{"id":220,"date":"2012-10-30T15:51:21","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T20:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/?p=220"},"modified":"2015-02-20T16:01:54","modified_gmt":"2015-02-20T21:01:54","slug":"starr-dracula-was-the-original-thug","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/articles\/starr-dracula-was-the-original-thug\/","title":{"rendered":"Starr: Dracula was the original thug"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"clear\"><figure id=\"attachment_5134\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5134\" style=\"width: 244px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/com\/files\/2010\/08\/starr_douglas.jpg\" alt=\"Prof. Douglas Starr\" title=\"Doug Starr\" width=\"234\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5134\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5134\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Prof. Douglas Starr<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>In a recent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/health_and_science\/science\/2012\/10\/original_vampires_criminal_anthropologists_inspired_bram_stoker_s_dracula.single.html\">article<\/a> published by <em>Slate Magazine<\/em>, Science Journalism <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/about-com\/faculty-directory\/douglas-starr\/\"><strong>Prof. Douglas Starr<\/strong><\/a> claims today\u2019s interpretation of Dracula is very different from the original character in Bram Stoker\u2019s  eponymous 1897 novel. As Starr writes, \u201cHe was the very model of a thug.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Starr connects the dots between Bram\u2019s Dracula and Italian psychologist Cesare Lombroso, who developed a theory that deformities in different parts of the brain created a so-called \u201cCriminal Man.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>This man bore the following behavioral characteristics: \u201cCraving of evil for its own sake, the desire not only to extinguish life in the victim, but to \u2026 drink its blood,\u201d Lombroso wrote in his book <em>Criminal Man<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"clear\">\n<blockquote><p>\u201cGiven the evidence, maybe it\u2019s time for a fact-check on the vampire\u2019s image as presented to the TV-watchers of today. Tormented? Yes. Misunderstood? Maybe. Attractive? Not at all. The original Dracula was the embodiment of brute evil\u2014much like his literary contemporary, Mr. Hyde.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.slate.com\/articles\/health_and_science\/science\/2012\/10\/original_vampires_criminal_anthropologists_inspired_bram_stoker_s_dracula.single.html\">Read Starr&#8217;s article in Slate Magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a recent article published by Slate Magazine, Science Journalism Prof. Douglas Starr claims today\u2019s interpretation of Dracula is very&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9776,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[174,73,206],"bu-publication":[],"discipline-type":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/220"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9776"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":229,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/220\/revisions\/229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"discipline-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/discipline-type?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}