Are you participating in our Dueling Monsters read-a-long? If so, here is some background info on Dracula, as well as a few questions for you to consider as you read the novel. If you are reading Frankenstein (and just keep in mind, Dracula would NOT be happy to hear that), Heather is posting Frank’s info and questions over at Age 30+…A Lifetime of Books.
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Vampires seem to pop up everywhere…they are exceedingly, well, popular, in popular culture. Although Bram Stoker did not invent the vampire, his novel has been instrumental in spreading the cult of the vampire, if I can call it that. Just think of all the places vampires appear…they’re even on Sesame Street! And your cereal box! That is, if you eat Count Chocula.
Dracula was first published in 1897. Stoker (8 November 1847–20 April 1912) was an Irish novelist and short story writer. Some of his other works include The Lair of the White Worm (bonus points if you’ve seen that movie), The Lady of the Shroud and The Snake’s Pass. He seemed to specialize in horror and creep. However, he spent most of his adult life as the assistant to actor Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London. It is said that many of Dracula’s mannerisms were modeled after Henry Irving.
The original title for Dracula was The Un-Dead, and the character of Dracula originally went by the name Count Wampyr. However, in his research, Stoker came across the legend of Vlad the Impaler, whose family name was Dracul, meaning both dragon and devil. Other than the name, there is no indication that Vlad the Impaler was the model for Dracula. So just wipe that thought out of your mind.
Although Dracula was marginally popular when first published, it was only after the movie adaptations appeared that the popularity of Dracula soared (you know, like a bat). However, the Daily Mail review of June 1, 1897 was quite appreciative of the novel:
“In seeking a parallel to this weird, powerful, and horrorful story our mind reverts to such tales as The Mysteries of Udolpho, Frankenstein, The Fall of the House of Usher… but Dracula is even more appalling in its gloomy fascination than any one of these.”
Some of themes in the novel include the role of women in Victorian culture, conventional and conservative sexuality, immigration and invasion (you know, because Dracula was an interloper and wanted to take over England. Don’t laugh…invasion was a big worry at the time, as the British were a bit concerned about all of those oppressed colonists), science and folklore.
And finally, because it’s Banned Books Week, I can’t not mention that Draculahas been challenged for its erotic overtones. In 1994, it was eliminated from required reading lists for advanced English classes in Lewisville, Texas because “the book contains unacceptable descriptions in the introduction, such as ‘Dracula is the symptom of a wish, largely sexual, that we wish we did not have.’”
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Some questions to keep in mind as you read the book (and this is where I confess to blatantly stealing getting inspiration from the Random House, Modern Library edition of Dracula and shmoop.com):
1. Dracula relies on journal fragments, letters, and newspaper clippings to tell its story. Why might Stoker have chosen to narrate the story in this way? Do letters and journal entries make the story seem more authentic or believable to you? How would the story be different if there were one traditional narrator?
2. Why does Dracula only drink the blood of English women? Why doesn’t he drink, say, Jonathan Harker’s blood when he has the chance? Why is Lucy Dracula’s first target? What makes her vulnerable?
3. Think about the roles of Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker in the novel. How are the two women similar? Different? What accounts for their differences? How does Mina epitomize both the traditional role of women as mother and the New Woman? To what extent does the novel depend on both of these women to propel the narrative forward?
4. Sexuality plays a large role in Dracula. Would you say that Dracula attempts to reproduce himself sexually or by some other means? In what way is the novel a reflection of Victorian norms? Or is it?
5. What are the elements of vampire folklore? For example, what, according to the novel, attracts or repels a vampire? How do you kill a vampire for good? Although Stoker did not invent the mythology of the vampire, his novel firmly established the conventions of vampire fiction. Think of another novel that deals with vampires and compare it with Dracula. (Interview with a Vampire, Twilight…) In what ways are the novels similar? Different?
6. Consider Freud’s essay “The Uncanny” in relation to Stoker’s Dracula. How would Freud describe the world that Stoker evokes in the novel? Is this a world of common reality? Or is it a world governed by supernatural belief? Or both? What do you think of Freud’s claim that the writer of Gothic fiction is “betraying to us the superstitiousness which we have ostensibly surmounted; he deceives us by promising to give us the sober truth, and then after all overstepping it.” In what ways does Stoker’s narrative strategy of employing newspaper clippings and journal entries promise the “sober truth”? To what extent do you think Dracula achieves a sense of the uncanny?
7. What do you think Dracula is referring to when he says, “Yes, I too can love; you yourselves can tell it from the past” ? Does he have a tragic love story in his past? Are we supposed to sympathize with Dracula? Do you ever feel sorry for him?
8. Why do Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris never contribute journal entries? How would the novel be different if all the characters narrated an equal amount of the time?
9. And finally, how do you think Renfield finds out about Dracula in the first place?
Also, if you are reading both novels:
10. Did you enjoy one book more than the other? Why?
11. Was one monster scarier than the other?
12. Did either book (or both) surprise you? Was the story what you expected? Were the monsters what you expected? How do the books compare to the stereotypes?
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Happy (scary?) reading! Don’t forget, we’ll be doing a check-in post midway through the month, on 10/15.
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