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Dracula Bram Stoker

Dracula is a book written by Bram Stoker. The Dracula literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Dracula.

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Dracula Essays

A warning against rationalism: bram stoker's "dracula" and the soul of 19th century england anonymous college.

The British Empire entered the age of modernity at the turn of the 20th century on the heels of the industrious Victorian Era (1837-1901), which had been a time of rapid technological advancement. By the end of the 19th century there was...

The Paradox of the Other in 'Dracula' and 'Let the Right One In' Anonymous 12th Grade

The Other is often used to mean the hostile, the dangerous, the deadly. However, the term itself makes no mention of this, it can just as easily refer to the inexplicable or simply taboo, something that humans are notorious for attempting to...

How Waters and Stoker Use Narrative Point of View in 'The Little Stranger' and 'Dracula' Anonymous 12th Grade

Both Waters and Stoker use narrative point of view to enhance their novels. This is achieved by the use of striking openings, the inevitable elements of unreliable narration in both novels, and how this links to themes of uncertainty as well as...

Dracula as Social Fusion Jeremy Zorn

In periods of cultural insecurity, when there are fears of regression and degeneration, the longing for strict border controls around the definition of gender, as well as race, class, and nationality, becomes especially intense. If the different...

Dracula as Feminine Anonymous

The title character in Bram Stoker's "Dracula" is a sexually perplexing figure. Nietzche wrote of a creative being called the "berman", or "superman". Men who overcome their handicaps and identify with God are potential supermen; as models of this...

Dracula: The Self-Aware Mass of Typewriting Sara Liss

The era of industrialization ushered in new ways of disseminating and creating art. Along with technological innovation come the anxious reservations of aesthetic purists. These reservations stem from wariness about the dehumanizing effect of...

Social Class and Bram Stoker's Dracula Anonymous

The issue of social class and its effects upon society in Victorian-era Europe is a theme central to Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. On the surface, the novel seems to be a story of a battle between good and evil; upon further analysis, it could be...

The Fantastic in Dracula Sujoy Ghosh

The fantastic [...] lasts only as long as a certain hesitation: a hesitation common to reader and character, who must decide whether or not what they perceive derives from "reality" as it exists in the common opinion. At the story's end, the...

Considering in detail one or two passages, discuss ways in which Stoker's descriptions of settings contribute to the effectiveness of Dracula Alex Edmiston

Bram Stoker's use of setting to establish some of the key gothic elements to the novel Dracula proves to be crucial in developing both suspense and intrigue. This can be studied particularly closely with reference to Jonathan Harker's narrative of...

The Absence of Amsterdam: Confounding Principles of Presentness in Stoker's Dracula Micah Neely

The Absence of Amsterdam: Confounding Principles of Presentness in Stoker’s Dracula

Doctor Abraham Van Helsing is an intriguing and somewhat problematic character on several levels. According to critic Martin Willis the introduction of Van Helsing...

Dracula and Cognitive Dissonance Samantha Thomas

In his novel Dracula, Bram Stoker’s characters are deeply disturbed by the existence of the vampire. The notion of a creature that is both living and dead challenges their sanity by forcing them to question those things which they had previously...

Vampire as Christ: Antithesis and Religion in Bram Stoker’s Dracula Katrina Barnett

Within the pages of Bram Stoker’s <i>Dracula</i>, the author explores concepts of love, darkness, and sexuality as well as the theme of good versus evil. The most powerful theme surrounding the infamous vampire, however, is that of...

“The Same Vague Terror”-Dracula’s Methods of Gaining Control and Establishing Dominance Mary Margaret Beith 12th Grade

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the title character is omnipresent. To the protagonists of the novel, the difficulty of escaping his power and ultimately defeating him is often overwhelming because he is always with them in some way, shape, or form....

A Study of the Role of Women in Bram Stoker’s Dracula Mary Margaret Beith 12th Grade

In the first fifteen chapters of Bram Stoker’s Dracula the author examines and subtly comments on the role of women in Victorian England through the actions and words of Mina and Lucy. In particular, evidence from the passage that appears on pages...

The Representation of the Castle in The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole and Dracula by Bram Stoker. Anonymous 12th Grade

Gothic architecture thrived during the high and late medieval period. The upper echelons of the feudal system were so impressed by the looming cathedrals that they had their castles built in the same Gothic style. These castles are striking yet,...

Linked Imagery in 'Dracula' and 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' Daniel A. Speight 12th Grade

Throughout the Gothic novel Dracula , Stoker uses symbology and imagery to reveal social anxieties and fears of the late Victorian era, for example the use of animalistic description and blood. Wilde, in his own Gothic novel The Picture of Dorian...

Good vs. Evil in 'Dracula' Daniel A. Speight 12th Grade

In the Gothic novel Dracula , Bram Stoker largely presents good and evil in stark contrast in a very simple manner. This perhaps mirrors Victorian views of good and evil as opposed yet inextricable, a strict view of right and wrong in a religious...

Dracula: The Unjust War for Feminine Thought Linus Landucci College

“Mere “modernity” cannot kill.” The year is 1897, and European culture is changing. Skepticism about both Christianity and the introduction of Darwinism into common thought is current, and the concept of what we now call “feminism” is planting its...

A Challenge of Victorian Sexuality Juliette Singarella College

The Victorian Era produced a community organized strictly into stratified classes and social positions. Men dominated this cultural structure, with women acting as their inferior counterparts. Women were bound to an expectation of servitude,...

Significance of Blood in Dracula Anonymous College

The rise of British Imperialism during the 1800’s created a new sense empowerment among English citizens and redefined British culture in the Victorian Era. During this time, British imperialists valued personal lineage and emphasized the...

Gothic Themes in Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, Stoker’s Dracula, and Poe’s poetry Harriet Mather Lamb 12th Grade

The presentation of the Gothic has spanned the centuries, gripping each and every reader with its dastardly plot and unsuspecting victims. The Castle of Otranto, written in 1764 by Horace Walpole, ‘is generally regarded as the first Gothic novel’...

Gothic Tropes in Dracula: Novel and Film Amy Allison 11th Grade

This chapter from the novel ‘Dracula’ by Bram Stoker includes an abundance of conventions typical of the Gothic genre, primarily employed here through Stoker’s characterisation of Johnathan Harker, Count Dracula and the three seductive women....

Relatable Monstrosities: Dracula and The Purple Cloud Riley Steppe College

In the novels Dracula by Bram Stoker and The Purple Cloud by M. P. Shiel, the conscious efforts by characters to preserve their humanity and align themselves with others act as barriers to their pursuit of personal fulfillment. Indeed, our lives...

Transformation and Transgression in Gothic Literature: Analyzing Stoker and Carter Felix Morrison 11th Grade

The Gothic is undeniably intertwined with transformative states, both literally, such as with the presentation of supernatural beings that lie between life and death, and also thematically, with the idea of transitional time periods and settings....

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Essays on Dracula

What makes a good dracula essay topic.

When it comes to writing an essay on Dracula, it's important to choose a topic that is both interesting and relevant. A good Dracula essay topic should be thought-provoking, engaging, and offer the opportunity for in-depth analysis. Here are some recommendations on how to brainstorm and choose a strong essay topic:

First, consider the themes and motifs present in the novel. Dracula is rich with themes such as the battle between good and evil, the fear of the unknown, and the struggle for power. Choose a topic that allows you to explore these themes in depth.

Next, think about the characters in the novel. There are complex and multi-dimensional characters in Dracula, from the eponymous vampire to the brave vampire hunters. Consider how you can analyze and interpret these characters in your essay.

Finally, consider the historical and cultural context of the novel. Dracula was written in the late 19th century, a time of significant social and technological change. How does the novel reflect the anxieties and fears of this period? Choose a topic that allows you to explore these historical and cultural aspects of the novel.

In general, a good Dracula essay topic should be specific, focused, and offer the opportunity for original analysis and interpretation. It should also be relevant to the themes and motifs present in the novel, as well as the historical and cultural context in which it was written.

Best Dracula Essay Topics

When it comes to choosing a Dracula essay topic, it's important to think outside the box and choose a topic that is unique and engaging. Here are some creative and thought-provoking Dracula essay topics to consider:

• The role of gender in Dracula: How does the novel challenge traditional gender roles and expectations?
• The use of symbolism in Dracula: Analyze the use of symbols such as blood, the cross, and the stake in the novel.
• Dracula as a commentary on colonialism: How does the novel reflect the anxieties and fears surrounding the British Empire?
• The portrayal of mental illness in Dracula: Analyze the representation of madness and sanity in the novel.
• Dracula and the fear of the Other: How does the novel explore the fear of the unknown and the Other?

These prompts are designed to inspire creativity and originality, and to encourage you to think critically and imaginatively about the novel. Have fun with them, and let your imagination run wild!

Evil Against Good - Perpetual Conflict in Dracula

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Sexuality in Bram Stoker's Novel Dracula

The symbolism of blood in the novel "dracula", the images of christ and vampire in bram stocker's dracula, dracula: representation of gothic tropes in the novel and the film, let us write you an essay from scratch.

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The Same Vague Terror - How Dracula Established Control and Began to Dominate

Dracula: the unfair war for women's thoughts, social issues of victorian era in dracula, dracula: sexuality in the victorian era, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

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The Influence of Stoker’s Descriptions of Settings in Dracula

Two new women in bram stoker’s novel, gender in gothic literature, feminine features of count dracula, elements of gothic literature in bram stoker's dracula, the fears of the victorian era that were highlighted in dracula's novel, gender roles and religion culture as the main elements in dracula's novels, the representation of victorian era in dracula's novel, the religious connotations of the novel dracula: vlad tepes, antichrist, vampire, the phenomenon of american xenophobia in dracula, bram stoker's exploration of gender roles in dracula's novel, gender roles as a prominent topic in the novel 'dracula', dracula as an image of the merge in the society, dracula character: numerous binaries throughout the novel, the absenteeism of amsterdam: confounding principles in dracula, the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance of the protagonist in dracula, the issue of meta-textuality within dracula, the display of unreal in dracula, count dracula vs. vlad the impaler , mechanical reproduction in dracula and art in the age of mechanical reproducibility.

26 May 1897, Bram Stoker

Horror, Gothic

Count Dracula, Van Helsing, Jonathan Harker, Mina Murray, Lucy Westenra, John Seward, Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris, Renfield, Mrs. Westenra

1. Halberstam, J. (1993). Technologies of Monstrosity: Bram Stoker's" Dracula". Victorian Studies, 36(3), 333-352. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/3828327) 2. Craft, C. (1984). Kiss me with those red lips: Gender and inversion in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Representations, 8, 107-133. (https://online.ucpress.edu/representations/article-abstract/doi/10.2307/2928560/82590/Kiss-Me-with-those-Red-Lips-Gender-and-Inversion?redirectedFrom=PDF) 3. Hughes, W. (2008). Bram Stoker: Dracula. Palgrave Macmillan. (http://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/705/) 4. Hatlen, B. (1980). The return of the repressed/oppressed in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Minnesota Review, 15(1), 80-97. (https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/4/article/427122/summary) 5. Wyman, L. M., & Dionisopoulos, G. N. (2000). Transcending the virgin/whore dichotomy: Telling Mina's story in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Women's Studies in Communication, 23(2), 209-237. (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07491409.2000.10162569) 6. Kuzmanovic, D. (2009). Vampiric Seduction and Vicissitudes of Masculine Identity in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Victorian Literature and Culture, 37(2), 411-425. (https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/victorian-literature-and-culture/article/vampiric-seduction-and-vicissitudes-of-masculine-identity-in-bram-stokers-dracula/8C5957AAE79F1018DA8A089A32F78F88) 7. Almond, B. R. (2007). Monstrous infants and vampyric mothers in Bram Stoker's Dracula. The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 88(1), 219-235. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1516/0EKX-38DF-QLF0-UQ07) 8. Rosenberg, N. F. (2000). Desire and Loathing in Bram Stoker's Dracula. Journal of Dracula Studies, 2(1), 2. (https://research.library.kutztown.edu/dracula-studies/vol2/iss1/2/)

Dracula : essays on the life and times of Vlad the Impaler

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• Bram Stoker’s Dracula: Essay

One of the human’s most distinct emotions is fear, specifically that in which surfaces as the result of the unknown. Fear is an emotion generally associated with anxiety – a powerful feeling that is brought upon by worry, dread and trepidation. To dread something that is unknown is often the result of foreshadowing, which is a dominant literary component of the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Stoker’s effective use of foreshadowing has an influence on the most evident effect in his novel: the effect of anxiety. As the multiplicity of the characters increases, the story itself thickens with the underlying emotion of fear.

Therefore, as the story continues through a one-person narrative, the reader becomes equipped with the capability of predicting certain fears through evidently frightening circumstances prior to the character’s ability to do so.

It becomes evident that the novel operates on fear quite early on. Within the first chapter of the book – Jonathan Stoker’s leading journal entry – distress begins to surface throughout his journey to his initial encounter with Dracula.

Jonathan is an English solicitor who is embarking on his first professional venture, in hopes of selling real estate to Count Dracula. Originally, Jonathan keeps his journal in order to later be able to tell his fiancée Mina Murray of his journeys. However; it soon becomes the primary text responsible in large parts for keeping him sane.

The final means of transportation liable for getting Jonathan to the Count’s castle is that of a carriage. Upon boarding it, Jonathan notes how “[he] felt a little strange, and not a little frightened. [He thought] had there been any alternative [he] should have taken it, instead of prosecuting that unknown night journey” (Stoker, p.12).

This is a point in which the feeling of anxiety surfaces within the reader and this feeling is intensified when Jonathan writes “…a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road – a long, agonized wailing, as if from fear” (p.12), and in response to the realization that such howling was created by a pack of wolves, transcribes that “[he] grew dreadfully afraid” (p.13).

It is evident to the reader that this is foreshadowing for a series of events yet to come – a series of events with seemingly negative associations or consequences. Jonathan accentuates his fear for the unknown when he writes that “all at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had some peculiar effect on them” (p.14) and by noting that the effect was out of the ordinary, it is made obvious that the reasoning behind the acting out of the wolves is both unclear to Jonathan, as well as uncommon.

Another primary factor associated with the surfacing of anxiety is that of confusion. Confusion is a constituent that often leads to stress and stress to worry – all stepping stones toward the more intensified emotions of fear and anxiety.

Upon the conclusion of Jonathan’s worrisome journey to the Count’s Castle, he shook Dracula’s hand and noted that “the strength of the handshake was so much akin to that which [he] had noticed in the driver, whose face [he] had not seen, that for a moment [he] doubted if it were not the same person to whom [he] was speaking” (p. 17).

Jonathan’s brief – yet seemingly important – contemplation about the possibility of Dracula holding the position of both the operator of the carriage and the Count himself ignites the emotion of worry within the reader; and also equips the reader with the capability of now fearing for Jonathan’s overall safety.  

However, it is not until the physical description of the Count himself that the fear of Jonathan’s safety is solidified. Jonathan goes on to describe Dracula by writing “His face was a strong – a very strong – aquiline, with high bridge of the thin nose and peculiarly arched nostrils; with the lofty domed forehead, and hair growing scantily round the temples, but profusely elsewhere. His eyebrows were very massive, almost meeting over the nose, and with bushy hair that seemed to curl in its own profusion.

The mouth, so far as I could see it under the heavy mustache, was fixed and rather cruel-looking, with peculiarly sharp white teeth” (p.19). By regarding the Count’s teeth as peculiar – Jonathan emphasizes that his physical description deviates from what he and readers would now consider the norm, and such an abnormality stresses the anxiety supplementary to the unknown; resulting in the preliminary sense of fear toward the Count himself.

Jonathan records that the Count did say “You may go anywhere you wish in the castle, except where the doors are locked, where of course you will not wish to go” (p. 23). After spending a short amount of time within the Count’s castle – Jonathan reaches the realization which was in a small sense dreaded by readers all along; he comes to terms with the fact that “The castle is a veritable prison, and [he is the] prisoner!” (p.29).

Anxiety is at this point in the novel an extremely dominant emotion conveyed by the reader, as by this point it is accepted that Jonathan is in danger, yet the reasoning behind why it is he that has been placed in a seemingly horrific situation remains unclear. This steady lingering of the unknown could be considered responsible for the continuation of anxiety throughout the duration of the novel.

It is now in which the readers are asking the same questions as the character. Who is Dracula, and what is the reasoning behind Jonathan’s captivity? The audience’s fear of the Count himself is strengthened when Jonathan writes how “[his] very feelings changed to repulsion and terror when [he] saw the whole man slowly emerge from the window and begin to crawl down the castle wall over that dreadful abyss, face down , with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings” (p.38).

Jonathan refers to the Count’s actions as “lizard like” (p.38), and emphasizes his emotions when writing “I feel the dread of this horrible place overpowering me; I am in fear – in awful fear – and there is no escape for me; I am encompassed about with terrors that I dare not think of…” (p.38). Dracula’s now obvious deviations from that of both societal norms and human behavior leaves readers hypothesizing and theorizing Dracula’s capabilities and motives.

It also leaves the audience faced with the decision as to whether or not Jonathan is simply mad; as it is clear that such a circumstance is ostensibly impossible. The surfacing of such impossibility, again, heightens the emotion of fear in regards to the unknown. The readers are posed with the question of how could these impossibilities occur.

The reader’s equally intensified sense of worry in regards to Jonathan’s safety is solidified when Jonathan writes “Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for: that I may not go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this hateful place the Count is the least dreadful to me; that to him alone I can look for safety, even though this be only whilst I serve his purpose” (p.40).

It is throughout the duration of the initial introductory journal pieces, as documented by Jonathan Harker, that the reader’s sense of anxiety is developed.

Stoker’s effective use of foreshadowing has a persuasive influence on the dominant effect of anxiety throughout the novel; and the continuation of this theme is carried on throughout the multiplicity of characters that are presented, including Jonathan’s wife Mina Harker.

The theme of anxiety is derivative in large portions to both the reader and the character’s fear of the unknown – the accompanying theme that remains constant within the novel as well, which is a result of Stoker’s effective use of literary schematics.

In conjunction with this surface the reader’s evident distaste for Count Dracula; as such anxiety has ultimately resulted in fear of his character, accompanied by the audience’s lack of knowledge in regards to his capabilities.

It was said by Einstein “in time we hate that which we often fear” (Bartlett, 112), and such a statement is proven to be true through the reader’s interpretation of Dracula as seen through the eyes of Jonathan Harker.

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82 Dracula Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best dracula topic ideas & essay examples, ⭐ most interesting dracula topics to write about, 🥇 simple & easy dracula essay titles, ❓ dracula essay questions.

• Sex and Sexuality in “Dracula” and “The Bloody Chamber” On the other hand, Mina, who is portrayed as the typical modest and moral woman in the Victorian era, ends up being spared of criticisms and punishments in spite of her involvement with the Dracula […]
• Phyllis Roth on the Themes in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” The research focuses on the summary of Phyllis Roth’s critical analysis of the Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel. The writer uses the quotes to show proof of the author’s understanding of the Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel. We will write a custom essay specifically for you by our professional experts 808 writers online Learn More
• Dracula by Bram Stoker: Comprehensive Analysis The story is set in the 1890s. In the meantime, Mina is writing to her friend.
• Music in the Film “Dracula” directed by F. F. Coppola Therefore, the synchronization of the musical accompaniment with the drama which is developing on the screen in general and with the defining moment of the revelation of the woman’s suicide, in particular, is highly important.
• Presentation of Transgression in Bram Stoker’s Dracula While Dracula remains at the centerpiece of the novel, the transgressions portrayed in the story also contribute to the sense of all-encompassing fear. Thus, the presentation of transgressions in “Dracula” is unique and thought-provoking.
• Dracula by B.Stoker: Transgression Lucy was vulnerable to Dracula from the beginning, and she received a great deal of assistance from others during her illness.
• “Dracula” by Bram Stoker: Female Characters Analysis The central figures of the novel, Lucy and Mina are not examples of a typical Victorian-era woman. According to Kistler, “Mina is a producer, and in this role she is integral to the success of […]
• “The Crazies” by Paul Mccollough: Identity and Connection With Stoker’s “Dracula” According to the video The Crazies there are two phases, one in which efforts are made to help the general public be safe and sound after the release of the biological weapon and the other […]
• Mina and Lucy in Bram Stoker’s Dracula At the beginning of the novel, Mina Murray is seen as the more deviant of the two women because she is working as a school teacher’s assistant.
• Writing Techniques in Stoker’s Dracula and Kafka’s The Metamorphosis A critical analysis of the writing styles adopted by the two authors makes it clear that the texts have an effect on the reader.
• Stoker’s Dracula and Woolf’s Orlando Literature Compare When we talk about the qualitative aspects of the Victorian era in Britain, the first thing that comes in mind, in this respect, is the fact that European intellectuals of the time were strongly influenced […]
• Sex and Death in Stoker’s Dracula By presenting the portrayal of Mina as the one belonging to the New Women generation, the author provides an example of the Victorian woman that is capable of resisting the devil’s seduction.
• Analyzing the Play “Dracula” at the Delaware Theater
• Belief Systems and Gender Roles in “Dracula”
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and the Distrust Between the Sexes
• “Dracula” and Science, Superstition, Religion, and Xenophobia
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, Charlotte Bronte’s “Villette”, and the Theme of Domesticity
• “Dracula”: The Picture Perfect Ideal of Gothic Literature
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” Meets Hollywood
• Monstrous Figure Dracula in the Spirit of Late Victorian Age
• Comparing and Contrasting “Dracula” and “Nosferatu”
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” Is Far From Being a Simple
• Comparing Elements of Horror in “Dracula” and “Frankenstein”
• Sexuality and Power in “Dracula” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” Compared”
• Comparing Stroker’s and Coppola’s Versions of the Movie “Dracula”
• Correlation Between “Dracula” and “Little Red Riding Hood”
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”, Capitalism, and Reverse Colonization
• Differences Between Count Dracula and Vlad Tepes
• The Use and Importance of Symbolism in Bram Stokers “Dracula”
• “Dracula” and Its Overwhelming Appeal in the 20th Century
• Modern Perversions in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and the Fears of Victorian England
• “Dracula” and the Female Sexuality as Disease
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”: Lucy Western Character Analysis
• “Dracula” and the Threat of Female Sexual Expression by Bram Stoker
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” as Attack on Christian Tradition and Victorian Ideals
• “Dracula”: Metaphor for Human Evil
• Female Sensuality and Rebellion in “Dracula”
• “Frankenstein”, “Dracula”, and “Shrek”: Marxist Interpretations
• Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”: A Window Into the Victorian Soul
• Gender and Gender Roles in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”
• “Dracula”: The Classic Monster by Bram Stoker
• Similarities Between Adolf Hitler and Dracula
• The Correlation of Social Class and Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”
• The Most Famous Vampire: “Dracula” by Bram Stoker
• “Dracula”: The Victorian Vampire and Fallout From Repressive English Culture
• The Perversion and Triumph of Christian Ideas in “Dracula”
• The Strengths and Weaknesses in Bram Stoker’s “Dracula”
• Unseen Forces: Lesbian Relationships in Stoker’s “Dracula”
• What Makes Good Characters Good in “Dracula” by Bram Stoker
• “Dracula” Versus “Frankenstein”: Which Story Is More Terrifying
• What Does the Wolf Symbolize in “Dracula”?
• How Did Vlad the Impaler Become Dracula?
• How Many Main Characters Are in “Dracula”?
• How Is It That Both Dracula and the Devil Are Called the Prince of Darkness?
• How Long Did Bram Stoker Write “Dracula”?
• What Is Count Dracula’s Real Name?
• Was the Sun Ever an Actual Lethal Threat to Dracula?
• What Is the Main Theme in “Dracula”?
• What Is the Connection Between Dracula and Frankenstein?
• What Is the Difference Between a Vampire and a Dracula?
• Why Is Dracula a Famous Vampire?
• What Makes Dracula a Monster?
• What Animal Did Dracula Transform Into?
• What Do Romanians Think of Count Dracula?
• Who Is the Most Famous “Dracula” Actor?
• What Is the Most Faithful Adaptation of “Dracula”?
• Where Does the Word “Dracula” Come From?
• Why Does Dracula Sleep in a Coffin?
• How Many Movie Versions of “Dracula” Are There?
• How Old Was Count Dracula When He Died?
• Were There Any Famous Vampires Before Dracula?
• What Is the Legend of Count Dracula?
• How Old Was Bram Stoker When “Dracula” Was Published?
• What Happened to Count Dracula’s Wife in “Hotel Transylvania”?
• Why Are Dracula and Vampires Associated With Romania?
• How Old Is Dracula in the Original Bram Stoker Novel?
• What Is the Moral of the Story “Dracula”?
• Why Is Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” So Famous?
• Who Was Dracula’s First Victim?
• Who Turned Dracula Into a Vampire?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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1. IvyPanda . "82 Dracula Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 26, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/dracula-essay-topics/.

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IvyPanda . "82 Dracula Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." February 26, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/dracula-essay-topics/.

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• dissertation defense essays economics crime and health michael topper

Dissertation Defense: “Essays in the Economics of Crime and Health” Michael Topper

Michael Topper , PhD Candidate, University of California, Santa Barbara

Michael Topper is an applied microeconomist with a particular interest in the economics of crime. His first paper, The Effects of Fraternity Moratoriums on Alcohol Offenses and Sexual Assaults is published in the Journal of Human Resources. Currently, his work focuses on policing. His job market paper, The Unintended Consequences of Policing Technology: Evidence from ShotSpotter (with Toshio Ferrazares), examines the unintended consequences of a wide-spread gunshot detection technology.

Michael is a devoted educator who emphasizes quality open-source materials. He assisted the creation of two courses at UCSB, Data Wrangling for Economics (Econ 145/Econ 245), and has authored a free online accompanying course textbook, Data Wrangling for Economists (with Danny Klinenberg). Moreover, Michael is the creator of the software R package Panelsummary which aims to streamline reproducible research.

Event Details

Join us to hear Michael’s dissertation defense. He will be defending his dissertation, “Essays in the Economics of Crime and Health” To access a copy of the  dissertation, you must have an active UCSB NetID and password.

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A Culture Warrior Takes a Late Swing

The editor and essayist Joseph Epstein looks back on his life and career in two new books.

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By Dwight Garner

NEVER SAY YOU’VE HAD A LUCKY LIFE: Especially If You’ve Had a Lucky Life , by Joseph Epstein

FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTENT: New and Selected Essays , by Joseph Epstein

When Tammy Wynette was asked to write a memoir in her mid-30s, she initially declined, she said in an interview, because “I didn’t think my life was over yet.” The publisher responded: Has it occurred to you that in 15 years no one might care? She wrote the book. “Stand by Your Man: An Autobiography” (1979) was a hit.

The essayist and editor Joseph Epstein — whose memoir “Never Say You’ve Had a Lucky Life,” is out now, alongside a greatest-hits collection titled “Familiarity Breeds Content” — has probably never heard Wynette sing except by accident. (In a 1993 essay, he wrote that he wished he didn’t know who Willie Nelson was, because it was a sign of a compromised intellect.) But his memoir illustrates another reason not to wait too long to commit your life to print.

There is no indication that Epstein, who is in his late 80s, has lost a step. His prose is as genial and bland, if comparison to his earlier work is any indication, as it ever was. But there’s a softness to his memories of people, perhaps because it was all so long ago. This is the sort of memoir that insists someone was funny, or erudite, or charismatic, while rarely providing the crucial details.

Epstein aw-shucks his way into “Never Say You’ve Had a Lucky Life” — pretending to be self-effacing while not being so in the least is one of his salient qualities as a writer — by warning readers, “I may not have had a sufficiently interesting life to merit an autobiography.” This is because he “did little, saw nothing notably historic, and endured not much out of the ordinary of anguish or trouble or exaltation.” Quickly, however, he concludes that his life is indeed worth relating, in part because “over the years I have acquired the literary skill to recount that life well.”

Here he is wrong in both directions. His story is interesting enough to warrant this memoir. His personal life has taken complicated turns. And as the longtime editor of the quarterly magazine The American Scholar, and a notably literate conservative culture warrior, he’s been in the thick of things.

He does lack the skill to tell his own story, though, if by “skill” we mean not well-scrubbed Strunk and White sentences but close and penetrating observation. Epstein favors tasseled loafers and bow ties, and most of his sentences read as if they were written by a sentient tasseled loafer and edited by a sentient bow tie.

He grew up in Chicago, where his father manufactured costume jewelry. The young Epstein was popular and, in high school, lettered in tennis. His title refers to being lucky, and a big part of that luck, in his estimation, was to grow up back when kids could be kids, before “the therapeutic culture” took over.

This complaint sets the tone of the book. His own story is set next to a rolling series of cultural grievances. He’s against casual dress, the prohibition of the word “Negro,” grade inflation, the Beat Generation, most of what occurred during the 1960s, standards slipping everywhere, de-Westernizing college curriculums, D.E.I. programs, you name it. His politics aren’t the problem. We can argue about those. American culture needs more well-read conservatives. The problem is that in his search for teachable moments, his memoir acquires the cardboard tone of a middling opinion column.

His youth was not all tennis lessons and root beer floats. He and his friends regularly visited brothels because, he writes, sex was not as easy to come by in the 1950s. He was kicked out of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for his role in the selling of a stolen accounting exam to other students.

He was lucky to find a place at the University of Chicago, a place of high seriousness. The school changed him. He began to reassess his values. He began to read writers like Irving Howe, Sidney Hook, Midge Decter and Norman Podhoretz, and felt his politics pull to the right.

After college, he was drafted into the Army and ended up in Little Rock, Ark., where he met his first wife. At the time, she was a waitress at a bar and restaurant called the Gar Hole. Here Epstein’s memoir briefly threatens to acquire genuine weight.

She had lost custody of her two sons after a divorce. Together they got them back, and she and Epstein had two sons of their own. After their divorce, Epstein took all four of the boys. This is grist for an entire memoir, but Epstein passes over it quickly. One never gets much of a sense of what his boys were like, or what it was like to raise them. He later tells us that he has all but lost touch with his stepsons and has not seen them for decades.

He worked for the magazine The New Leader and the Encyclopaedia Britannica before becoming the editor of The American Scholar in 1975. It was a position he would hold for 22 years. He also taught at Northwestern University for nearly three decades.

At The American Scholar he began to write a long personal essay in each issue, under the pseudonym Aristides. He wrote 92 of these, on topics such as smoking and envy and reading and height. Most ran to 6,500 words, or about 4,000 words longer than they should have been.

Many magazine editors like to write every so often, to keep a hand in. But there is something unseemly about an editor chewing up acres of space in his own publication on a regular basis. Editorially, it’s a droit du seigneur imposition.

A selection of these essays, as well as some new ones, can now be found in “Familiarity Breeds Content.” In his introduction to this book, Christopher Buckley overpraises Epstein, leaving the reader no choice but to start mentally pushing back.

Buckley calls Epstein “the most entertaining living essayist in the English language.” (Not while Michael Kinsley, Lorrie Moore, Calvin Trillin, Sloane Crosley and Geoff Dyer, among many others, walk the earth.) He repurposes Martin Amis’s comment about Saul Bellow: “One doesn’t read Saul Bellow. One can only reread him.” To this he adds, “Ditto Epstein.” (Epstein is no Saul Bellow.) Buckley says, “Joe Epstein is incapable of writing a boring sentence.”

Well. How about this one, from an essay about cats?

A cat, I realize, cannot be everyone’s cup of fur.

Or this one, from an essay about sports and other obsessions:

I have been told there are people who wig out on pasta.

Or this one, about … guess:

When I was a boy, it occurs to me now, I always had one or another kind of hat.

Juggling today appears to be undergoing a small renaissance.

If one is looking to save on fuel bills, politics is likely to heat up a room quicker than just about anything else.

In tennis I was most notable for flipping and catching my racket in various snappy routines.

The essays are, by and large, as tweedy and self-satisfied as these lines make them sound. There are no wild hairs in them, no sudden deepenings of tone. Nothing is at stake. We are stranded with him on the putt-putt course.

Epstein fills his essays with quotation after quotation, as ballast. I am a fan of well-deployed, free-range quotations. So many of Epstein’s are musty and reek of Bartlett’s. They are from figures like Lord Chesterfield and Lady Mary Montagu and Sir Herbert Grierson and Tocqueville and Walpole and Carlyle. You can feel the moths escaping from the display case in real time.

To be fair, I circled a few sentences in “Familiarity Breeds Content” happily. I’m with him on his distrust of “fun couples.” He writes, “A cowboy without a hat is suitable only for bartending.” I liked his observation, which he borrowed from someone else, that a career has five stages:

(1) Who is Joseph Epstein? (2) Get me Joseph Epstein. (3) We need someone like Joseph Epstein. (4) What we need is a young Joseph Epstein. (5) Who is Joseph Epstein?

It’s no fun to trip up a writer on what might have been a late-career victory lap. Epstein doesn’t need me to like his work. He’s published more than 30 books, and you can’t do that unless you’ve made a lot of readers happy.

NEVER SAY YOU’VE HAD A LUCKY LIFE : Especially If You’ve Had a Lucky Life | By Joseph Epstein | Free Press | 287 pp. | $29.99

FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTENT : New and Selected Essays | By Joseph Epstein | Simon & Schuster | 441 pp. | Paperback, $20.99

Dwight Garner has been a book critic for The Times since 2008, and before that was an editor at the Book Review for a decade. More about Dwight Garner

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