance and contribution to gothic fiction is investigated. The book covers topics such as asylums, their purpose, practice and patients, deadly diseases echoing the symptoms of vampirism, and the otherworldly allure of the undead. Dracula for Doctors is an entertaining and informative examination of how Victorian medical knowledge and culture informed Stoker's gothic masterpiece. This book suggests that Stoker, who had many medical connections, was able to link lurid stories of operations and asylums with fictional horror and suspense. Fans of gothic literature, as well as those of medical history and the supernatural, will find this an enjoyable read.

196 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2019

Reviews

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. It had a lot of interesting information, some that kept my attentions easily, someother that made me lose it. It was kind of what i was expecting. Perfect at times and underwhelming others but overall I enjoyed the read.

[Di Vagando · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://divagandodivagando.blogspot.co...

[Alice-Henry Carnell · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was incredibly well-researched with a huge amount of detailed information about a niche subject I find very interesting. Perhaps I have been reading too much literary criticism, history, and theory but I felt frustrated by the lack of point. There were just facts and no analysis. I found myself continually asking "so what?" as I read.