Bram Stoker - Dracula Book Club

[bleodswean]

 
Book discussion here. Starting with Jonathan Harker's Journal 

The Source Material, eh? 

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Dracula, by Bram Stoker.

Comments

[bleodswean]

Okay, I just finished the first section comprised of Jonathan Harker's Journal. I'm floored. I simply did not know what Stoker's novel was. I had admitted to earthspirit the other day that I had never actually read it, tried once and found it dull as dish water. I now have zero idea of what it was I had tried to read or when. I must have been very young, or it must have predated the endless cool vampire mythos that have become part of our creative culture these past two or more decades.

This is FANTASTIC stuff. Stoker can write and he can certainly depict a character and spin a story. He could have, possibly, used a more skilled editor, but I think today his biggest hurdle to being recognized as a brilliant writer is the fact that we all know the story!!! Shelly has a similar hurdle, as does Austen and perhaps Shakespeare. Now the novel must be read for artistic interpretation and to luxuriate in the original creator's vision, the world HE built.

I've highlighted so many quotes and will try to share some of the more astonishing ones.

I like Novel!Harker. He seems less quaint and dorky than Movie!Harkers. So, the films do round him out quite a bit.

Also, his arc in the novel is NOTHING like his experience in the castle in the films. What's that all about????

Here's a quote that stopped me dead in my tracks:

I was not sleepy, as the long sleep yesterday had fortified me; but I could not help experiencing that chill which comes over one at the coming of the dawn, which is like, in its way, the turn of the tide. They say that people who are near death die generally at the change to the dawn or at the turn of the tide; any one who has when tired, and tied as it were to his post, experienced this change in the atmosphere can well believe it.

Foreshadowing much?

[earthspirits]

Stoker is indeed brilliant, and I love his lush Victorian prose.

And I agree, when (some) modern folks read Dracula, they may not realize that this is THE source material, the original granddaddy of all the Dracula / Nosferatu versions that have followed.

Yes, novel Harker is a more interesting character that how he's depicted in films.

As I re-read the book, I'll have more thoughts to share.

[bleodswean]

I'm really happy to be reading it - thanks to you! I agree with you wholeheartedly! It is the primary source and should be treated with more respect and reverence.

Let's do a journal or missive challenge!

[earthspirits]

Sounds fun, E.! : )

[erimia]

Yes, the adaptations are quite infamous for flattening Jonathan, and frankly also everyone else. Characterization is one of Stoker's strongest points, and it baffles me that me that directors spend more effort on trying to follow the meandering and undewhelming plot of the book while not paying much attention to the characters.

Jonathan's time in the castle is, like everything, is usually very rushed in the movies. It's easily the best part of the book for me, though I wish it did more with developing Dracula's character and exploring his castle, which Stoker appears to be ultimately disinterested in doing.

[bleodswean]

"and frankly everyone else" - this, unfortunately, so very hard. I just finished Lucy's section and wow, what a terrible disservice to that character in film adaptation! She's silly but has so much more depth than we've seen. Not a character I've ever considered before I read the novel, but I'm seeing all kinds of fanfic now.

I'm really really really enjoying the book. I will be posting more soon.

Happy to have an educated voice join us!