Bram Stoker's Ireland: A Complex National Identity.

Bram Stoker's Ireland is a curious place, at once utopia and dystopia. The Snake's Pass (1890) is his only full-length novel to be set in Ireland (along with "The Man from Shorrox," 1894, and "A New Departure in Art," 1908) but echoes of his homeland are evident across his canon. A self-declared "philosophical home ruler" and an ardent monarchist, he supported Home Rule brought about by peaceful means while retaining a belief in the British Empire. The beauty of his homeland and the superiority of his adopted land, England, appear as separate images overlaid. Ireland is savage and spiritual but in need of subjugation and protection. In reconciling the two, Stoker creates simplified, self-destructive images of his countrymen that elide delving deeper into the legitimacy of their grievances. Divisions are transcended and a harmonious whole is forged in the unlikely peace of Stoker's literary Ireland. [145 words] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]