The Theology of Dracula

Few books have so seized the public imagination as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, even more popular now than when it was first published in 1897. This critical work represents a rereading of the horror classic as a Christian text, one that alchemizes Platonism, Gnosticism, Mariology and Christian resurrection in a tale that explores the grotesque. Of particular interest is the way in which the Dracula narrative emerges from earlier vampire tales, which juxtapose Apollonian and Dionysian impulses. A strong addition to vampire and horror scholarship.

Noël Montague-Étienne Rarignac has worked as a musician, filmmaker, video artist, traveling fellow for an art museum, and composer. He has studied at la Sorbonne Nouvelle, l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Tufts University, and Keele University (U.K.), earning degrees in art, cinema, English and philosophy, and iconography. He lives in Bordeaux, France.

Noël Montague-Étienne Rarignac
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 246
Bibliographic Info: 15 photos, drawings, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2012
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6499-9
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8709-7
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vi

Preface      1

The Sealed Receptacle      7

Genesis      17

Revelation      55

Revolution      91

Syzygy      101

The Children of Night      124

Kingdom Come      150

The Overturned Lamp      181

Coniunctio Oppositorium      196

Bibliography      224

Index      229

“quite an entertaining read…a great book to add to your library”—Examiner.com; “recommended”—The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture; “valuable”—Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts; “Rarignac…probes the story’s sources and its themes of the mysteries of death and resurrection, communion rituals, and veneration of the Virgin and the Cross”—Reference & Research Book News; “Stoker enthusiasts will certainly want to give it a look”—Critical Mass.