Dracula Ch. 25-27: The End

“Have you seen that awful den of hellish infamy–with the very moonlight alive with grisly shapes, and every speck of dust that whirls in the wind a devouring monster in embryo?”

-Jonathan Harker, who has lost any chill he ever possessed

Happy Halloween!

If you’re reading this, you probably finished reading Dracula (if you haven’t finished reading Dracula, spoiler warning!).

I changed my mind: Adam Driver should play Jack Seward.

If you haven’t checked out the #dracalong hashtag, it’s not too late and it’s full of hilarity. #Recommended

I hope you all enjoyed the book. It’s long, occasionally long-winded, and internally inconsistent, but, hey, we can’t have everything. Or so they tell me.

Let’s talk about these deplorable adorable amateur vampire-hunters one last time.

I like how Van Helsing is dropping new vampire rules to the bitter end, e.g. when he says Dracula “cannot cross the running water of his own volition” (392). Haven’t we already seen Dracula use the ferry on the Thames?

Someone should follow Jack Seward around and poke him around when he says something completely unacceptable, like when he talks about how great euthanasia is (395), during a time when they might soon have to murder Mina for her own good. Like….there is no good time to say that but especially not now, Jack.

Remember that one time (in the end of chapter 25) when Van Helsing sends Mina off to get a manuscript so he can talk about her privately with Jack, but then at the very end of that scene, when they’ve talked to Mina again, Jack informs us that he writes all of these conversations down and THEN HAS MINA TYPE THEM OUT ON HER TYPEWRITER? WHAT IS THE POINT OF PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT YOUR OWN PERSONAL DOCUMENTATION PROFESSIONAL? Ahem. This is fine.

In any case, it’s good that they keep Mina informed (by whatever method) as she’s the one to work out which route Dracula is taking back to his castle, and so saves the assassination expedition from failure. I love how she’s “the train fiend” and just, the best at geography and routes and things. Van Helsing and Co. try to rely on hypnotizing her thereby “spying” on Dracula, but instead she helps the most by using her awesome brain, and I love that.

(Me, thinking about Mina Harker)

It takes us a while to get there, but the actual “fight” against Dracula is very short and abrupt.  I appreciate that the format of the book as a collection of documents is striving for realism, and the fact that the most action-packed bit is recounted in very few words adds to that realism. You don’t wax poetic about who traded which blows unless you’re writing epic poetry or something similar. The moment when Jonathan and Quincey deliver the final blows is pretty epic. But I also understand that for such an intense book and for a conflict that’s drawn out for so long, the ending may be unsatisfying. What did you all think?

I think the scene soon before the climax is more graphic and chilling:: when Van Helsing is exploring the castle and sequentially murdering the three female vampires. A. Gross, dude and B. That would be really scary???? To be wandering around a hopefully-abandoned castle???? and murdering beautiful monster ladies????? C. Wolves outside. D. Your friend back at camp who is possibly turning into a vampire at that very moment. E. Big Daddy Vampire might get home at any minute.

And on that note, thanks for joining me on this read-through of Dracula!

(Coming up next: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. I’ll be posting on the first eight chapters next Monday, November 7th).

Dracula Ch. 21-24: Very Polyglot With Bloom and Blood

This post includes spoilers through chapter 24 of Dracula.

Once again I don’t know where to start with these chapters. We have developments with Renfield, lots of Van Helsing monologues, a terrifying vampire attack, and honestly an awful lot of moaning. I like how now that the team has formed, all of them are able to work together and do what they’re best at – eg Jonathan can abuse his capacity at the law to find Dracula’s properties; Van Helsing can provide collegian lectures on their foe; Quincey can shoot things….. I also like how they start to pair off according to their skill sets: Jack and Van Helsing the morbid doctors, Arthur and Quincey the hunters, Mina and Jonathan the documenters. Not romantic pairs, although Arthur and Quincey should probably stop showing up together in their pajamas (327).

So Renfield. I don’t even like Renfield and I still have 1,000 questions about how he fell in with Dracula and what his life (and death) goals are. Renfield gets upset when he sees Mina because he realizes Dracula is feeding on her and“it made me mad to know that he had been taking the life out of her” (331). Why is he mad? What is so special about Mina? I know Mina was nice to him THAT ONE TIME she met him, but honestly Renfield seems so completely determined before but suddenly he is throwing himself at his “Lord and Master” and getting the crap beaten out of him. What’s also, um, remarkable is that Van Helsing and his boys don’t even KNOW Mina is getting vamped until Renfield tells them. Because they are idiots, I guess.

And then none of them except Van Helsing has their stakes with them (332)! What a bunch of rookies! Van Helsing did not raise you this way!

QUINCEY: We can’t just barge into a lady’s room!

VAN HELSING: That rule doesn’t apply to doctors, and anyway Van Helsing can go ANYWHERE HE LIKES.

That scene in the Harkers room is terrifying though and I don’t want to talk about it, someone else can.

Instead, let’s do a Quincey sidebar because. Wow. This guy is a weirdo, there I said it.

-Quincey, probably

• When the Harkers are attacked, Quincey runs outside and Jack sees him hide beside a tree. Is he….trying to hunt Dracula? Play hide and seek? I don’t think they covered this in Vampirehunting 101.
• When they try to assassinate Dracula by waiting for him at one of his houses, Quincey takes charge and “without speaking a word, with a gesture, placed us each in position” (359). Headcanon that he’s doing all of these elaborate hand-signals and the rest of them are looking at each other like “wtf is Quincey trying to say???” “I don’t know, YOU fought with him in the jungle or whatever.”
• Arthur is all, “Hey, it’s fine, guys, we’ll take my car[riage]” and Quincey’s response is A+: “Look here, old fellow, it is a capital idea to have all ready in case we want to go horsebacking; but don’t you think that one of your snappy carriages with its heraldic adornments in a byeway of Walworth or Mile End would attract too much attention for our purposes” (346-7).  It’s just. The best.
• According to Van Helsing: “when Quincey give him something from his pocket which crackle as he roll it up” (372). I tried to find out what Quincey is bribing the sailor with but it’s a mystery. I’m guessing it’s paper money (maybe even YANK money!!!!), and Van Helsing is just describing it in a weird way because Van Helsing.
• “Quincey is all man, God bless him for it” (385). Yeah,  okay, Van Helsing, but maybe don’t encourage Quincey because he really needs to find some chill.

We’re going to revisit my favorite theme in this book, “communication is power.” Dracula is a pretty smart guy, and knows his best chance (besides murdering all of them) is to destroy all their written evidence that they have painstakingly gathered and organized. So he goes and burns all their notes (336), like a jerk. BUT FORTUNATELY they have three copies because of Mina’s magical Manifold typewriter and also because she plans ahead. Four for you, Mina Harker! You go, Mina Harker, you use that man-brain.

We need a Jonathan Harker sidebar too.

• Jon’s white hair (355): for some reason I remembered his white hair happening after the castle section. Anyway, Victorian stories seem to be really into hair color change after traumatic events (see: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins, the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle).
• “Today he is a drawn, haggard old man , whose white hair matches well with the burning eyes and grief-written lines of his face. His energy is still intact; in fact he is like a living flame.” I’ll just leave this quote here.
• Jon’s Kukri knife is first mentioned (360), which I find hilarious because we have seen no sign of it before this point, and like, why do you even h

  

  ( image from kukriblades.com )

  ave one of those, and Bram did you even PLAN THIS BOOK AHEAD or did you suddenly decide Jon needed a terrifying weapon? Kukri knives are pretty significant. My notes tell me that they’re the weapon of a group from Nepal called the Gurkha, which both helped and fought against the British at different points in India. Essentially, this is the most imperialist weapon Jon could possibly be using, and he’s using it to get rid of the reverse-colonialist vampire. That’s….really subtle, Bram. PS: I’m not posting links because hilariously a lot of them have Dracula spoilers. Apparently Bram Stoker REALLY popularized this weapon.

• “…if we find out that Mina must be a vampire in the end, then she shall not going into that unknown and terrible land alone” (350) My notes here just say “jon holy shit holy shit.” Somehow I’ve never noticed that Jon is saying that if they can’t save Mina, he’s decided to become a vampire too. Which is ….pretty dark, considering their beliefs about vampires being irredeemable and damned.

And today on “Pretty Unacceptable Things to Say” with our favorite doctor, Van Helsing:

• “Do you forget,” he said, with actually a smile, “that last night he banqueted heavily, and will sleep late?” (348). Too soon, bro. Too soo.
• “the Vampire’s baptism of blood” (378): do you think these through before you say them, or do you just blurt them as they occur to you? No chill, VH. No chill.

Bonus “And That Was Just Freaking Weird” round from Dracula:

• “Your girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and others shall yet be mine – my creatures, to do my bidding and to be my jackals when I want to feed” (361).

A few of you have finished the book already, and the rest of us are well on the way! One more week! Three more chapters! Yay!

Dracula: Modern AU

This post contains spoilers for the first 17 chapters of Dracula.

London, 2016:

Jonathan Harker, a real estate agent, has to travel to Romania to pitch some London properties to an extremely wealthy client that wants to move to London. Jonathan’s fiancee Mina is a journalist working for a London newsblog. She had a last-minute interview on the coast or she would have gone with him. Since they met they’ve been writing emails to each other in Elvish, Klingon, and other made-up languages of their own because they are huge nerds and because Mina is paranoid about her stories getting stolen.

 

When Jon goes to Transylvania, all the locals try to convince him not to meet up with Count Dracula. As evidence, they produce all these weird Vines of fog, bats, and one of a wolf in the distance but nothing concrete because vampires can’t be filmed. He thinks they’re trying to prank him since he’s British. Count Dracula lives off in the boonies so Jon has to take a bus and then meet Dracula at one of the stops. The Count gets there just in time, rolling up in a shiny Rolls Royce because obviously.

Jonathan gets trapped without any communication as there isn’t any cell service or wifi. Instead of emailing Mina, Jon keeps writing email drafts just in case he finds a way to send them. He’s a 21st century man and doesn’t consider smoke signals or flares.

While Jonathan is in Romania, Mina goes to her interview and then visits her friend Lucy, a socialite who studied interior design. Lucy is proposed to by three guys who all know each other from Afghanistan: Arthur, a philanthropic trust fund baby; Jack, a doctor at a mental hospital; and Quincey, an American daredevil who can’t catch a break. When Mina catches Lucy sleepwalking, she keeps it secret from most because Lucy is engaged to a famous rich guy (Arthur) and Mina doesn’t want to cause any trouble with the paparazzi. Mina is then called off because her husband has been found at an airport suffering from major trauma.

Renfield, one of Jack’s patients, is a Gulf war veteran suffering from PTSD and a nervous breakdown….or that’s what modern science says.

Van Helsing is a hipster natural medicine doctor with a following but also a lot of critics.

When Lucy gets sick, they put her in a real hospital and everything except Van Helsing can’t get them to put enough security on her room so him and the boys trade off watching her. They all try to donate blood but it turns out Jack can’t pass the drug test. Mina comes back immediately thanks to a text from Lucy and also donates a lot of blood.

 

During Lucy’s final attack by Dracula, she is trapped in the hospital with a bunch of unconscious staff so she whips out her phone and texts Van Helsing and company, who immediately come to the hospital and save her from imminent undeath.

The whole group then embarks on a mission to hunt down the vampire Dracula, who they all witnessed mid-act at the hospital and also they have all seen Buffy so they know what’s up now. They can’t warn anyone else because whenever they try to film anything, nothing shows up because vampires can’t be seen on camera. No one benches Mina at any point.

They probably all live happily ever after?

---

Honestly I’m surprised at how easily you could transfer the whole story to modern-day. What do you think about my AU? What would you do differently, or how would you do other parts of the story? 

 

 

Dracula Ch. 18-20: Manlike, They Were Immediately Murdered By Rats

Okay, everyone, I’m going to be honest here: we’re getting closerish near to the end of this book and I am getting REAL TIRED OF EVERYONE’S SHENANIGANS, mostly in regard to not taking the proper precautions and to the treatment of Mina by her crew.

“Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man’s brain- a brain that a man should have were he much gifted-and woman’s heart. The good God fashioned her for a purpose, believe me, when he made that so good combination” (278).

For a purpose, eh? That purpose must be hunting and killing an immortal evil vampire, right? Right?

….Oh. Van Helsing, you are full of rat poop. YOU HEARD ME.

Anyway, Mina’s reaction to this is grouchy but understanding because she’s been brainwashed by the system – I mean, because she loves her husband and doesn’t want him to worry.  “Manlike, they have told me to go to bed and sleep” (287). TYPICAL. But I love how even though she’s going along with what they want, she’s still pretty snarky in her journal. Even Renfield is on Team Mina (278).

If the guys had followed up their benching of Mina with some, you know, smart decisions, I could maybe forgive it. But then they immediately go and investigate Dracula’s house AT NIGHT while leaving Mina at home ALONE. I mean, it’s not like we just sat through Van Helsing’s lecture on the Strengths and Weaknesses of Our Vampire Enemy and established that he is stronger during the night…

Oh, wait. We totally got that lecture. In all seriousness, Van Helsing’s lecture in Chapter 18 is a pretty great sum-up of what we know about Dracula so far from the book. He confirms that Dracula is the dog that ran off of the shipwreck, and probably can shift into dust-clouds, which seems like a really fake skill but that’s okay.

“The nosferatu do not die like the bee when he sting once. He is only stronger, and being stronger, have yet more power to work evil” (280-1).

Van Helsing mentions the “Scholomance” in his lecture, which I tried to find out more about but I guess I need to use an actual library. The wikipedia article is sorta helpful but most of their sources aren’t online for free. I was amused to notice that, besides all the links to World of Warcraft and Cassandra Clare, most links quoted Dracula when talking about Scholomance. Anyway, the long and short of it is that Scholomance is a magic school off in the mountainous boonies and is run by the devil.

 

I really enjoy how Morris, who doesn’t seem to be that interested in the research side of things, just walks out of the room so he can shoot at the bat he saw outside the window. And then…no one else raises the possibility that the bat might be Dracula? It’s probably fine. Bats are totally normal except for when they’re shapeshifting avatars of the undead. Maybe they’re just in denial. But, AGAIN, they follow this up with a night-time exploration of Dracula’s house. WHY DID YOU NOT GO DURING THE DAY ARGH.

 

Seward uses his skeleton keys to break into Dracula’s house (295), confirming my headcanon that he is secretly a body-snatcher in his spare time. I’m really onboard with this theory, you guys.

I haven’t talked very much about Renfield in these posts, mostly because I don’t know what to do with him.

 

“That horrid thing has the wolves and rats and his own kind to help him, so I suppose he isn’t above trying to use a respectable lunatic” (294).

He’s clearly under the influence of Dracula. He’s clearly a lunatic. I guess I’m pretty much like Seward – very suspicious of Renfield at all times and unsure what Renfield’s purposes are. He seems to want to become a sort of vampire himself, as shown by eating all the flies and whatnot. We don’t really know how or why he is aware of Dracula and thinks of him as his master. But why is he freaking out so much about leaving the asylum in chapter 18? Is he motivated by Dracula or by himself and for good or evil? Renfield: DISCUSS. Do you like and/or empathize with him? What do you think his deal is?

Dracula: Further Reading (2)

We’re over halfway through our readalong of Dracula, and the plot, as they say, continues apace. I don’t know about you but everything is getting pretty intense.

The novel has an obvious influence on pop culture, and has inspired many movies, books, and comics. For this post I wanted to take a look at a few books that were inspired by Dracula and feature our favorite blood-sucking patriarch in some fashion. If you think I should have included any others, let me know in the comments!

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova:

Published in 2005, this is one of the more recent books inspired by Dracula, and a very excellent one. We’ve seen the way Van Helsing’s crew has begun to use documentation and information as a defense against Dracula, and that’s an idea that The Historian takes and runs with. The heroes of the book are all historians and librarians, and only very rarely shows any vampiric activity. It’s less horrific but more atmospheric; it’s suspenseful and thoughtful and complex. The story takes place partially in the “present day” of the narrator in 1972, but also flashes back to her father’s research in the 1950s. Worth the read!

Hellsing by Kohta Hirano:

This is a 10-volume manga series and whereas The Historian is inspired by the more mundane methods of vampire-hunting, this story is very much a horror story. The story focuses on an organization called “Hellsing” whose mission is to fight against evil supernatural monsters, such as vampires. However, they also use their own pet vampire, “Alucard.” Yes….Dracula spelled backwards. It’s fine. Hellsing is very dark and extremely graphic, but the story is gripping and the cast is full of fascinating anti-heroes. Besides Alucard, there’s Integra, the boss of Hellsing (and a descendant of Van Helsing?), as well as Seras, a young policewoman who is turned into a vampire but does her best to use her powers for Hellsing.

Dracula the Un-Dead by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt:

I haven’t read this one but it is a sequel to the original novel (sanctioned by the Stoker family). It features older versions of the original characters, along with some new ones, in a mystery revolving around a in-book theatrical production of Dracula, directed by Bram Stoker. Yes, it sounds wild and probably is a hot mess, but it exists.

Renfield: Slave of Dracula by Barbara Hambly:

I just found out this book exists and not to get nerdy or anything but the author has written some truly wild Star Wars novels. The combination of her plots with our favorite asylum escapee sounds like a great time.

Did I miss something you love or have heard about? I know there’s a lot of blood-sucking books out there.

Dracula Ch. 15-17: Van Helsing’s Boy Band

This post contains spoilers through Chapter 17 of Dracula.

These chapters are really going for it. I just…I have…there’s so many…

Okay let’s start with something easy, like: BODY-SNATCHING!

No wait, not that kind of body-snatching.

But seriously, even though it’s a valid reason for Lucy’s body to be absent from her grave, I LOVE that Seward is the first one to suggest it (235). I found some interesting links about Victorian body-snatchers, if you’re interested. It really was the best way for a Victorian medical student to learn anatomy. Headcanon: Seward was a body-snatcher when he was in medical school. He knows all about how to do it. He was the best body-snatcher in his class. His classmates always went to him for advice on sneaking into graveyards or picking locks.

I think it’s really interesting that the pediatrician they visit suggests the idea that a vampire bat may be to blame (232). Why didn’t Van Helsing bring up at least the bat theory before he mentions it to Seward in Chapter 14? It would at least have got Seward thinking in the right direction. On the one hand, it makes me CRAZY that Van Helsing doesn’t tell everyone from the get-go that they’re dealing with vampires. On the other hand, they wouldn’t have believed him. On the third hand, he could have said it was a vampire bat and that would at least have helped him get people to watch Lucy constantly, keep windows and doors closed, keep garlic around her, etc. ARGH.

I don’t really understand the rules for vampirism in this book, to be honest. But I think it’s really interesting that because Lucy died while she was sleeping, she is different from other vampires in that during the day she really does look like she’s a sleeping human rather than a soulless monster (239). Also I don’t understand how she can be a soulless monster but also tainting the original Lucy’s soul (necessitating the boys to “cleanse” her via staking, which, okay, YIKES).

I also don’t know how Van Helsing’s use of the Host and his indulgence really makes sense (249). There’s a good (and vaguely spoilery) blog post about it here (thanks to gamedevftw for the link). If anyone else has helpful information, I’d be interested.

I like how Van Helsing is SO READY to kill the vampire, when he and Seward go to Lucy’s tomb and find her in it, and then he’s like “oh wait, Arthur’s feeeeeelings” (240). Like, haven’t you put a lot of thought into this already, since you’ve already waited SO LONG since Lucy died? She’s wandering around preying on kids and you’re just now getting around to the staking and – whoops! Don’t have my crew with me! To be fair, Arthur IS having a terrible year. At least Quincey is around to keep him laughing with “Americanisms” and whatnot. Quincey seems like almost a redundant character at this point – what is his narrative function? DISCUSS. You have Seward and Arthur already as Lucy’s suitors, Seward is the rejected one and Arthur is the accepted one, Seward has plot-relevant skills and such…..Quincey’s just a hired gun.

There are a lot of gruesome and/or scary scenes in these chapters but I’m not sure what to say about them. Lucy throwing the small child onto the ground  “with a careless motion” (251) is the most chilling for me personally.

I love how this book includes letters that were not read by their original recipients at the time they were written: e.g. Mina’s last letters to Lucy and Van Helsing’s “if you’re reading this I’m dead” letter to Seward. It makes the fictional documents format of the book really interesting and purposeful and realistic; you can picture the characters putting together the documents afterward and slipping the “unread” ones in.

“Mina and I have worked all day, and we have put all the papers in order” (270).

The Harkers: DATA ANALYSIS DREAM TEAM! I’m really happy that the whole (?) team is together now. Seward and Mina’s scenes crack me up, from Seward’s thought of “I must be careful not to frighten her” (260) to Mina nerding out over Seward’s phonograph (261) to Seward’s realization that he has NO idea how to use his phonograph diary as a reference tool (262). I look forward to more of their dynamic. I’m glad Jonathan is able to show his skills now that he’s recovered, from hunting down Dracula’s mysterious boxes to collating data to just standing around looking pretty. Wait. Um. Yeah.

Harkers ftw.

“The world seems full of good men—even if there are monsters in it” (265).

Dracula: Further Reading (1)

Warning: This post doesn’t spoil anything past Chapter 14, but the links to the articles below do contain spoilers (mostly Craft and Wicke).

I read a few academic articles (some found by @kemendraugh) about Dracula. Two of them have to do with my favorite thing (technology in the novel) and one has to do with my least favorite thing (sex) but I’ve got brief summaries/thoughts below for those interested in some further reading.

Phonograph, Shorthand, Typewriter: High Performance Technologies in Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Leanne Page

This article contains vague spoilers.

The main point of this article wasn’t so much to provide a deeper reading to Dracula as it was to defend the “high-performance” aspect of the technologies in the novel. For its time, Dracula was a high-tech thriller and should be treated as such. I liked how in-depth Page went describing the different technologies and how they could be used (it also has some fun advertisements for typewriters back in the day). She observes that the  occasional failure of these technologies disrupt the purposes of the characters (just like for real people in real life). I like her assertion that the role of technology in literature can become “a central character” (104) as it does in Dracula, and that she points out that Van Helsing and Dracula are unfamiliar with technology and how it creates problems for them (107). 

“Kiss Me with Those Red Lips”: Gender and Inversion in Bram Stoker’s Dracula by Christopher Craft

This article contains many spoilers.

When I was in college, most of our discussions about Dracula revolved around whether or not something was a metaphor for sex. I still think this is a fairly boring discussion to have, but to be fair this article is probably the best argument for it I have read. There is a lot in this article about Victorian anxiety about gender roles and how they’re being overturned or supported in the novel. There is also a lot of discussion about who is being penetrated by whom, how, and for why.

Babe, I know.

There’s a lot of good stuff in here, a lot of extreme stuff in here, and a lot of explicit stuff in here. I really liked its criticism of how Van Helsing’s team constantly idealizes women and puts them on a pedestal of purity while also judging and demonizing any woman acting outside of their ideal, eg: “A woman is better still than mobile, better dead than sexual” (122) and points out that “the field of this battle [between Dracula versus Van Helsing], of this equivocal competition for the right to define the possible relations between desire and gender, is the infinitely penetrable body of a somnolent woman” (117) and “both men prefer to immobilize a woman before risking a penetration” (126) whether it is to suck her blood or replace it. So, yeah, enjoy this if you go for it.

Vampiric Typewriting: Dracula and Its Media by Jennifer Wicke

This article contains many spoilers.

If you’re going to pick one of these three to read, I’d recommend this one. It compares vampirism (specifically vampires’ tendency to create more vampires) to mass culture (specifically its tendency to both consume and spread): “Mass culture is protean, with the same horrific propensity to mutate that also defines Dracula’s anarchic power, as he becomes a bat or a white mist at will” (476). It compares Dracula’s ability to copy himself by turning people into vampires to the powers of technology and culture, such as Mina’s typewriting. “Here we step into the age of mechanical reproduction with a vengeance, since the reproductive process that makes vampires so closely allied to the mechanical replication of culture” (476). I really appreciate the sympathetic reading of both Mina and Lucy in this article. I can’t say much more about it without being spoilery, though.

Dracula: Midway Survey

PSA: A new literary-inspired webseries based on Dracula just started on Youtube: Episode 1 is up. “Mina Murray’s Journal” is loosely based on the book but it looks intriguing!

We are at the halfway point for our Dracula readalong so it’s SURVEY TIME. Comment with your answers or with a link to an answer post on your website. Try to keep spoilers only through Chapter 14 in your answers (that’s where we will be on Tuesday).

Midway Survey:
1. What has been the biggest surprise for you so far, in terms of plot, characters, tone, anything and everything?
2. Who is your favorite character so far and why?
3. Do you like the format of the book – how it’s made up of various fictional documents by the different characters? Why or why not? Do you think it’s effective? Why or why not?
4. Has anything about the book turned you off /annoyed you specifically? Eg Victorian attitudes, a character’s personality, etc.
5. Why do you think Dracula goes after Lucy, rather than Mina?
6. Where do you think the story will go from here, OR where do you want the story to go from here?

I hope you’re all enjoying the book to some degree so far, especially those of you reading for the first time! I’m having a great time rereading it – I’m noticing a lot of things I haven’t before.

My survey answers are below:

 

 

 

 

Dracula Ch. 8-10: It’s Probably Just A Flesh Wound

Spoilers through Chapter 10 of Dracula.

“We are hedged in with difficulties.” – Jack Seward 

 

We get one “new” perspective in this section, albeit a short one, with the letters concerning the shipment of boxes. I love how the delivery company is like “yeah sure we’ll deliver these giant boxes to this “partially ruined building” (119), it’s your business if your stuff gets ruined from exposure.” These foreigners don’t know how to care for their possessions, am I right.

Dracula has been MIA lately, unless that’s him as a bat/large bird (???) that is outside of Lucy’s window a couple of times (116/117). I wish the dates in the book were more consistent, because it would be fun to line up Renfield’s behavior with what Dracula might be doing at the time based on what’s happening with Lucy.

I really enjoy Seward’s understatements regarding Renfield, eg “a strong Man with homicidal and religious mania at once might be dangerous” (123) and about his mood swings: “it would almost seem as if there was some influence which came and went” (131-2).

YOU THINK, JACK?

Anyway, back to our friends.

“Some of ‘New Woman’ writers will some day start an idea that men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting. But I suppose the New Woman won’t condescend in future to accept; she will do the proposing herself. And a nice job she will make of it, too!” (110-111)

The New Woman that Mina refers to was the term used to describe the emerging group of women, mostly middle class, who were interested in crazy things like voting or working or simply being independent. I can’t really tell how much Mina approves or disapproves of the whole idea. DISCUSS?

Jonathan is back, our dear Jon full of all “his sweetness and gentleness” (123). some of the images in this book are great, and Jon running into the train station screaming about monsters is one of them. I like how Mina feels secure about “no other woman” (128) being in between her and Jon, but the argument can be made that there are THREE women and a man between them. It’s probably fine though. JUST READ THE DAMN JOURNAL, MINA.

I’m impressed with Stoker’s choices of perspectives. For example, I’m glad we don’t get Arthur or Morris (maybe later, I forget). Seward’s perspective is enough to show us all of the Lucy Fanclub feelings, and his job as mental asylum doctor is a lot more plot-relevant than anything Arthur or Morris are doing. I’m also glad we don’t get Van Helsing (maybe later, I forget), as it would kill a lot of the slow-build suspense that is working really well at this point in the story.

Lucy’s “dream” of her sleepwalking episode is terrifying and claustrophobic and I love it.

I was trying to find out info on chloral hydrate, the thing Seward is taking because he is incredibly emo and upset over Lucy (124). Apparently it’s an early sedative, which sounds totally fine to take to cure insomnia. Don’t do drugs, Jack.

The blood transfusions are really interesting and horrifying. BLOOD TYPES ARE A THING. But it’s interesting how much importance they place on the act; Jack continues to have no chill about anything: “Jack has absolutely no chill “No man knows till he experiences it, what it is to feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves” (154) and Van Helsing is concerned that Arthur will be jealous if he knows Jack has also given Lucy blood.

everyone needs to calm down tbh

Speaking of Van Helsing, THIS GUY. One of the first things he said in his first letter makes my head spin:

“Tell your friend that when that time you suck from my wound so swiftly the poison of the gangrene from that knife that our other friend, too nervous, let slip, you did more for him when he wants my aids and you call for them than all his great fortune could do.” (137)

I have no idea what he’s saying, there. Who sucked gangrene from where because who was dropping a knife? How would sucking it from a knife help, I don’t understand, send help.

Jack’s letter: “Everything is fine pretty much”

Arthur: *BURSTS INTO THE ROOM* “DON’T LIE TO ME”

Van Helsing: “Great we need your blood”

But Van Helsing is a really helpful addition to their crew, seeing as no one has the first clue what is going on, except maybe Renfield, and no one is giving that guy the time of day. I mean, at least he knows the useful properties of common garlic.

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I had to google “the smuts of London” (138) because I had no idea what Van Helsing was saying but it sounded dirty. I guess I was sorta right.

Seward quotes “The unexpected always happens” (132) which is helpful to remember  in many situations including but not limited to  when your friends are being hunted by vampires. If you’re unfamiliar with Benjamin Disraeli, he’s a pretty important Victorian-era dude.

 

Dracula: Fancasting

No spoilers past Chapter 7 in this post.

I haven’t seen a decent movie adaptation of Dracula yet (although I’m a huge fan of Nosferatu, against all odds) and it’s upsetting how much material there is in the book that would be perfect in a movie and hasn’t been used yet. I am terrible at fancasting (some of these are tongue-in-cheek) but I’m going to go for it. Feel free to comment or link me with your own choices!

In Order Of Appearance:

Shawn Ashmore as Jonathan Harker

Concept: Jonathan popping his collar for no reason as he approaches Castle Dracula.

Daniel Craig as Dracula

To be honest, I’m pretty sure Daniel Craig IS a vampire.

Eva Green as Mina Murray

I forgot until typing this that she was a Bond girl. Eva Green  probably hunts vampires in real life.

Lily James as Lucy Westenra

*looks like a cinnamon roll but slays all the boys*

Tom Hiddleston as Jack Seward

Seward is a nice man but he also creeps me out so I think Hiddles would do well.

Chris Pratt as Quincey Morris

He would make this face every time something vampiric happens. And then he’d shoot it.

Richard Madden as Arthur Holmwood:

I think he’d be good at Arthur’s “earnest but useless” function.

I left out some characters we haven’t met yet. This fancasting is super white, too: I went with Typical Hollywood Fare if that’s not obvious. I might do another one and/or a POC one when we’re further along.