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Aaditya

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Dracula

by Bram Stoker

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Reading for the 3rd time

read in April 2023

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Aaditya said:

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" A quintessential gothic victorian novel whose influence on modern vampire stories hasn’t died yet, nor it ever will. Although Bram Stoker did not invent the ‘Vampire’, but he indeed wrote this masterpiece and changed the future of vampire stories.
Th A quintessential gothic victorian novel whose influence on modern vampire stories hasn’t died yet, nor it ever will. Although Bram Stoker did not invent the ‘Vampire’, but he indeed wrote this masterpiece and changed the future of vampire stories.
The characterisation is vivid and remarkable. I found the epistolary structure truly fascinating and gripping. It adds different perspective to the story and add layers of narrative. It was something I hadn’t seen before, or at least not fully. The character of Count Dracula is spine chilling, and Bram Stoker did a great job at instilling fear and terror in the heart of the readers through the true predicament of the protagonists fighting an indomitable monster.
The story speaks volumes in undertones of sexual desire, modernity, and Christian salvation against evil. Initially the story takes place at Count Dracula’s castle that sets the gothic tone of the text so well, and later the action moves to Victorian London, where modernity is the reason that the Count easily preys on his victims. The motif of blood is absolutely gore, and yet extremely sexual since it symbolises exchange of bodily fluids. The two female love interests in the story, Mina and Lucy, who are chaste and pure and symbolise the ideal Victorian women, later poses a threat to the protagonists(all men) when they become victims of Count Dracula, corrupting them and turning them into his ‘voluptuous’ minions.

Dracula succeeds with Lucy, turning her into his raving vampire vixen, and the men take all the necessary steps to destroy this ‘evil’ threat to the society. Professor Van Helsing and his beliefs help the protagonists to defeat the monster using symbols of Christian faith, such as the crucifix. The novel focuses so much on the strength and power of these symbols that it seems like a propagandistic Christian promise of salvation. The plot even touches upon the debate of science vs superstition. Dr.Seward, a medical
Professional questions the activities and even the state of mind of Professor Van Helsing later when the professor tries to explain the reason behind the abduction of kids and the person responsible for it.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read, especially the climax when the story goes back to the place where it all began, Transylvania. This victorian text was much more entertaining and suspenseful than the texts i have read from the same time period. A lot of people know about vampires, probably through pop culture, but they haven’t read the tale of the most popular vampire. I really encourage you to give this book a try, it may surprise you. ...more "

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(page 200 of 449)
— Nov 02, 2025 08:34PM

May 04, 2023 12:06AM · see review

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Man-Eaters of Kumaon

by Jim Corbett

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(page 120 of 268)
— Oct 05, 2025 11:34AM

Aug 15, 2025 11:24AM

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The Letters of Vincent van Gogh

by Vincent van Gogh

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(page 19 of 528)
— Apr 23, 2025 11:58AM

Apr 23, 2025 11:58AM

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Aaditya’s Quotes

“For forty years I saw myself through John's eyes. I did not age. This year for the first time since I was twenty-nine I saw myself through the eyes of others. This year for the first time since I was twenty-nine I realized that my image of myself was of someone significantly younger. (grief) It is the blight man was born for. We are not idealized wild things. We are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away, failed by our very complication, so wired that when we mourn our losses we also mourn, for better or for worse, ourselves. As we were. As we are no longer. As we will one day not be at all.”
― Joan Didion

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