A Milestone in the Field of Dracula Studies: Elizabeth Miller and the Perception of History in Bram Stoker’s Vampire Novel

Abstract

This paper starts with a short overview of the critical reception of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula and focuses its investigation on the role of the Canadian professor Elizabeth Russell Miller (16 February 1939 — 2 January 2022) to the development of Dracula studies. The importance of the investigation of Bram Stoker’s notes for Dracula is also discussed. The paper also investigates the connection between Count Dracula and Vlad the Impaler, presenting a synopsis of Miller’s perspective (in 1990s and 2000s) versus the hypotheses proposed by Raymond McNally and Radu Florescu in 1972. The article concludes with some personal reminiscences of Elizabeth Miller. Although her opinions were sometimes based on the rigorous criticism of previous studies in this domain, in the field of Dracula studies, Elizabeth Miller was a symbol of cohesion, and cohesion may be one of the strongest characteristics of an international community. This paper will also refer to the role of the Canadian professor in the analysis of the connection between Transylvania and the Dracula myth.