Writing into Existence: Rethinking History through Literature in Beowulf, Dracula by Bram Stoker,and The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
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Authors
Garcia, Anca Olguta Giorgiana
Issue Date
2017-12
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Rushdie, Salman , Stoker, Bram, 1847-1912. Dracula. , Beowulf , Literature , Thesis and dissertation
Alternative Title
Abstract
My thesis analyzes comparatively from the perspective of the dialectic relationship between history and literature three different historical writings from three different time periods: the Anglo-Saxon world through Beowulf, Victorian England through Bram Stoker’s novel, Dracula, and postcolonial Europe and India through Salman Rushdie’s novel The Enchantress of Florence. It discusses how these writings use a common metatextual trope represented by the idea of glory which implies that literature becomes the territory where historical characters are textually built rather than reconstructed based on historical evidence. It also indicates how this metatextual dimension also generates a second level of meaning, one related to the ideological needs of their time. Thus, it demonstrates that Beowulf contains the frame of a utopia, Dracula becomes a myth, and The Enchantress of Florence encloses a sophisticated play between history and literature.