'History is Past Politics, and Politics Present History': Who Said It?

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According to historian Hayden White history bears a strong resemblance to literature and is in need of emplotment. In this paper I will attempt to support this theory, using the historical figure of Vlad III Dracula as a case study. Being a rather controversial figure even during his lifetime in the 15th century, Vlad, also known as Ţepes (the Impaler), became even more notorious after his death. First of all, the literature that began to circulate by the Saxons in the 15th century continued to spread well into the 17th century and triggered various oral traditions, some negative and some positive. This dichotomy soon became the norm as even historians debated whether Vlad III was the monster that some sources made him out to be. However, a novel written by an Irish author, Bram Stoker, in the end of the 19th century was bound to add yet another dimension to the infamous Wallachian Prince. As on one hand Count Dracula was readily associated with the historical Vlad III, especially in the West thus enhancing his monstrosity, on the other hand Romanian historiography was beginning to present Vlad Dracula as a national hero. This became even more prevalent during the 20th century and more specifically during Ceausescu’s reign so that it would fit the national ideology. So, it would seem that Vlad III is a rather good example to showcase Hayden White’s theory, since his story has been the subject of emplotment for centuries and continues to do so well into the 21st century

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Constructions of Identity (IV), 2 volumes, ed. Napoca Star, Cluj-Napoca, 2008

The paper makes a comparison between Disneyland and Dracula (Park), exploring the idea of a national myth both in America and in Romania. The concept of identity is understood here as shaped by historical and political national figures for both countries. In the case of America I will analyze the origins, history and structure of her most famous theme park, while in the case of Romania, I will talk about Bram Stocker’s 19th century Dracula and, then, I will see what Romanian historians have to say about the two Romanian rulers made famous by this legend, Vlad Dracul and Vlad Ţepeş.

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Limbă, Cultură şi Civilizaţie, Noi căi spre succes, vol 1, Politehnica Press, Bucharest, 2010

Abstract: The paper proposes a new definition of Romania’s Occidentalization at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, understood as full acceptance of American values on the one hand, and as a nationalist counter-reaction on the other. The first part of the paper will discuss Valentine’s Day and the Disneyland as two famous examples of cultural globalization, seen also as Americanization, with reference to their history, traditions and purpose in order to define them and see the message they send. The second part of the paper will analyze the Romanian Dragobete and Dracula Park as particular examples of hybridity: an American holiday is celebrated by 21st century Romania who, at the same time, rediscovers a lost but native Dragobete; and an American Park is “copied” by the same Romania who uses a national myth as its name. This part will also include the opinions of several Western, mostly American, Professors and researchers in order to see how the ‘West’ perceives both Bram Stoker’s novel and its connection to Romania, and those of some Romanian historians in order to see how some ‘natives’ perceive the myth and how they try to explain it, therefore the message Romania sends.

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The adaptations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) in Turkish literature and film are relatively unknown by Western academia and have been poorly discussed by Turkish critics and scholars on the grounds of being superficial copies of the original. However, they have great importance not only for Turkish Horror studies but also for recently formed globalgothic studies. In 1928, a novel named Vlad the Impaler was published in Ottoman Turkish by Ali Rıza Seyfi, a historian and a poet from newly founded Republic of Turkey. As the novel’s name suggests, Seyfi uses the historical character known as Vlad Tepes and his connection to Turkish history, which dates back to the Ottoman Empire period. However, Seyfi’s novel was an adaptation of Stoker’s Dracula with engaging modifications. A quarter-century later, this adaptation was adapted into film under the name of Dracula in Istanbul (1953) which became the first Horror film to survive in Turkish cinema history and the first Dracula adaptation made by a Muslim country. Contrary to popular opinion in Western academia, the film is also the first adaptation in which Count Dracula’s fangs are seen. This article provides close readings of both adaptations by focusing on representations of Turkish national identity in particular. Considering both Gothic criticism and adaptation theories, I argue that these works lay the foundations of Turkish Gothic, a genre which has not yet been canonized in Turkish studies, and that they serve as a first step towards a Turkish contribution to globalgothic studies.

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Until the 19th century and the national awakenings of the Balkan peoples the 'West' viewed them merely as Christian Turks. However, even when the various Balkan states were created, the notions of the 'West' about the Balkans did not alter much. So, this essay’s aim is to describe the image of the Balkans in the Westerners’ mind. More specifically, this image will be analyzed, not through historical data, but mostly through the contemporary literature of the time, and more precisely, the Gothic Romance genre. Additionally, the focal point of this essay will be Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ and the way the Balkan identity is represented through the various prejudices and notions of a Victorian, British citizen, whose audience is consisted of other ‘Westerners’. Finally, the Balkans of literature will be compared to the actual situation in the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, as far as the Western efforts to impose their control over the Balkans is concerned.

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