Dracula's crypt : Bram Stoker, Irishness, and the question of blood /

Though in the 1990s a series of journal articles focused on Stoker's treatment of the English obsession with racial purity in Dracula, Valente's book represents the first book-length study of this subject. Valente (Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) applies the concept of "metrocolonialism," developed in his James Joyce and the Problem of Justice (1995), to Stoker's novel. He argues that Stoker was powerfully influenced by his own ambiguous class and "ethno-national status," and from this dual perspective he created a radical critique of dominant late-Victorian views of race and ethnicity. Valente also contends that in Dracula Stoker sharply criticizes standard Victorian gender roles and ultimately portrays Mina Harker as a healing, maternal figure who symbolizes an ethos of "social connectivity." This slim volume offers daring new readings of Dracula, with Valente meticulously grounding his assertions in the text of the novel, Stoker's biography, and recent postcolonial theory. Although Valente's prose is sometimes difficult and burdened by dense critical terminology, his overall argument is clear and convincing. This book may prove daunting for many undergraduates, but it is recommended for determined readers at the upper-division undergraduate level and for graduate students through faculty. R. D. Morrison Morehead State University