Faculty Introduction for “Conditional Belief in Dracula”

Vera Leyi Sun originally wrote this essay for my Perspectives on the Humanities course: “Brutes, Monsters, Ghosts, and Other Troubling Creatures.” The assignment asked students to select a historical event or trend that contextualizes their analysis of a literary text and to show how their argument participates in scholarly debates on this literary text. In a sharp, lucid way, Leyi’s essay addresses how changing attitudes towards Christianity and science in the late Victorian period speak to representations of faith in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. She skillfully incorporates and interweaves scholarly sources to trace developments in science in the nineteenth century and to support her interpretation of the novel. Moreover, she explores the nuances of her claims by closely reading key passages from the novel. I’m impressed by her thoughtful analysis of the characters’ invocations of God—and the power of rifles—as they battle Count Dracula. Leyi’s attention to both narrative arc and textual detail models the analytical work we encourage in Perspectives on the Humanities.  

Read “Conditional Belief in Dracula” here.

Alice Chuang, Lecturer in the Writing Program