Bram Stoker – Dracula (1897)
Novel – 450 pages – my copy (paperback; 1994) bought for 80p from a Cornish charity shop, sometime in 2008
- 3 nods out of 5 -
‘I’ve never ran from no one, but I’m terrified of you
See my heartbeat is a slow one, but I’m terrified of you
I’ve been around for ages, but I’m terrified of you…’
‘Dracula’s Wedding’, Outkast, 2003
The lyric above stands as testimony of the enduring popularity of Dracula. Written over one hundred years ago, the villain was a sensation in print, then upon the big screen in the 1930s, leading to repeated renditions in cinema and television, sung in song and rhymed in rap lyrics to the modern day.
It is easy to see the appeal: a venomous bad-guy, almost impossible to beat, who rips apart the innocents who come up against him. Bram Stoker conjured a magnificent beast, and his novel remains alive in the twenty-first century as it did at the tail-end of the nineteenth. And it is not the strength of the enemy alone that maintains such freshness; Stoker’s fast paced cutting between various viewpoints – including journals and newspaper articles – details the fears of the characters, while allowing Dracula himself to remain elusive and a teasing mystery.
But despite Dracula’s strength and wrath, there is one chief failing of Stoker’s novel: the aura of finality. Despite a large casualty during the plot – being poor Lucy – the remaining ensemble carry on, page after page, counting down to the inevitable showdown with the Count. It is the conclusion so many of our horror, our mystery, our action and our science fiction writers cannot do without: the triumph of good over evil. Critiques can find easy reasoning for such an end, including the mighty of the Victorian British Empire versus alien forces, of Christian goodness against the unbeliever; but whatever it may be labelled, the lack of ending climax remains lacklustre and unwanted.
Such a failing is not helped by the padding of many characters. If Quincy Morris is slightly animated – the stereotypical Victorian American – and if Dr Seward is the most reflective, thoughtful of the band of vampire crusaders, there is plenty of dead wood in Jonathan Harker and the non-entity that is Lord Godalming. An ace, however, is at hand in the form of Dr Van Hesling. Here is a lively and entertaining construct, an injection of blood to colour the pages – vitally needed towards the book’s end when the band take to the continent in what is a tepid search for Dracula.
Quite bluntly, for today’s reader, Dracula is too long and perhaps a touch too tame. But although the majority of the characters and their desperate pleas for God’s salvation may bite upon our patience, here stands a bona fide Class A villain. As such, Dracula stands upon other villainous classics – notably Frankenstein – as a read not to be missed, despite its flaws.
Novel – 450 pages – my copy (paperback; 1994) bought for 80p from a Cornish charity shop, sometime in 2008
- 3 nods out of 5 -
‘I’ve never ran from no one, but I’m terrified of you
See my heartbeat is a slow one, but I’m terrified of you
I’ve been around for ages, but I’m terrified of you…’
‘Dracula’s Wedding’, Outkast, 2003
The lyric above stands as testimony of the enduring popularity of Dracula. Written over one hundred years ago, the villain was a sensation in print, then upon the big screen in the 1930s, leading to repeated renditions in cinema and television, sung in song and rhymed in rap lyrics to the modern day.
It is easy to see the appeal: a venomous bad-guy, almost impossible to beat, who rips apart the innocents who come up against him. Bram Stoker conjured a magnificent beast, and his novel remains alive in the twenty-first century as it did at the tail-end of the nineteenth. And it is not the strength of the enemy alone that maintains such freshness; Stoker’s fast paced cutting between various viewpoints – including journals and newspaper articles – details the fears of the characters, while allowing Dracula himself to remain elusive and a teasing mystery.
But despite Dracula’s strength and wrath, there is one chief failing of Stoker’s novel: the aura of finality. Despite a large casualty during the plot – being poor Lucy – the remaining ensemble carry on, page after page, counting down to the inevitable showdown with the Count. It is the conclusion so many of our horror, our mystery, our action and our science fiction writers cannot do without: the triumph of good over evil. Critiques can find easy reasoning for such an end, including the mighty of the Victorian British Empire versus alien forces, of Christian goodness against the unbeliever; but whatever it may be labelled, the lack of ending climax remains lacklustre and unwanted.
Such a failing is not helped by the padding of many characters. If Quincy Morris is slightly animated – the stereotypical Victorian American – and if Dr Seward is the most reflective, thoughtful of the band of vampire crusaders, there is plenty of dead wood in Jonathan Harker and the non-entity that is Lord Godalming. An ace, however, is at hand in the form of Dr Van Hesling. Here is a lively and entertaining construct, an injection of blood to colour the pages – vitally needed towards the book’s end when the band take to the continent in what is a tepid search for Dracula.
Quite bluntly, for today’s reader, Dracula is too long and perhaps a touch too tame. But although the majority of the characters and their desperate pleas for God’s salvation may bite upon our patience, here stands a bona fide Class A villain. As such, Dracula stands upon other villainous classics – notably Frankenstein – as a read not to be missed, despite its flaws.
