Feb - Apr 15 Quarterly Read: Dracula

[Colleen]

I read Dracula in Love and really liked it. I gave it 4 stars. It tells the Dracula tale from Mina point of view.

[Paul]

Finished last night. I took it slowly rereading the book and I've really enjoyed it. ☺

[Jack]

I've got the New Annotated Dracula edition with foreword and notes by Leslie S. Klinger. The notes are so informative and fascinating themselves that I'm making slow progress through the book, but it's great reading. Looking forward to each evening's spell.

[Paul]

Same edition I read Jack.☺Some very interesting notes. The foreword in mine is by Neil Gaiman though.
It slows down the read but it certainly adds to it

[Jack]

Yes, I have the same edition, Paul. I didn't take the time to read Gaiman's foreword yet; I wanted to dive into Dracula so I could finish it while it was still the month of our selection. I recently read Gaiman's "The Ocean at the End of the Lane," and enjoyed it, much as I did his "Coraline." I liked his graphic novels, Sandman, etc. too.

[Paul]

He has some interesting thoughts on the book so worth a look .
In this editiin I quite enjoyed the Illustrations from Varney the Vampire peppered throughout.
Klinger seems to have a lot of respect for both Anne Rices books and the Buffy series.

[Paul]

Also Jack we read Ocean at the End of the Lane as a monthly read recently anc the discussion thread is still open if you want to see our thoughts and add your own :-)

[Patt]

I am halfway through 'Dracula' and finding myself surprised more and more as I read on. I don't know what I thought before reading other than I would probably be horrified and thrilled and deeply ensconced somewhere in the depths of Transylvanian supernatural culture. When the scene changed to England and Lucy and Mina entered the story, I was very surprised and not sure if I wanted to continue. At this point, though, I am looking longlingly at my stash of garlic and wondering if I will need it sometime soon.

[Jack]

like Patt, I felt abruptly transported from the eerie mood that the Transylvania opening had established, and finding my story suddenly in England, with two young women going on about suitors and relationships. However, the supernatural mood soon started to build again, with the arrival of the Russian schooner, a dead captain lashed to the wheel, and Dracula having fled the hold of the beached ship. So, Bram has effectively continued the suspense and drama for his readers.

[Rosalinda]

I've just begun the chapter where the book is set in England. I'm much more aware of the subtleties and underlying meanings of this novel with regards to the Victorian period than when I first read it, and makes for a more interesting read. I'm curious about other books mentioned in this thread, such as the one that includes Mina's point of view. 'Wondering if they are worth looking into as I'm a fan of vampire fiction when it is done well. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova is one of my favorite books. I haven't found any other books yet with the same quality of writing.

[Trelawn]

The Quick by Lauren Owens is very good.

[Paul]

If you haven't tried them I'd recommend Anne Rice, especially the grand sweeping historical Vampire books such as Blood and Gold, The Vampire Armand and Pandora.

[Rosalinda]

Thanks for the suggestions! I've read one of Anne Rice's books, but not the titles mentioned. I need to check those out. ;)

[Paul]

Blood and Gold is definitely a favourite of mine.

[Jack]

Just finished the Norton Critical Edition of Dracula. I enjoyed reading Dracula and wished I'd read it through completely before looking at the annotations.  However, once I had discovered the annotations refer repeatedly to differences or agreements with the "Harker Papers," which I'd been alerted to in Klinger's preface before starting the story, I wanted to stay aware of how they fit into the scheme of things.  At the end, however, I realized the "Harker Papers" were only a fictional construct of Klinger.  He wanted to suggest that the events of Dracula really took place, and that this was "as Stoker wished."

The actual documentation left by Stoker for his conceptualization and writing of the Dracula novel are a collection of Notes, prepared circa 1890-1896, and held by the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and an interim manuscript prepared sometime before the published version of 1897.  The interim manuscript has a private owner, Mr. Paul G. Allen.  Klinger had reviewed all of these documents for the annotated volume published by Norton.  It seems the "Harker Papers" are only a tag used by him for interviews we are to presume were made by Stoker with real people, and who were involved in real events described in Dracula.  Gasp! Klinger suggests that the later Stoker Notes of record were prepared from those interviews, after changing names to protect identities of the real people.  Any original set of "Harker Papers" predating Stoker's Notes are thus only Klinger's "gentle fiction," as he says obliquely in the Preface. It's still a haunting good read.

[1901]

Started listening to an audio version of this last week and I am enjoying it so far. A bit surprised with the genuine bleak horror in it - I guess I was influenced by the more showy and exaggerated Draculas on TV. Early on there was a short grisly scene with a distraught mother outside the castle door - only a small piece but it hit home.

[Paul]

It is interesting to see how much of our concepts of Dracula came from later versions than the book.

[1901]

True Paul, according to this he is the most frequently portrayed literary character on screen.
http://io9.com/5911728/which-fictiona...

[Paul]

I read a lovely annotated edition which had a lot of the adaptions listed .Fascinating stuff

[1901]

I have finished Dracula Audible Edition and I was only lukewarm to it overall.

There were stretches where the pace seemed to slow for me and I started to lose interest. From time to time during those stretches I couldn't hold back the blasphemous thought that Van Helsing was a bit of a windbag! I also got a bit tired of the effusive admiration they all had for each other and of some of the melodramatic aspects. I realise this is typical of the period and so not a fault, but I guess it did keep me from enjoying it as much as I had hoped to.

That said, I didn't dislike it. I liked the epistolary form and loved the build up at the start where Jonathon is in the castle and we are introduced to the Count. There were other great passages too (the Russian captain's log being one).

I listened to the Audible version and with one exception the cast was excellent - Alan Cumming and Tim Curry especially didn't disappoint.