In this Book
- The Snake's Pass: A Critical Edition
- Book
- 2015
- Published by: Syracuse University Press
In 1890, The Snake’s Pass was published in serialized form in the periodical The People. It is the story of Arthur Severn, an Englishman who has inherited wealth and a title through an aunt who took him under her wing to the exclusion of closer relations. His inheritance includes land in Ireland, and now that he is a man of leisure, he decides to tour the west of Ireland. As Bram Stoker’s first full-length novel, The Snake’s Pass is a heady blend of romance, travel narrative, adventure tale, folk tradition, and national tale. This early novel shows that, long before Dracula, Stoker used the genre of the novel to engage with questions of identity, gender, ethnic stereotype, and imperialism.
In this critical edition, Buchelt offers detailed and studied insight into both the novel and Stoker’s life, demonstrating the significance of The Snake’s Pass within the canon of late Victorian literature. The supplementary textual notes, scholarly material, and critical responses enhance the novel without distracting from the text. Readers will find a complexly layered and nuanced work that presents a pointed critique of British cultural attitudes and political positions concerning the Irish and Ireland.
Table of Contents
- Notes on the Text
- pp. vii-viii
- Acknowledgments
- pp. ix-x
- “Being of Ireland”
- p. xi
- Part One
- I A Sudden Storm
- pp. 5-15
- II The Lost Crown of Gold
- pp. 16-32
- III The Gombeen Man
- pp. 33-47
- IV The Secrets of the Bog
- pp. 48-65
- V On Knocknacar
- pp. 66-82
- VI Confidences
- pp. 83-96
- VII Vanished
- pp. 97-110
- VIII A Visit to Joyce
- pp. 111-119
- IX My New Property
- pp. 120-131
- X In the Cliff Fields
- pp. 132-144
- XI Un Mauvais Quart d’Heure
- pp. 145-156
- XII Bog-Fishing and Schooling
- pp. 157-170
- XIII Murdock’s Wooing
- pp. 171-183
- XIV A Trip to Paris
- pp. 184-199
- XV A Midnight Treasure Hunt
- pp. 200-212
- XVI A Grim Warning
- pp. 213-228
- XVII The Catastrophe
- pp. 229-245
- XVIII The Fulfilment
- pp. 246-262
- Part Two
- Further Reading
- pp. 265-266
- Reviews of The Snake’s Pass
- pp. 267-270
- Critical Essays
- The Snake’s Pass and the Irish Question(s)
- pp. 273-286
- “For Ireland’s Good”
- pp. 287-298
- The Snake’s Pass and the Limits of Romance
- pp. 299-310
- The West as Metaphor
- pp. 311-326
- Chronology
- pp. 327-332
- Notes on Contributors
- pp. 333-334
- Back Cover
- p. 335