This conference was held on the occasion of Bram Stoker's 150th birthday (November 8). It was organized by Raymond McNally and David Thiele of Boston College with assistance from Elizabeth Miller. Here is a personal account of the event.

Excitement started for me before I arrived. En route to Boston, I stopped in Halifax (Nova Scotia) to change planes. By pre-arrangement I was met by the daughter-in-law of the late Sir Devendra Varma (Gothic scholar who taught for many years at Dalhousie University). The family had agreed to lend us their copy of Dracula (first edition) to display at the Boston College conference. It was, of course, insured. I transported it back and forth. And to make it even better, it was an AUTOGRAPHED copy.

The conference was held at Boston College and hosted by Raymond McNally. The college campus is quite beautiful and several of the buildings are of Gothic style. In fact, one could not ask for a better setting for giving papers on Dracula than the Burns Library. Wonderful atmosphere - even though it rained almost steadily for the 3 days we were there.

The papers were excellent. Some of the presenters were: Carol Senf, Margaret Carter, Raymond McNally, Benjamin Leblanc, Radu Florescu, Cornelia Bodea (Romanian historian), Michael Bell (Rhode Island folklorist), Stephanie Moss, Katie Harse, Sharon Russell, Christopher Rondina, Jeanne Youngson, Lloyd Worley, Laura Kaye Stoker, Daniel Lapin, Kellie Donovan Wixson, and myself.

Of special interest to me was a paper by Benjamin Leblanc in which he presented slides of a NEWLY DISCOVERED portrait of Vlad the Impaler which he found in Austria. It is a full-length portrait. I also enjoyed Michael Bell's talk about New England vampires. Of course, I enjoyed them all, but these were the highlights for me. Another highlight was Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, who was guest speaker at the banquet on Saturday night. She spoke about how she moved from an interest in Dracula to the creation of Saint-Germain. We also had a visit from Vlad the Impaler (Dann Maurno, who those of you at Dracula 97 will remember as one of the winners at the Costume Contest); he did a reading from the "voivode Dracula" section of Stoker's novel. Following the banquet we had a showing of the restored "Nosferatu" which was quite interesting.

On Sunday night, those of us who were still around were invited to a small reception at the Romanian Consulate, hosted by Radu Florescu.

Unlike "Dracula 97" which had a broader focus, this conference was academic. That usually means "dry" - but that was not the case. Papers on Dracula are always interesting - well, most times! :) I expect that will be the last major conference for the Dracula Centennial Year. It was a fine way to bring it to a close.

For those interested in the actual topics of the papers, following is the full program.

SATURDAY, November 8

8:30-9:00 REGISTRATION (and purchase of banquet tickets)

Gasson Hall Rotunda

9:00-10:30 INFLUENCES ON STOKER'S "DRACULA"

Burns Library, 2nd Floor, Thompson Room

Chair: Radu Florescu (Boston College)

Cornelia Bodea (Romanian Academy of Sciences)

"British Authors Who Inspired Stoker"

Clemens Ruthner (University of Antwerp)

"German Sources for Dracula"

David Dickens (Washington & Lee University)

"Goethe's Faust and Stoker's Dracula"

10:45-12:15 STOKER REVISITED

Burns LIbrary, 2nd Floor, Thompson Room

Chair: Stephanie Moss (University of South Florida)

Carol Senf (Georgia Institute of Technology)

"Dracula and The Lair of the White Worm: A Comment on

Victorian Science"

Margaret L. Carter (author)

"Stoker's Lair of the White Worm and Dracula Revisited"

Raymond McNally (Boston College)

"Happy Sesquicentennial, Bram!"

12:15-1:45 LUNCH (Faculty Dining Room, 2nd Floor, McElroy Commons)

1:45-3:15 TRANSYLVANIA AND LITTLE RHODY, THE VAMPIRE STATE

Burns Library, 2nd Floor, Thompson Room

Chair: Raymond McNally

Elizabeth Miller (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

"Representations of Transylvania in Western Literature from

Shakespeare to Stoker"

Michael Bell (folklorist)

"The Living was Food for the Dead"

Christopher Rondina (author)

"Old New England was like Transylvania"

1:45-3:15 STOKER AND THE VICTORIANS

Gasson 100

Chair: Sharon Russell

Stephanie Moss (University of South Florida)

"Stoker and Victorian Periodicals"

Anne Weller Tagge (Lasall College)

"The Black Swans: Scandalous Relationships of English Royal

Figures and their Friends"

Jules Law (Northwestern University)

"Anxious Economies: Blood and Milk at Fin de Siecle"

3:30-5:00 IRISH STUDIES PANEL: Dracula and Other Islands

Gasson Hall 100

Chair: H.L. Malchow (Tufts University)

Joseph Valenti (University of Illinois, Champaign)

"Masculinity and Irishness"

Cannon Schmitt (Grinell College)

"Mother Dracula"

Discussant: Kevin O'Neil (Boston College)

5:00-6:00 Wine & Cheese Party

(Sponsored by the Irish Studies Program, Boston College)

6:00-8:00 Banquet

Guest speaker: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (author)

"From Dracula to Saint-Germain"

[banquet tickets available at Registration]]

8:00-9:30 SATURDAY NIGHT SPECIAL: NOSFERATU & GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST FILM

Chair: John Michalczyk (Boston College)

Jeff Howe (Boston College)

"Expressionism"

Dick Blake (Boston College)

"Origins of the Horror Film"

Jorgen Keil (Director, Goethe Institute, Boston)

"Introduction to Nosferatu"

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9

9:00-10:30 DRACULA'S MANY FACES

Gasson 100

Chair: Raymond McNally (Boston College)

Eleni Coundouriotis (University of Connecticut)

"Dracula and the Idea of Europe"

Laura Kaye Stoker (Austin Film Society)

"Dracula's Nose"

Benjamin Leblanc (University of Montreal)

"A Hitherto Unknown Painting of Vlad Dracula"

10:45-12:15 A NEW LOOK AT AN OLD IMPALER

Burns Library, 2nd Floor, Thompson Room

Chair: Elizabeth Miller (Memorial University of Newfoundland)

Radu Florescu (Boston College)

"My Search for Dracula"

Lloyd Worley (University of N. Colorado)

"Impaling, Dracula, and the Old Testament"

10:45-12:15 THE PERVASIVE PRESENCE OF DRACULA

Gasson Hall 100

Chair: Stephanie Moss (University of South Florida)

Sharon Russell (Indiana State University)

"A Comparison of Murnau's Nosferatu with his Faust"

Jeanne Youngson (Count Dracula Fan Club)

"Renfield is Dwight Frye"

Daniel Lapin (practising psychologist)

"Stoker's Sexual Identity"

12:15-1:15 Lunch

1:15-2:15 Book signings

2:30-4:30 NEW BLOOD: FRESH INTERPRETATIONS OF DRACULA

(Graduate Student Panel)

Gasson 100

Chair: David Thiele (Boston College)

Suzanne Nyberg (New York University)

"Dracula and the Christian Sacraments"

Katie Harse (Calgary, Alberta)

"Stalwart Manhood: Failed Masculinity in Dracula"

Kellie Donovan Wixson (Tufts University)

"Dracula: an Anglo-Irish Novel"

Nicolle Nemec (U MAss Amherst)

"The Legacy of Nosferatu"