The short version: Bram Stoker's Dracula rox! (No, not the movie. The Book, sillies.)
The long version: In the last 15 years of his life, failed actor Abraham Stoker found success with his tale of the aristocratic Undead. Blah blah blah biddy blah. I just can't do it that way--too many school flashbacks. That's a different kind of horror.
The sweet and low-down: Dracula was a seriously fun, good read. (And I'm Serious about that fun, now!) I can only imagine how thrilling it was to its original [1897] audience, untainted by vampire-myth rip-offs. The book is told "scientifically" through documents--journal entries, letters, newspaper clippings, transcriptions of wax cylinder [!] phonograph recordings, and descriptions of plate-photographs. I don't need to tell you astute Blatherscopians that this shizz was Cutting Edge. It is a wonderful touch (and perhaps the first book to do so): fighting ancient evil with "modern" tek'nol'gy.
I expected a book full of Creepies and Crawlies--what I didn't expect was a story of female empowerment, especially given its Victorian time frame. But, Zerd, you may say, there are only two major female characters (and five minor ones) versus six major male characters (and scores of minor ones); how can this be a feminist plot? I shall tell you, my chickadees. The character of Mina Murray Harker is a powerful one: it is her brains and clear-thinking that solve the mystery and devise a means to kill the anti-Christ-like monster. The men-folk, when they try to treat her as Society dictates (protecting her womanly constitution, you know), create horrible opportunities for Dracula.* Every time the men-folk realize the wrong they've done, they not only apologize, but correct their behavior. Thus, at the end of the story, Mina stands Winchester to Winchester with them as they surround His casket.
This book also gave me the word "yabblins," for which I shall be eternally grateful.
*Whose name means "devil" in Wallachian, one of the native tongues of Romania. The pun is continued while in England--there he gives his name as "Count De Ville." Get it? Hee! G*d, I heart puns, especially in Literature!
The long version: In the last 15 years of his life, failed actor Abraham Stoker found success with his tale of the aristocratic Undead. Blah blah blah biddy blah. I just can't do it that way--too many school flashbacks. That's a different kind of horror.
The sweet and low-down: Dracula was a seriously fun, good read. (And I'm Serious about that fun, now!) I can only imagine how thrilling it was to its original [1897] audience, untainted by vampire-myth rip-offs. The book is told "scientifically" through documents--journal entries, letters, newspaper clippings, transcriptions of wax cylinder [!] phonograph recordings, and descriptions of plate-photographs. I don't need to tell you astute Blatherscopians that this shizz was Cutting Edge. It is a wonderful touch (and perhaps the first book to do so): fighting ancient evil with "modern" tek'nol'gy.
I expected a book full of Creepies and Crawlies--what I didn't expect was a story of female empowerment, especially given its Victorian time frame. But, Zerd, you may say, there are only two major female characters (and five minor ones) versus six major male characters (and scores of minor ones); how can this be a feminist plot? I shall tell you, my chickadees. The character of Mina Murray Harker is a powerful one: it is her brains and clear-thinking that solve the mystery and devise a means to kill the anti-Christ-like monster. The men-folk, when they try to treat her as Society dictates (protecting her womanly constitution, you know), create horrible opportunities for Dracula.* Every time the men-folk realize the wrong they've done, they not only apologize, but correct their behavior. Thus, at the end of the story, Mina stands Winchester to Winchester with them as they surround His casket.
This book also gave me the word "yabblins," for which I shall be eternally grateful.
*Whose name means "devil" in Wallachian, one of the native tongues of Romania. The pun is continued while in England--there he gives his name as "Count De Ville." Get it? Hee! G*d, I heart puns, especially in Literature!
2 comments:
Hmmm. Perhaps I'll add this to my already ridiculously long list of books to read this summer...
-Iralise
Oh, yes! It's a great summer read; just keep in mind that some of the language is flowery in ways that only the Victorians could flower. It is surprisingly sensual, and the biting act is written to make you think of...well, you'll just have to read it:)
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