Don’t Skip This: Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Remember that summer reading list in high school that you blew off? There were some pretty great titles you skipped and you’ve spent your adult life hearing references to them. What did you miss? And why are these titles still thrown around today? Are they really that good? Here’s your chance to redeem yourself: we’re taking a candid look at a lot of these books and building a case for finally picking up that book years later.

Dracula

Author:
Bram Stoker
Genre:
Horror
Length:
Roughly 400 pages, varying wildly between editions
Difficulty Level:
9^th grade
Selling Point:
The definitive work of modern vampire fiction.

The Gist:

The story begins with Jonathan Harker, a solicitor (read: lawyer) who’s been sent to Transylvania to assist a local count in the acquisition of some property. He doesn’t realize until too late that Count Dracula is a charismatic demon, but he barely manages to escape with his life.

Elsewhere, Lucy Westenra isn’t so lucky. She suffers from mood swings and sudden onsets of near-fatal anemia each night, with peculiar markings on her neck. She’s tended to by her fiancée, Arthur Holmwood (later Lord Godalming, when he inherits the title), as well as her former lover, Dr. John Seward, head of the local mental asylum. The disease gets so bad that Seward has to call for help from his old friend, Quincey Morris (another of Lucy’s old suitors), and his former mentor, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing.

Alas, Lucy is too far gone and she dies from her illness.

Alas, Lucy is too far gone and she dies from her illness. She’s killed yet again when Seward, Morris, Godalming, and Van Helsing discover that Lucy’s been turned into a she-devil of the night. Together with Lucy’s childhood friend, Mina Harker, and her new husband, the aforementioned Jonathan, the characters pool their resources to conclude that Dracula is behind all of this. They arm themselves and set out to hunt down Dracula, not only to avenge Lucy, but to save themselves and the world.

Common Misconceptions:

No, I won’t bother listing all the ways that Twilight got it wrong, since that should be common knowledge by now.

That said, the usual rules and expectations of vampires have changed a great deal since Stoker’s day. Vampires’ reaction to sunlight is far and away more complex in this book, as is the method by which a vampire has to be slain. Even the process of turning into an undead is far more gradual – and dreadful – than anything seen in vampire fiction today. Additionally, Dracula has a great many powers and weaknesses that aren’t often given to latter-day bloodsuckers. I’m loathe to give a full list of the differences here, because rediscovering these obsolete ideas is part of the fun for modern readers. This is definitely a case of the old becoming new again.

The important thing to remember is that Stoker’s vampires aren’t just monsters, they are literally creatures of Hell. They are abominations whose very existence is a direct insult to God Almighty. They are such unholy terrors that anyone they touch is instantly barred from Heaven’s grace. Modern vampire stories may pretend to have some pseudo-scientific basis for the undead (The Strain Trilogy by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan being one example), but Stoker’s creation is all about the spiritual.

Van Helsing isn’t a paranormal expert or a holy man…

This brings us to Van Helsing, easily one of the most famous vampire hunters in fiction. However, he really isn’t anything of the kind. Van Helsing isn’t a paranormal expert or a holy man, just an old doctor with broken English speech who doesn’t mind paying attention to local superstitions. Also, he’s a genius who’s miraculously able to do whatever the plot needs.

Is it still worth it?

The good news is that this book remains a great read. The characters are very nicely developed, the imagery has some great Gothic moments, and the scares are presented superbly. There may be several characters to keep track of, and the rules of vampirism can get very complex, but the book is paced in such a way that it’s all easily sorted out.

The bad news is that the book’s themes are pretty badly outdated. The story’s religious overtones can border on propaganda, and the narrative hinges greatly on Victorian social standards. This means, among other things, that the characters neatly conform to the puritan and chauvinist gender ideals of the time. Additionally, a huge theme of this book is the passing of time, with old superstitions and magic giving way to new science and reason. This might have stayed relevant today if the latter wasn’t represented by such cutting-edge technology as the typewriter and the phonograph.

It should also be noted that the story isn’t told in a straightforward way, but comprised of several news clippings, letters, telegraphs, and journal entries written by the characters. Anyone reading this should definitely be ready to switch POV suddenly and frequently.

Put simply, this book is still wonderfully scary by modern standards and it’s definitely worth a look, though you may have to occasionally go back a few pages to remember who’s narrating.

Where can I find it? How much does it cost?

You’ve got no shortage of options here.

You’ve got no shortage of options here. There are annotated versions, illustrated versions, paperbacks, hardbacks, online editions, Kindle editions, you name it. And because the book is public domain, they’re all cheap (some are completely free) and easy to find.