Book Review: Dracula

After 2 months of WWII studies, I now close that period and begin a new historical appreciation phase. The Eastern European region of Romania (primarily Transylvania) where Vlad the Impaler once ruled during the 1400s. This interest came to me when I found the book The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova at Goodwill for only 2 dollars. The book has long been on my read list so I decided to read it after I finished my WWII studies. The book is a historical fiction regarding this iconic historical figure which influenced the famous vampire, Dracula. As Halloween approached I decided I would first jump into the classic Gothic source material by Bram Stoker, before diving into Kostova's 700 page beast. 

Stoker's character of Dracula is one of the most iconic Halloween figures, aside from maybe Frankenstein or the jack-o-lantern. He is a cultural icon, that pretty much put vampires on the map of mythical folklore. However while there isn't a person who doesn't recognize this creepy character, the original story is often lost in today's popular culture. I first stumbled upon Bram Stoker's significant work in my deep dive of classic literature, (some 5 years ago) and included it in my top 100 most important books, see 100 Classic Novels. Mostly due to it's cultural influence the story has had. But I had not read the horror book before, and was quite unfamiliar with the storyline until now. 

The Setting

Since the book was written in the 1890s it provides a great Victorian setting of Europe (mostly England and central Europe). A young ambitious solicitor named Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania to secure a real estate deal with a client known as Count Dracula. The journey is an eerie one thru the Carpathian Mountains surrounded by misty weather and strange people. Harker finally arrives to Dracula's castle where he meets the peculiar pale host. With each passing day however he sees frightening oddities such as 3 spectral women and the count climbing outside the castle walls (upside down like a lizard). He begins to fear he is going mad and eventually is able to escape by scaling down the castle walls during the daylight. He makes his way to a hospital in Budapest where his fiancee Mina collects him in a very frail state. 

The story then shifts to various perspectives first concerning a mysterious ship that has crashed on the English coast. All crewmembers on the boat are killed by what appears to be some form of rat virus. The cause is later revealed to be Dracula who has now moved into his English manor. Then there is the perspective of Lucy Westenra, a close friend of John's fiancée Mina, who appears to be going ill. Another main perspective comes from her doctor and suitor, John Seward who works at an asylum clinic. It slowly becomes clear that Lucy's sickness is not a typical medical one, but a sickness of the mind (caused by a dark haunting). Seward summons his former professor, Van Helsing to help him diagnose the strange case of Lucy. 

The two medical doctors are able to discern that Lucy is losing blood to a mysterious demon. Van Helsing, being the more practiced in these spiritual matters, comes up with some methods to defend her such as garlic and a crucifix. The superstitious methods begin to help Lucy recover, however one evening she takes off her garlic necklace. She and her mother are attacked by a mysterious wolf that night. Lucy's mother dies of a heart attack and Lucy dies the next day due to blood-loss. Soon after there are reports of missing children. Van Helsing is once again able to determine that Lucy has now become a vampire and is the culprit that is stealing children. He visits her grave with Dr Seward where they behead her, drive a steak thru her heart, and fill her mouth with garlic so as to rid the evil spirt from her body.

The perspective then shifts to Mina who begins to experience a similar haunting in the nights by Dracula. Sensing he is now being hunted, Dracula is able to recruit an asylum lunatic Renfield, to do his bidding. Renfield attacks Mina in the nights, drinking her blood, so that she too will become a vampire unless Dracula is killed. Dracula later kills Renfield for attempting to protect Mina. Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and Jon Harker devise a plan to hunt Dracula by destroying all his coffins with Romanian dirt (which he needs to sleep in during the daylight). Van Helsing is able to then hypnotize Mina to reveal his next movement, which is back to his castle in Transylvania. The group then follows him there so as to complete their mission of killing him.

As the hunters travels across the Carpathian mountains to find Dracula's castle, they are attacked by a group of local Gypsy women that are servants to Dracula. John Harker is able to track the boat of gysies that are carrying Dracula's coffin along the Danube river. As they move Dracula's coffin to a wagon, Harker pursues the wagon right outside the castle (as the sun begins to set). He is able to overcome the gypsy men, open Dracula's coffin, and strike the fatal blow to his heart. At this point Dracula crumbles to dust, which ends his curse on Mina.  

The Review

I must say upfront I have mixed reviews on this classic Gothic horror novel by Bram Stoker. It's not at all what I was expecting, and it's amazing to see how far they have evolved Dracula's story. The part that especially made it a rather cumbersome was the multiple perspectives and diary logs. While it's a creative idea, it's non-linear and is almost like a puzzle to piece together the timeline of events. There really is not a main character in this book, rather the main villain of Dracula. What I especially found annoying was that most of the time, he was merely in the shadows. Not at all like this suave vampire interacting with humans that we often see depicted on TV or movies.

I especially enjoyed the first few chapters of of the book pertaining to John Harker's account. His descent into madness while visiting Count Dracula's castle was everything I was hoping for. His visions of the ghostly women, and Dracula climbing down the castle like a lizard truly sent him into hysteria (I found this to be very entertaining even comical at times). However after this opening phase the story then shifts to a mysterious account of haunted women (Lucy then Mina). It even has a psychiatric medical element as provided by Dr Seward and Prof Van Helsing. For the majority of the story Seward and Helsing are basically trying to uncover what is making these women so sick. Therefore we rarely get any interaction whatsoever with Dracula throughout the book.

I can still see why the book was considered a masterpiece and has a very original dark style to it. First it takes us to such a unique setting in eastern Romania (Transylvania), which no doubt has a mysterious allure to western society. Then it creates a shocking character, only to put him in the backdrop most of the book. We know he is there lurking, but the story becomes more of a psychiatric investigation or an exorcism. First the doctors need to uncover what is causing the mental issue, then they need to locate and defeat the root of this wickedness, that is Dracula. It's definetely a book I would read again someday to gather more appreciation for. 

Portrayals of Dracula

As I mentioned before, Stoker's character of Dracula, has elevated to world-famous status almost since it's inception. It has embedded it's way into popular culture, almost no different then other iconic fictional characters such as Mickey Mouse, Sherlock Holmes, or even Santa Claus. I would like to cover some of the major adaptations and references to this character over the last 100 years, that have made it such an iconic figure in popular culture. 

• 
  1922: (Nosferatu)- The first silent film portrayal of Dracula, however used a different name due to legal rights. The German film is often regarded as a masterpiece for it's filming techniques.
• 1931 (Dracula) - Iconic original Hollywood film starring the Hungarian actor Bela Lugosi in the title role. It is often considered the most famous portrayal since it was the original. 
• 1958 (Horror of Dracula)- Christopher Lee plays an iconic Dracula
• 1971 (Count Chocula) Count Chocula became the marketed character of the popular chocolate marshmallow cereal produced by General Mills. 
• 1972 (Sesame Street) The character of Count von Count makes his first appearance portraying Count Dracula to teach children how to count numbers. No doubt an early influence for many children when it comes to the popularity of Dracula. 
• 1979 (Dracula) - Frank Langella portrays the part
• 1992 (Dracula) - Gary Oldman plays the part in Francis Ford Coppola's film which is considered one of the most faithful adaptations of the book. 
• 2012 (Hotel Transylvania) - Animated children's account of Dracula and his famly.
• 2024 (Nosferatu) - Very well done remake of the 1922 version.