The Composite Monster

Analysing the Syncretism of Slavic and Romanian Vampiric Folklore in Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Abstract

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) is frequently analyzed as a singular, monolithic myth that birthed the modern vampire. However, a close mythological dissection reveals that the Count is not the product of a single cultural tradition, but rather a complex synthesis of two distinct, albeit related, folkloric systems: the Slavic upir/vampir and the Romanian strigoi. While Stoker’s geography places the novel explicitly in the Transylvanian (Romanian) sphere, the attributes he assigns to his antagonist are a selective curation of the corporeal, pestilential nature of the Slavic revenant and the magical, shapeshifting capabilities of the Romanian witch-vampire.