Dracula the Original Thug

30 October 2012 · Slate

Douglas Starr

Bram Stoker Estate account

Estate summary

Douglas Starr relates Dracula’s appearance and behaviour to Victorian criminal anthropology, especially the theories of Cesare Lombroso and Max Nordau. He discusses the novel’s explicit references to them and contrasts its threatening Count with attractive modern screen vampires.

Slate essay: relevant literary discussion of Lombroso and Nordau inspected. The Estate attributes its criminal-anthropology reading to Starr; exact article date remains unconfirmed. The publisher’s saved structured publication metadata identifies 30 October 2012; this resolves the earlier unknown article date.

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Related illustration: Bram Stoker, seated three-quarter portrait (b/w)Courtesy of the Bram Stoker Estate.