As
the subtitle ‘Travels and Folk Beliefs in Romania’ indicates, Andrew
Mackenzie’s 1977 book covers more than Dracula, though the historical figure
looms large. MacKenzie had been
travelling to Romania annually since 1968, initially for general journalistic
purposes, and had become interested in the country’s folklore.* He was visiting during a period when the
stories were disappearing under the weight of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s modernisation
programme, though the traditions still lingered in remoter regions, mostly
among the elderly.
At
the same time the country was opening to tourism and beginning to capitalise
(albeit with some reluctance) on the Dracula associations, and the book is a
combination of travelogue, history and investigation of what remained of rural
folk traditions In that sense the title
is misleading as there is much more here than the Dracula myth, though it is a
useful peg to generate interest (more likely to attract readers than the
subtitle would have had it been used as the title), and MacKenzie’s aim is to draw
attention to a neglected corner of Europe which was still seen as mysterious in
the 1970s.
MacKenzie
intertwines a stab at outlining Romania’s complicated past with chapters on
Dracula in fiction and the busy, and gruesome, career of Vlad Țepeș, followed
by portraits of Sighișoara, Dracula’s birthplace, and Poenari Castle, which has
more right to be considered his castle than is Bran Castle, that staple of
present-day Dracula tourism. MacKenzie
then discusses beliefs in strigoi and werewolves before resuming his
geographical treatment, dealing with the history and folklore of different areas:
‘Sibiu and tales from the villages’, ‘Cluj and tales from the mountains’,
‘Bistrița and folk customs in the valleys’, and Maramureș, with a conclusion in
which he reiterates how the sorts of stories he has recounted are becoming
rarer as life changes under the impact of industrialisation, tourism and
television.
This
is a valuable snapshot of Romania in the 1970s, when it was exerting its
independence from Moscow but still following a strict ideological line. When MacKenzie was writing travel in remote
areas was a significant achievement, and Dracula
Country is still a useful addition to the literature despite its age, but
there are weaknesses. Firstly, he did
not speak Romanian and relied on translators, which he concedes was a problem
in interviews when he was often told that something could not properly be
rendered into English, but also meant he had to rely on English-language
sources for his historical perspective.
More
significantly, he does not acknowledge the extent to which what he was told
might have been coloured by adherence to approved policies. In his preface he notes ‘the benefit of three
excellent interpreters provided, with a car and driver, by the Ministry of
Tourism.’ These were not just
interpreters but were there to keep an eye on MacKenzie and his interviewees, who
must have known it even if Mackenzie did not, and this could have influenced
the information he was given. MacKenzie
talks little about the regime and reading
the book it is easy to forget the political situation of the period. He might not have wanted to offend his hosts
by highlighting the issue, but as a result he comes across as naive.
Despite
these flaws one has to admire MacKenzie’s industry, and the result is worth
reading both for the travel aspects and the folklore he collected despite
obstacles of language. The history is
too compressed, and requires some background knowledge for it to make sense,
but MacKenzie’s affection for the landscape and the people he met are obvious. Despite the difficulties Romanians were
facing as part of the Eastern Bloc, MacKenzie had huge optimism for the future:
‘In the long run they have everything – natural riches, great scenic variety,
widespread education, gifted people – which will make for a brilliant
future’. When he was writing there was
little available about the country in English, and almost total ignorance about
its history and culture, and it is books like this that to an extent have helped
remedy that situation.
*MacKenzie
was a Council member of the Society for Psychical Research. Dracula
Country was reviewed in the Journal
of the SPR by Renée Haynes though the suspicion arises that at best she merely
skimmed it, and as a devout Catholic was surely not the best person to ask.
