Professor David Peimer
Dracula: A Satirical Tale of Archetypes of the Self and Other in the West
Summary
In this presentation we will examine Dracula as a dark satirical tale of archetypes: a mirror to see our nature and that of the other. Why did Bram Stoker choose vampires (of all creatures!) and Transylvania in Eastern Europe? And can the story be considered kitsch today or not? Lastly, we will compare Dracula and Frankenstein to give us symbolic insights into our current era.
Professor David Peimer
David Peimer is a professor of theatre and performance studies in the UK. He has taught at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, and New York University (Global Division), and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing. He has written eleven plays and directed forty in places like South Africa, New York, Brussels, London, Berlin, Zulu Kingdom, Athens, and more. His writing has been published widely and he is the editor of Armed Response: Plays from South Africa (2009) and the interactive digital book Theatre in the Camps (2012). He is on the board of the Pinter Centre in London.