The World Dracula Congress

[This article was also published in LOCUS - August 1995.]

The first World Dracula Congress was held in Romania from May 24-30,
1995. It was organized by the Transylvanian Society of Dracula (a
historical-cultural organization based in Bucharest) with support from
the Ministries of Tourism and Culture, the Romanian Institute of Military
History, the Institute of Folklore & Ethnography, and the Santa Barbara
(California) Centre for Humanistic Studies. The purpose of the Congress
was to examine all of the many aspects of Dracula - both in history and
myth. My involvement with this Congress began last summer while I was in
Bucharest, when I met the TSD president, Nicolae Paduraru, who invited me
to give a paper at the Congress. Following that meeting, I was asked to
help the organizers in Romania make contact with the major Dracula
scholars in the West, which I proceeded to do.

The Congress had many facets. The first (and foremost for me) was the
presentation of scholarly papers. Although there were some problems with
timing (we were always behind schedule, and papers had at times to be
squeezed in and rushed), the quality of the papers was superb. They can
be roughly divided into two groups. Most of the Romanian presenters were
historians whose papers dealt with the real Dracula, Vlad Tepes. These
attempted for the most part to address the issue of objectivity in the
accounts of Vlad Tepes that have survived from the late 15th century. One
paper, by Matei Cazacu (a historian at the Sorbonne), argued quite
convincingly that Vlad was the first victim of printed political
propaganda initiated by Matthias Corvinus and that he (Tepes) was a small
piece in a very big political and economic game. A different type of
paper on Tepes was given by the principal of the school in the village of
Arefu (near Poienari), which has preserved the oral legends about the
Impaler. He noted that for these villagers, Vlad Tepes is still regarded
as a hero who rewarded the efforts of the villagers in aiding his escape
into Transylvania when the Turks surrounded his fortress by granting them
tracts of land in perpetuity.

The second major category of papers dealt with the fictional Dracula, the
vampire Count of Bram Stoker's novel. These included my own paper on
"The Genesis of Dracula", in which I argued that the connection between
Count Dracula and Vlad Tepes has been greatly overstated, and that the
roots of Stoker's vampire are not in Romanian history and folklore but in
the 19th century British Gothic tradition. Raymond McNally (Boston
College) gave a paper on the changing face of Dracula in the movies,
while others were on more theoretical/literary perspectives such as the
ambivalent use of violence in _Dracula_ and _Dracula as a Wandering Jew_.
And there were a few papers which didn't fit into one of these two broad
categories: on topics such as the significance of Bran Castle, the
building of the Castle Dracula Hotel in the Borgo Pass, etc. etc. There
were close to 40 papers in all. Speakers included (in addition to those
mentioned above) Radu Florescu, Silvia Chitimia, Gordon Melton, Clive
Leatherdale, Jeanne Youngson, Norine Dresser, James Craig Holte, Carol
Davison, Katie Harse, Clive Leatherdale, Eileen Barker, Mary Mulvey
Roberts, Bernard Davies, Vincent Hillyer, Stephanie Moss,
and many others. Guest author was Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

The Congress, in addition to being a forum for the presentation of
academic papers, was intended as a showpiece for Romnanian tourism. The
whole Congress was taken "on the road" so that the conference became a
"moveable feast". The first two days were spent in Bucharest with opening
ceremonies and two sets of sessions at the Hotel Bucuresti. There were
many displays provided for participants and visitors with some top
quality souvenirs. A number of enterprising Romanians set up booths and I
was quite pleased with the quality of the products offered. (The one
rather "campy" item that I saw was a small container of fruit-flavored
liqueur labelled "Draculina".) Unfortunately (but as to be expected),
some of the media reports played up that sort of thing, though I found
very little trivialization of the Dracula topic throughout the whole
Congress! Anyway, after the two days in Bucharest we moved north towards
Brasov, stopping for a brief while at Sinaia to allow a visit to the
royal palace (Peles). Then we drove on through to Poiana Brasov where we
had accommodations for the night. I stayed at the Alpin, a beautiful
hotel with a magnificent view where I had stayed last year. A few of us
stayed up all night (we were too excited by it all to sleep) and watched
a most beautiful sunrise.

The next morning we had a full session of conference papers in Poiana
Brasov. The weather co-operated fully - in fact we had sunny skies and
warm temperatures throughout (except for a couple of cool nights).
That afternoon, after a pleasant lunch at the Outlaw's
Hut, we were on the move again, this time to Sighisoara to visit Casa
Vlad Dracul, the house where Vlad Tepes was born and spent the earliest
years of his life. That night we were accommodated at two hotels in Tirgu
Mures, neither of which was even close to the quality of the
accommodations in Bucharest or Poiana Brasov.

The next series of papers were given in Bistrita, after which we
travelled into the eastern Carpathian range to Tihuta, the area of the
Borgo Pass, made famous by Bram Stoker as the fictional location of Count
Dracula's castle. There is a hotel called "Castle Dracula Hotel", a
rather poor imitation of a castle but an attempt on the part of Romanian
tourist authorities to take advantage of the West's interest in the
fictional Dracula. It was at this hotel that the final papers were given
as well as a banquet and awards ceremony (I was the recipient of one of
the awards, by the way). The next day, some of the group went on to
Voronet (to see the painted monastery) before flying back to Bucharest,
while others left by bus for the long drive back!

The Congress experienced many logistical problems, mainly because of
sheer numbers. At its peak the Congress attracted over 200 people (half
of which were media and many other "touristy" types who did not give
papers but were there as "travel writers" etc). The most pronounced
problems were running behind schedule (continuously), late arrival of
buses, slow check-ins at hotels, confusion over luggage, and such
matters. The presence of the media was most noticeable, with cameras
everywhere and numerous interviews (I must have done 20 myself). There
was, by the way, considerable coverage in the media (radio, TV and print)
and there will be quite a bit more. The coverage ranges in focus and
assessment. This is a topic in itself and it is not my intention to
explore it here. I should say that I was particularly interested in the
response of the Romanian press and plan to examine it with an eye to
writing an article about it. I have also been interviewed quite
extensively since my return to Canada on both local and national radio
and TV. And for anyone in Canada reading this, there is going to be a
feature article on the Congress in the magazine "Saturday Night"
(scheduled to appear in October), so keep an eye out for it.

I want to add a few comments about a post-Congress trip that was optional
but proved to be one of the highlights of the whole experience. About 30
of us (most of the media - except the "Saturday Night" reporter - had left)
went to the village of Arefu (near Poienari) to spend the night with the
villagers and to hear some of their folksongs and legends (about Vlad
Tepes) and see folk dances. This was a wonderful experience and such a
peaceful sequel to a hectic week of conferencing and travelling. The next
day 5 of us, reluctant to let it all end, did the trek up the 1500 steps
to the fortress of Vlad Tepes overlooking the Arges valley. This, along
with the short drive from the base of the fortress to the power station,
provides some of the most magnificent and awesome scenery that I have
seen ANYWHERE. It is breathtaking! We five then drove to Tirgoviste to
see the ruins of the princely palace of the Wallachian voivodes before
returning to Bucharest for a badly needed rest!

(copyright, Elizabeth Miller 1995)
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Plans are underway for publishing Congress proceedings. In the meantime I
would be happy to share other details with anyone who might be interested
and would like to contact me privately.

Elizabeth Miller
emiller@plato.ucs.mun.ca