An ‘inexhaustible subject for investigation’: The Eastern Gothic of Carmen Sylva and Bram Stoker

This article considers the representation of Eastern Europe by Carmen Sylva and Bram Stoker. Sylva, a German princess and first Queen of Romania, was a prolific writer. I argue that she is a forgotten link to Romania and that by recuperating her writings we are given a deeper insight into Stoker's work and the Gothic genre more broadly. The article discusses a range of fiction by both authors alongside nineteenth-century anthropological studies. Sylva's depictions problematized the stereotype of the barbaric ‘Foreign Other’ and broadened British awareness of the country she would rule alongside her husband for over forty years.