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Symphony of Horrors: Dracula in Literature and Film
Taught by Alice Bullitt, M.A., Programming Manager, Bryn Mawr Film Institute

The vampire is a creature that has haunted the artistic imagination for centuries—it both literally and figuratively refuses to die. Like other creatures in Gothic literature, such as Frankenstein’s Monster or Mr. Hyde, the vampire is a locus of cultural ideology, reflecting the social, economic, and psychological anxieties of its historical moment.

Bram Stoker’s late-Victorian novel, Dracula, acted as a catalyst for the twentieth century’s cinematic obsession with vampires, spawning over 200 feature films about this most beloved bloodsucker. This course will introduce students to the literary tradition of the vampire that culminated with Stoker’s novel, and focus on the myriad film adaptations that followed.

The films we will study include (but are not limited to) F.W. Murnau’s German Expressionist masterpiece, Nosferatu, Francis Ford Coppola’s audaciously imaginative Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and several others.

In addition, students may sign up for an optional field trip to the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia where we will receive a private lecture on Stoker and get to view his original notes and outlines for the novel, which are in the permanent collections of their library.

Dracula (1931)