Introduction Fiction is defined as “an imaginative creation or a pretense that does not represent actuality but has been invented” or “a literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact” (“Fiction”, 2000). However, fiction can often illustrate truths better than fact and to a much greater degree. Literature often provides a useful tool for the study and understanding of complicated concepts in a variety of fields. In addition to helping bring concerns to the surface, literature examines multiple aspects of a given phenomenon from a ‘lived’ perspective – that is, the characters must experience the event as it occurs, the action must be believable and the results must follow logically. Social theorists and academics have often turned to literature as a means of examining the affects of such events as colonialism and cultural hybridity which each played a tremendous role in the formation of our concept of the ‘other’ and therefore contributed to our concept of nationality. As these concepts are difficult to define or explain, literature provides examples and analogies that bridge gaps in understanding as well as poses new questions to be answered. It also helps us to understand how these ideas were being formed and reinforced within the society in which these texts were written. With an understanding of colonialism and what is meant by the ‘other’ as it is explored through the work of Bram Stoker and Joseph Conrad, it becomes clear why the concept of other is so integral to our understanding of self and our society. Colonialism and the ‘Other’ The concept of colonialism is defined in different ways by different people depending upon the context in which it is being applied. “Colonialism is a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to another” (Kohn, 2006). This fairly standard definition makes it difficult to distinguish colonialism from the modern day practice of imperialism, which has many of the same features and effects as its earlier predecessor. “The British appropriation of ‘colony’ retains inflections of the Roman empire while propounding ardently on Britain’s unique involvement in imperialism. Hence ‘colonialism’ attains an historical specificity, noting particularly the impact it had and continues to have on all societies across the world” (Yew, 2002). For purposes of this discussion, colonialism is characterized by the placing of European settlers on foreign territories with the intention to control the area and profit from its possibilities. Writers of the colonial periods in every European country involved in the practice continued to point out the negative effects colonialism was having on the native populations. As settlers from Europe began arriving, the quality of life of the natives steadily declined. Colonialism, as originally practiced by the Spanish, was quickly used as a legitimization of early enslavement of the indigenous Indians as it was seen as the best way of ‘civilizing’ them and spreading Christianity. “Members of the Dominican order in particular noted the hypocrisy of enslaving the Indians because of their alleged barbarity while practicing