Dracula Gone Viral: Criticality, Intertextuality, and Affect on Tumblr Around the Digital Serialization of Dracula

• In Event: Critical Responses to Literature: Using Texts for Social Justice

Abstract

This study explores the implications of a recent case in spring 2022 where the novel Dracula went “viral” as tens of thousands of Tumblr users participated in a serialized re-reading and discussion of the text through the hashtags #dracula and #dracula daily. This paper examines what happens when a canonical text “goes viral” in a playful affinity space through a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design approach (quant: topic modeling; qual: multimodal content analysis). We found that the serialization of Dracula made space for “wandering reading practices” (Chavez, 2010) relevant to this interpretive community on Tumblr. Playfully analyzing literature together through intertextual connections and multimodal memes has the potential to be both emotionally resonant, culturally relevant, and supportive of literary interpretive practices.

Authors

• Karis Michelle Jones, Empire State University - SUNY
  Presenting Author

• Scott Storm, Bowdoin College
  Presenting Author

• Alexander P. Corbitt, SUNY - College at Cortland
  Presenting Author