On Bram Stoker's subconscious
Apr. 27th, 2006 07:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterOver the past few days, I've been re-reading Bram Stoker's Dracula. I've managed to misplace my old copy, so I acquired a new one - the 2003 Penguin Classics edition with new prefaces by Maurice Hindle and Christopher Frayling. All in all, I recommend this edition, as the prefaces and the information they give on Stoker himself are quite enlighting.
The fact that Dracula himself is based partially on a dream Stoker had (the scene with the brides and Dracula calling them back, claiming Jonathan for himself) and partially on Henry Irving, the actor and director who claimed Stoker's slavish adoration for decades, explains a lot. I still think that the first part of the book, Jonathan's diary, is the most engaging, least clinical, most wondrous.And slashy as hell. Especially the aforementioned dream scene.
It's been a while since I read the book, and I didn't remember so much focus on science. It certainly makes updated versions easier, since Seward's dictating his notes just like modern physicians. But gods, do Van Helsing and Seward get on my nerves. Most of what irks me is of course the usual Victorian prejudice against women and genetic-destiny theories. Still, it's good to see that even Stoker realises how pompous and pathetic they're all being, as evidenced in the post-funeral scene with Van Helsing's hysterics (yet another thing I did not recall). Come to think of it, Van Helsing in general is pretty deranged.
On the other hand, I adore Mina, for the quiet way she gets things done. I don't see Dracula as an anti-feminist book. The characters embrace such notions in the narrative, but we are dealing with the most unreliable narrators there can be. Contrarily, every time they fail, it's because they underestimate Mina or try to coddle her. In the end, she's the Sherlock Holmes character that deduces Dracula's route, and it's her scream that saves Van Helsing from the Brides; without her, the men would perish many times over. Tortured and brave, I think she's the key to Dracula.
Jonathan now, while supremely whiny in the first section, gets his own back later on. I'm willing to forgive the earlier transgressions for the core of steel he shows. At one point, he decides that if Mina becomes a vampire, he will not only not kill her, but join her in damnation. I just can't hate a character like that. And is it me, or does he have a quiet sick fascination with vampires that expresses itself this way? He certainly agonises over Mina's choice of death before dishonour, and mentions with relief that he was released from his promise to kill her, something that she never mentions in her own diary.
The character who gives me the most grief is the Big Bad Vamp himself. He falls victim to Victorian theories on criminal behaviour, and is accordingly dumbed down, especially in later segments of the story. I think it's a conflict between Stoker's own fascination with the vampire and the need for good to triumph. There also isn't a good POV for him to use to express this fascination later in the story, which results in an ineffectual monster that perishes in something of an anticlimax. Needless to say, historical!Draculea in my head has spent many a long hour ranting about "child brains" and idiotic Irish brain-addled writers.
(He says it never happened, and it was all the opium's fault anyway.)
In conclusion: the scientific crew can go screw themselves (come to think of it, Seward, Arthur and Quincey are probably doing it anyway; camping buddies, yeah right). Dracula should have turned Mina and used her as leverage to turn Jonathan, and thus commenced a quiet and refined reign of terror in London, possibly with some pet wolves to keep them company. Also, there needs to be more Dracula/Jonathan slash, because so far I've found a grand total of four fics, and that's Not Enough for a pair with chemistry as sizzling as theirs.
In other news, I'm still in thesis-land. Do not taunt on pain of being crushed with motorways and rail links and airports, all constructed cheaply and efficiently with hybrid PPP financing structures. Yo.
The fact that Dracula himself is based partially on a dream Stoker had (the scene with the brides and Dracula calling them back, claiming Jonathan for himself) and partially on Henry Irving, the actor and director who claimed Stoker's slavish adoration for decades, explains a lot. I still think that the first part of the book, Jonathan's diary, is the most engaging, least clinical, most wondrous.
It's been a while since I read the book, and I didn't remember so much focus on science. It certainly makes updated versions easier, since Seward's dictating his notes just like modern physicians. But gods, do Van Helsing and Seward get on my nerves. Most of what irks me is of course the usual Victorian prejudice against women and genetic-destiny theories. Still, it's good to see that even Stoker realises how pompous and pathetic they're all being, as evidenced in the post-funeral scene with Van Helsing's hysterics (yet another thing I did not recall). Come to think of it, Van Helsing in general is pretty deranged.
On the other hand, I adore Mina, for the quiet way she gets things done. I don't see Dracula as an anti-feminist book. The characters embrace such notions in the narrative, but we are dealing with the most unreliable narrators there can be. Contrarily, every time they fail, it's because they underestimate Mina or try to coddle her. In the end, she's the Sherlock Holmes character that deduces Dracula's route, and it's her scream that saves Van Helsing from the Brides; without her, the men would perish many times over. Tortured and brave, I think she's the key to Dracula.
Jonathan now, while supremely whiny in the first section, gets his own back later on. I'm willing to forgive the earlier transgressions for the core of steel he shows. At one point, he decides that if Mina becomes a vampire, he will not only not kill her, but join her in damnation. I just can't hate a character like that. And is it me, or does he have a quiet sick fascination with vampires that expresses itself this way? He certainly agonises over Mina's choice of death before dishonour, and mentions with relief that he was released from his promise to kill her, something that she never mentions in her own diary.
The character who gives me the most grief is the Big Bad Vamp himself. He falls victim to Victorian theories on criminal behaviour, and is accordingly dumbed down, especially in later segments of the story. I think it's a conflict between Stoker's own fascination with the vampire and the need for good to triumph. There also isn't a good POV for him to use to express this fascination later in the story, which results in an ineffectual monster that perishes in something of an anticlimax. Needless to say, historical!Draculea in my head has spent many a long hour ranting about "child brains" and idiotic Irish brain-addled writers.
(He says it never happened, and it was all the opium's fault anyway.)
In conclusion: the scientific crew can go screw themselves (come to think of it, Seward, Arthur and Quincey are probably doing it anyway; camping buddies, yeah right). Dracula should have turned Mina and used her as leverage to turn Jonathan, and thus commenced a quiet and refined reign of terror in London, possibly with some pet wolves to keep them company. Also, there needs to be more Dracula/Jonathan slash, because so far I've found a grand total of four fics, and that's Not Enough for a pair with chemistry as sizzling as theirs.
In other news, I'm still in thesis-land. Do not taunt on pain of being crushed with motorways and rail links and airports, all constructed cheaply and efficiently with hybrid PPP financing structures. Yo.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 01:45 am (UTC)and incidentally, when it comes to interestinng Dracula slash, have you read Child of the Nighgt by the Scribe? its pretty interesting, with severe movie/historical mix rather than book-based, and has some,a h, interestingness with Jonathan and Mina both being reincarnations :D (and yes, I know, it is int he pit of mongeese but still...)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 01:51 am (UTC):D :D :D
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Date: 2006-04-27 02:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2006-04-27 04:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 08:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 02:31 am (UTC)http://infocult.typepad.com/dracula/
The best part are the comments, since there are more than one Dracula Society people and book authors posting there.
And slashy as hell. Especially the aforementioned dream scene.
There's a whole chapter about that in Another Kind of Love
Male Homosexual Desire in English Discourse, 1850-1920 (yay, conveniently an etext! XD)
http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft1m3nb11d/
On the other hand, I adore Mina, for the quiet way she gets things done.
She's even better in the LOEG, in my opinion :3
There also isn't a good POV for him to use to express this fascination later in the story
Indeed, most scholars have noted that Dracula is the only character in the novel without a voice, reinforcing his alien-ness and setting him apart from the tech-loving Crew of Light.
the scientific crew can go screw themselves (come to think of it, Seward, Arthur and Quincey are probably doing it anyway; camping buddies, yeah right)
Homosocial relationships are commonplace in Victorian literature, but at least nowadays we can giggle and write Sherlock Holmes slashfic :3
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 02:37 am (UTC)Dracula should have turned Mina and used her as leverage to turn Jonathan, and thus commenced a quiet and refined reign of terror in London, possibly with some pet wolves to keep them company.
There's Kim Newman's Anno Dracula for starters :P
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 03:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 02:58 am (UTC)and there is one of those rumours (you know the byron had a diary rumours) that dracula's pov was explored in note form but no one's ever seen the notes.
I like dracula, even if the end is rushed and Van Helsing is on more drugs than renfield.
maybe your ending was the plan for Dracula's guest because that's very different afterall.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 03:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 03:37 am (UTC)And the scenario that you described, with Dracula Changing Mina and then Jonathan, would make such a good fan fiction story. :) Oh yes, and Seward, Quincy and Arthur slash is nearly canon. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 03:52 am (UTC)It does, doesn't it? Stoker couldn't say it outright because of the narrative method he chose (it would be OOC for anyone to admit it), but really, they should have just left things to Mina, with Jonathan as devoted sidekick. And as for VH, many things point to his role as the wise fool - the broken English (admirably written, btw), the way he sees the ridiculousness of Arthur's statement at Lucy's funeral, all of this dilly-dallying. I'm afraid I didn't manage to quite keep a straight face ;)
Lucy, I mostly liked. She's strong, too, as evidenced in her last POV scene. She doesn't have Mina's intelligence, but she's strong in a very female way, caring and nurturing. It could be said that this is her downfall, because she's much closer to the primal nature that Dracula represents, and she seems to have a similar primal appeal for Quincey, Arthur and John (and in another way, Mina).
Hmm.
Dracula+Brides+Jonathan as a mirror of Lucy+her male harem+Mina?
Bears thinking about.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 04:28 am (UTC)I am really enjoying your way of thinking about this book. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 04:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-27 04:33 am (UTC)(Also, Draculea has just declared that he likes you a lot.)
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From:IMO, the book would be feminist if.....
Date: 2006-04-27 04:42 pm (UTC)Re: IMO, the book would be feminist if.....
Date: 2006-04-28 12:03 am (UTC)If anything, I've remembered my Mina love now. I'm planning a post-Dracula fic in my vampire universe where she (and Jonathan) are clearly not sure about the choices they made.
PS
Date: 2006-04-27 04:45 pm (UTC)Re: PS
Date: 2006-04-28 12:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-04-29 08:59 pm (UTC)