This dissertation focuses on what are probably the three most famous ‘monster
stories’ of the 19th century: Frankenstein (1818), The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
(1886) and Dracula (1897). The aim of my research was to determine how information is
shared or not shared within and across private, semi-private, and public spaces in the
three novels, and how the different characters contribute to the production of those
spaces. Almost all of the main characters spend a lot of time ensuring that information
stays within a safe personal space before they decide to share it and even then they
remain wary about how they pass on this information and who gets access to the space
containing this knowledge. The heroes in Dracula, for instance, invade each other’s
personal spaces as they read each other’s notes about the count, but they first produce a
semi-personal safe space in which this invasion is tolerated. Choosing to grant different
levels of access is part of the characters’ decision to secure information, but the different
situations they find themselves in allow for different types of intrusions: invited ones and
uninvited ones.
The monsters’ invasion of the characters’ safe spaces is a much less welcome intrusion
and another aspect that is analysed in this thesis. The monsters can be read as
personifications of transgression, and by extension, of the violation of boundaries.
However, I analyse and compare all the different forms of invasions of personal space that
occur in the novels, which includes the attempts of the ‘good guys’ to get rid of the
monsters, as they themselves cross certain boundaries in doing so.
My approach combines a classical literary analysis of texts with a study of space and
the production of private, semi-private and public spaces, as well as social spaces, based
on concepts developed by Lefebvre and Foucault, which allows me to gain an
interdisciplinary perspective on the three novels. I also pinpoint intersections between
invasions of private space and the crossing of boundaries of social norm.