The big noise in vampire circles has to be Dracula and I have finally finished the Bram Stoker novel of the same name.
'Dracula' begins with solicitor Jonathan Harker travelling to a castle in remote Transylvania. Seeing the local superstitions as quaint and backward, he fails to realise how much danger he is in until it's too late. Harker has been employed to complete a house purchase for Count Dracula and, once done, he finds himself trapped in the castle as his host's eccentricities are revealed as something more sinister. Meanwhile, back in England, friends Lucy Westernra and Mina Murray are planning their futures. While Mina waits for her fiancé Harker to return and Lucy picks Arthur Holmwood from a trio of suitors, the girls dream of a future of wedded bliss. But dreams soon turn to nightmares as Lucy's sleepwalking puts her in harm's way and the friends find themselves the victim of some unknown horror...
In a way, I feel a bit sorry for 'Dracula'. The book was seized by film makers almost as soon as it was published and, like Sherlock Holmes or James Bond, the character has outgrown and evolved far beyond the original source material. Everyone thinks they know Dracula, so it's really hard to leave all that baggage at the front cover and come to the book with an open mind.
The other reason why this book took me six weeks to read is the language. 'Dracula' is at times tense, exciting, unnerving and action-packed, but unfortunately I find 19th century prose really heavy going. The long sections of dialogue were frustrating and hard work and Stoker's depiction of Professor Van Helsing's accent swings between embarrassing and racist to modern eyes. As a result, I didn't exactly steam through it.
I'm very glad I persevered, however, and did finish the book because I discovered that it wasn't about what I thought it was about. It's often said that great stories or characters live on because they're reinterpreted for different times. So, for example, vampirism has been used as a metaphor for lust, for addiction and for contageous disease. It turns out that 'Dracula' is actually about old vs new, ancient vs modern and tradition vs technology.
It's also about other things too, like solitude and friendship, teamwork and faith. But what it's not about is sexy, seductive, aristocratic men and the promise of eternal youth. But hopefully, that's just the latest interpretation and in a few years we'll see something new come around which doesn't seem quite as distasteful in a modern world of airbrushing, body dysmorphia and eating disorders.
Overall, 'Dracula' was quite an interesting and, I suppose, thought-provoking, read, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you're lucky enough to find old fashioned writing styles a doddle. Equally, however, I'm not aware of any film or TV adaptation I'd recommend either. In truth, although I doubt I'll ever read this book again, I may listen to it on CD, which I suppose continues the novel's main theme! Hopefully the BBC have done a really good adaptation, but in the meantime, it's back to the shelves!
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| A view across Whitby |
