Impaled

[celticlad42]

I'm finally finished with Dracula, which was about 400 pages of solid brick wall.  The first six chapters were really, really good but then Stoker slows it down, way down, letting it slowly drip until the unsatisfying end.  What I talk about next will spoil the ending, so be warned.

Our popular image of Dracula comes from the movies - in the book he

Comments

*big spoilers*

[thepecial1]

Dear Rob,
You probaly don't remmeber me, but you met me once in the fall at a football game. Carol can explain the rest of the long how-you-know-me-story.

Anyways, I just had to read dracula last semester for my gothic fiction class, and I'm suprised you didn't hit on all the "this was proper victorian society but everyone wanted to have threesomes" part of the story. (that was the only thing that kept me reading...) basically, we see that dracula (supposedly) has three wives, Harker wanted the 3 vampire women somethign awful (but was afraid Mina would find out) three men gave Lucy blood before she died, and her betrothed (forget his name) figured he was "wedded" to lucy b/c they shared body fluid (thus lucy had 3 husbands if this reasons stands) and Mina also needed "the blodd of 3 good men" to keep her alive (i think). the book is very sexual in nature (like all good gothic stories) and that's where the "horror" was located. it's not horror as we think of it today, but horror as the voctorians would have seen it.
i agree with you "this was 400 pages of anticlamatic dribble, but i guess i just wanted to point that out as a "fun" part of dracula. then again, i enjoy anything that makes fun of victorian society. (essentially what stoker was doing)

that being said, one of my favorite stories of all time is "the importance of being earnest" by oscar wilde - it's a comedy. when you're done reading it, try getting the movie with reese witherspoon, etc., cause it's almost word-for-word from the play and a RIOT.

also, another good "classic" is Pygmalion (another play, but basically it's My Fair Lady without music). i forget who wrote it, but it's a good (short) read.

I can't wait to hear what you thought about Wicked - I read it this summer followed by The Ugly Stepsister.

take care!
steph

Re: *big spoilers*

[celticlad42]

I remember you Steph.

You bring up a lot of good points about Dracula. I agree that part of the horror was the sexual innuendo (Dracula sneaking into their rooms, the bites on the neck, etc.) But I think that it was meant to apply only to Dracula's interactions with the women and not the protagonists'.

I think the blood transfusions served two purposes in the story. First, as a suspense device - a risky medical procedure to save Lucy/Mina's life. And second, to use the comingled blood as a symbol of the men's love for her. And although it's hard to ignore the sexual overtones in mixing blood, Stoker's characters were far too well behaved otherwise for me to buy the whole "threesomes" idea. The mixed blood was a symbol of altruistic love, and nothing else.

Thanks for the suggestion about Wilde. I read Dorian Gray last year and I liked it. I'll add "the importance of being earnest" to my list for this December.

I have my post about Wicked up, but it's friends only, so I'll add you.

Re: *big spoilers*

[thepecial1]

i didn't know, since i only met you once...i'm glad you didn't think i was a stalker...anyways...

well, most of that is what i *memorized* about dracula. i think my class was threesome-happy.

thanks for the add, i can't wait to see what you though!

-steph