TY - JOUR

T1 - The origins of Turkish Gothic

T2 - the adaptations of Stoker’s Dracula in Turkish literature and film

AU - Bicakci, Tugce

N1 - This article can be downloaded and printed for personal reference, but not otherwise copied, altered in any way or transmitted to others without the written permission of the author.

PY - 2015/12

Y1 - 2015/12

N2 - The adaptations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) in Turkish literature and film are relatively unknown by Western academia and have been poorly discussed by Turkish critics and scholars on the grounds of being superficial copies of the original. However, they have great importance not only for Turkish Horror studies but also for recently formed Globalgothic studies. In 1928, a novel named Vlad the Impaler was published in Ottoman Turkish by Ali Rıza Seyfi, a historian and a poet from newly founded Republic of Turkey. As the novel’s name suggests, Seyfi uses the historical character known as Vlad Tepes and his connection to Turkish history, which dates back to the Ottoman Empire period. However, Seyfi’s novel was an adaptation of Stoker’s Dracula with engaging modifications. A quarter-century later, this adaptation was adapted into film under the name of Dracula in Istanbul (1953) which became the first Horror film to survive in Turkish cinema history and the first Dracula adaptation made by a Muslim country. Contrary to popular opinion in Western academia, the film is also the first adaptation in which Count Dracula’s fangs are seen. This article provides close readings of both adaptations by focusing on representations of Turkish national identity in particular. Considering both Gothic criticism and adaptation theories, I argue that these works lay the foundations of Turkish Gothic, a genre which has not yet been canonised in Turkish studies, and that they serve as a first step towards a Turkish contribution to Globalgothic studies.

AB - The adaptations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) in Turkish literature and film are relatively unknown by Western academia and have been poorly discussed by Turkish critics and scholars on the grounds of being superficial copies of the original. However, they have great importance not only for Turkish Horror studies but also for recently formed Globalgothic studies. In 1928, a novel named Vlad the Impaler was published in Ottoman Turkish by Ali Rıza Seyfi, a historian and a poet from newly founded Republic of Turkey. As the novel’s name suggests, Seyfi uses the historical character known as Vlad Tepes and his connection to Turkish history, which dates back to the Ottoman Empire period. However, Seyfi’s novel was an adaptation of Stoker’s Dracula with engaging modifications. A quarter-century later, this adaptation was adapted into film under the name of Dracula in Istanbul (1953) which became the first Horror film to survive in Turkish cinema history and the first Dracula adaptation made by a Muslim country. Contrary to popular opinion in Western academia, the film is also the first adaptation in which Count Dracula’s fangs are seen. This article provides close readings of both adaptations by focusing on representations of Turkish national identity in particular. Considering both Gothic criticism and adaptation theories, I argue that these works lay the foundations of Turkish Gothic, a genre which has not yet been canonised in Turkish studies, and that they serve as a first step towards a Turkish contribution to Globalgothic studies.

KW - Gothic Studies

KW - Turkish Gothic

KW - Dracula

KW - Adaptation

KW - national identity

M3 - Journal article

VL - 4

SP - 57

EP - 69

JO - Studies in Gothic Fiction

JF - Studies in Gothic Fiction

SN - 2156-2407

IS - 1-2

ER -