1st Edition
The Dracula Dilemma Tourism, Identity and the State in Romania
By Duncan Light
Copyright 2012
208 Pages
by
Routledge
208 Pages
by
Routledge
208 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
For many in the West, Romania is synonymous with Count Dracula. Since the publication of Bram Stoker's famous novel in 1897 Transylvania (and by extension, Romania) has become inseparable in the Western imagination with Dracula, vampires and the supernatural. Moreover, since the late 1960s Western tourists have travelled to Transylvania on their own searches for the literary and supernatural roots... Read more
Contents: Introduction; Tourism, identity and popular culture; The Dracula of literature; The historical Dracula; Dracula tourism in socialist Romania; Fiction, history and myth at Dracula's castles; Dracula and tourism in post-socialist Romania; 'Dracula Park' Conclusions; References; Index.
Biography
Dr Duncan Light works in the School of Tourism, Bournemouth University, UK. He is a cultural geographer with particular interests in the inter-relationships between tourism, national identity and heritage.
'Mention Romania, or Transylvania, and the first name that often comes in response is Dracula. For many Romanians the association is not entirely welcome and yet the Romanian state has cultivated it to promote tourism. Duncan Light's engaging study explores this apparent contradiction, regarding tourism at the same time both as a cultural activity as well as a business undertaking.' Dennis Deletant, Georgetown University, USA and Emeritus Professor, University College, London, UK 'A superb analysis in lucid prose of Romania's unique dilemma: how to benefit from Dracula tourism without denigrating its own history and sense of identity. Examining both the communist and post-communist periods, Duncan Light methodically works through the challenges, ranging from the benefits of literary tourism to the failure of a proposed Dracula theme park.' Elizabeth Miller, Professor Emeritus, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada, www.blooferland.com/drc (Dracula Research Centre) 'Light provides a thorough and entertaining account of the various Dracula/Impaler myths and their manifestations in popular culture, academia and Romanian communist-nationalist historiography... At present, we have few historically wide-ranging accounts of the effects of literary tourism, and this is a great example of what might be done with a case study in terms of conceptualising the complex interplay of national identity, tourism and culture. The Dracula Dilemma, though, also demonstrates - notwithstanding the unique quality of the phenomenon - how such an approach can enrich and complicate our understanding of tourism itself.' Times Higher Education 'This is possibly the most thorough investigation of Dracula tourism ever written... The book is factually dense without being cumbersome to the credit of both the protagonist and author... Dracula Park, is a highlight of the book... Light, in great detail, takes us through the history of the project... ' Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change
