Comments | bwinter: On Bram Stoker's subconscious

bwinter

On Bram Stoker's subconscious

Apr 27, 2006 07:51

Over the past few days, I've been re-reading Bram Stoker's Dracula. I've managed to misplace my old copy, so I acquired a new one - the 2003 Penguin Classics edition with new prefaces by Maurice Hindle and Christopher Frayling. All in all, I recommend this edition, as the prefaces and the information they give on Stoker himself are quite enlighting ( Read more... )

dracula, vampires, review

Comments 73

arabwel April 27 2006, 01:45:47 UTC

Daaamn, now I want to re-read... guess it is time to hunt down my copy :)

and incidentally, when it comes to interestinng Dracula slash, have you read Child of the Nighgt by the Scribe? its pretty interesting, with severe movie/historical mix rather than book-based, and has some,a h, interestingness with Jonathan and Mina both being reincarnations :D (and yes, I know, it is int he pit of mongeese but still...)

bwinter April 27 2006, 01:51:37 UTC

*sighs* I'm mid chapter thirty-one right now. Bloody drivel. I need to write my thesis...

:D :D :D

arabwel April 27 2006, 02:58:16 UTC

heh... I know what ytou mean. Bloody drivel but sat least got strangely hooked to it... *bloush*

bwinter April 27 2006, 03:43:53 UTC

But hey, at least it doesn't have a sugar-coated Vlad :D Even if they did get the eyecolour wrong (green, dammit!). My inner Draculea's wincing a little at the soppier bits, but generally nodding along in approval.

Thread 33

sukeban April 27 2006, 02:31:21 UTC

First, let me plug Dracula Blogged. They'll be re-running the novel from next May the 1st, posting each snippet according to its internal date.
http://infocult.typepad.com/dracula/

The best part are the comments, since there are more than one Dracula Society people and book authors posting there.

And slashy as hell. Especially the aforementioned dream scene.

There's a whole chapter about that in Another Kind of Love
Male Homosexual Desire in English Discourse, 1850-1920 (yay, conveniently an etext! XD)
http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft1m3nb11d/

On the other hand, I adore Mina, for the quiet way she gets things done.

She's even better in the LOEG, in my opinion :3

There also isn't a good POV for him to use to express this fascination later in the storyIndeed, most scholars have noted that Dracula is the only character in the novel without a voice, reinforcing his alien-ness and setting ( ... )

sukeban April 27 2006, 02:37:24 UTC

Oh, and

Dracula should have turned Mina and used her as leverage to turn Jonathan, and thus commenced a quiet and refined reign of terror in London, possibly with some pet wolves to keep them company.

There's Kim Newman's Anno Dracula for starters :P

bwinter April 27 2006, 03:44:26 UTC

You evil person, you :P I've a thesis to write! *bookmarks feverishly*

seraphim_grace April 27 2006, 02:58:18 UTC

there are wierd suggestions in the literary community that the "dream" stoker had of the three brides was actually a dinner date.
and there is one of those rumours (you know the byron had a diary rumours) that dracula's pov was explored in note form but no one's ever seen the notes.
I like dracula, even if the end is rushed and Van Helsing is on more drugs than renfield.

maybe your ending was the plan for Dracula's guest because that's very different afterall.

bwinter April 27 2006, 03:46:35 UTC

Speaking of Renfield, I really liked how the contact with Dracula actually brought him to his senses :> His is an interesting story as well. Worth exploring, someday, though I might just be saying that because I've managed to develop a slight crush on Daniel Boucher, who plays him in Dracula: Entre l'amour et la mort...

assimbya April 27 2006, 03:37:15 UTC

Yes, yes, yes! I agree with most of your points completely. I detest Van Helsing for all the reasons that you stated, and love Mina for the reasons that you stated as well. I'm tempted to say that Bram Stoker meant for Van Helsing to be this annoying, and for the whole "No, this is no job for a woman!" stuff to just work against them. And I think Dracula is a very feminist book, it's just the characters who are not. I think that Dr. Seward would have been all right had he been married to Lucy and had a bit more contact with real women. He wasn't so far under Van Helsing's influence that he couldn't be brought back. I also agree with your observations about Jonathan. What do you think of Lucy, by the way?

And the scenario that you described, with Dracula Changing Mina and then Jonathan, would make such a good fan fiction story. :) Oh yes, and Seward, Quincy and Arthur slash is nearly canon. :)

bwinter April 27 2006, 03:52:46 UTC

I'm tempted to say that Bram Stoker meant for Van Helsing to be this annoying, and for the whole "No, this is no job for a woman!" stuff to just work against themIt does, doesn't it? Stoker couldn't say it outright because of the narrative method he chose (it would be OOC for anyone to admit it), but really, they should have just left things to Mina, with Jonathan as devoted sidekick. And as for VH, many things point to his role as the wise fool - the broken English (admirably written, btw), the way he sees the ridiculousness of Arthur's statement at Lucy's funeral, all of this dilly-dallying. I'm afraid I didn't manage to quite keep a straight face ( ... )

assimbya April 27 2006, 04:28:15 UTC

Ooh, I really like that comparison. It really does make alot of sense, and it's a way of thinking about the characters that I haven't seen before. I like Lucy myself, and it is hard to find others who do. Most seem to veiw her as a flirtatious, flamboyant, frivolous fool, which she is not. And I love the way Stoker writes, first person of so many people is difficult.

I am really enjoying your way of thinking about this book. :)