Letteratura e identità irlandese nell'opera di Bram Stoker

This research project stems from two different sources: an interest in the connection between literature and identity (both personal and national) and an interest in the recent desire of reappropriating Bram Stoker as an Irish author that can be noticed both in academia and in the wider public. In the past, Stoker was often included in anthologies of British writers without mentioning his being Irish, sometimes being even explicitly described as an English writer. In fact, he was a hundred percent Irish, in spite of the long time spent in London and of being continuously in touch with British social elites (most of all thanks to his work at the Lyceum Theatre with Sir Henry Irving): his Irishness is evident both in his self-declared interest in Irish themes (he described himself as a “philosophical Home-Ruler”) and in some of his fiction. This research concentrates on finding Irish elements and themes in his novels, short stories, articles and personal diaries, using them for a threefold purpose: first of all shedding more light on his Irishness; secondly, connecting his work to his biography; and, last but not least, expanding the knowledge academia has of his work, both fictional and non fictional, so that he may be seen as a full-rounded author, not just as the author of Dracula. Three novels and other materials have been selected for the analysis. The novels are The Snake’s Pass (1890), which is Stoker’s first and the only one to be set in Ireland; Dracula (1897), an unavoidable milestone in his literary production; and The Lady of the Shroud (1909), more overtly political and written towards the end of his life. Finding Irish elements and themes in The Snake’s Pass is not difficult, as it is full of Irish characters, legends, place names, customs, etc. In addition to these easy-to-spot elements, this novel also offers a first glimpse of Stoker’s idea of community and of what steps should be taken for the development of a rural area. In The Lady of the Shroud, similar solutions are applied to an imaginary land in the Balkans, which can be identified with Stoker’s homeland, since the ideas about culture, identity and development here presented are quite similar to the ones expressed in The Snake’s Pass and in some articles about Ireland written in the same years as The Lady of the Shroud. As regards Dracula, the connections, similarities and differences with the other two novels may help understand this famous novel more deeply than in the past and keep under scrutiny the development of Stoker’s political ideas over time, since these three novels cover the two decades in which he devoted himself to writing on a more regular basis. Together with the novels, a short story has been selected (‘The Primrose Path’, which deals with emigration and alcoholism), two long articles dealing with Ireland (‘The Great White Fair in Dublin’ and ‘The World’s Greatest Shipbuilding Yard’), Stoker’s private diaries, which have been recently made available through print, and other writings (e.g. an address to the Philosophical Society at Trinity College Dublin). Reference is also made to other novels, short stories, articles and private correspondence. All these materials provide more material for the analysis, which means not only collecting more evidence of his Irishness but also improving the analysis of the novels with factual information from his non fictional writings. As for methodology, major texts have been adopted for each topic (e.g. Diarmuid Ó Giolláin’s Locating Irish Folklore. Tradition, Modernity, Identity for folklore or Roy Foster’s Modern Ireland. 1600-1972 for history), but also texts, like for instance Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities and Homi K. Bhabha’s Nation and Narration, that are not directly related to Ireland but provide the tools to compare the ways in which communities and identities are formed in the real world with the ways they are formed in Stoker’s fiction. One last tool used for the analysis of his fiction is his biography, which has been recently investigated (for instance by Paul Murray in 2004) more closely than in the past. As we know, Stoker was immersed in Irish life until he left for London, working for public administration at Dublin Castle and being a prominent member of Dublin’s social life (for instance, he was one of the few people in the history of Trinity College Dublin to hold both the position of President of the Philosophical Society and that of Auditor of the Historical Society, he was a regular at the Wildes’ literary salon on Merrion Square, he was a well-known athlete in local sports competitions, etc.). After he left Ireland, he continued being interested in Irish life and politics, as is clear from his discussing Irish problems with W. E. Gladstone, his participation in the National Literary Society founded in London, and so on. Together with his personal diaries, his biography, in addition to performing the obvious task of providing information about Irish aspects in his life, can also be a useful tool for shedding more light on his fiction.