A large part of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula focuses on the intricacies of property relations, that is the social, legal and personal stakes of ownership. Property rights are thematized vis-à-vis human rights. In the novel the notion of personal property and the idea of subjectivity are intertwined. The evolution of Dracula’s identity in the course of the novel moves from that of the wanderer, given his condition of undead, rooted in a place outside history and time (the castle, the snowy wilderness) to that of new capitalistic man, well rooted in civilized society thanks to his acquisition of a mansion. Dracula tries to become part of Western civilization through his possessions and by acquiring a settled position. It is a symbolic sense of geography and possession that epitomizes Dracula’s attempt at existing as a legal persona. This also entails the inclusion of a new type of legal identity within the western racial corpus. The right to property is deeply felt by the whole of mankind and considered as intrinsic in the individual’s selfidentification. The aim of my paper is that of analysing the various functions of property in the novel in the creation of an independent individual.
A Biojuridical Reading of Dracula
CARPI, Daniela
2012-01-01
Abstract
A large part of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula focuses on the intricacies of property relations, that is the social, legal and personal stakes of ownership. Property rights are thematized vis-à-vis human rights. In the novel the notion of personal property and the idea of subjectivity are intertwined. The evolution of Dracula’s identity in the course of the novel moves from that of the wanderer, given his condition of undead, rooted in a place outside history and time (the castle, the snowy wilderness) to that of new capitalistic man, well rooted in civilized society thanks to his acquisition of a mansion. Dracula tries to become part of Western civilization through his possessions and by acquiring a settled position. It is a symbolic sense of geography and possession that epitomizes Dracula’s attempt at existing as a legal persona. This also entails the inclusion of a new type of legal identity within the western racial corpus. The right to property is deeply felt by the whole of mankind and considered as intrinsic in the individual’s selfidentification. The aim of my paper is that of analysing the various functions of property in the novel in the creation of an independent individual.
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