{"id":1404,"date":"2017-11-28T11:39:14","date_gmt":"2017-11-28T09:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/?p=1404"},"modified":"2017-11-28T11:39:14","modified_gmt":"2017-11-28T09:39:14","slug":"back-to-basics-scared-by-the-vampire-in-dracula","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/2017\/11\/28\/back-to-basics-scared-by-the-vampire-in-dracula\/","title":{"rendered":"BACK TO BASICS: SCARED BY THE VAMPIRE IN DRACULA<\/em><\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This is long and contains many spoilers, be warned!]<\/p>\n

Reading Bram Stoker\u2019s novel Dracula<\/em> with fresh eyes is practically impossible. Even new readers carry with them countless images of the vampire in fiction and film (and in many other media, even toys and food). Those of us who return to this bizarre text now and then do so with our vision also colonized by the ubiquitous media vampire, regardless of our previous readings of the text. I\u2019ve tried to become, nonetheless, a reader as inexperienced as possible in my recent re-reading of this atmospheric novel, carried out in preparation of lectures beginning next week. And, to my surprise, I have found Stoker\u2019s masterpiece scarier than ever.<\/p>\n

In the introduction to my oldish 1983 edition of Dracula<\/em> (Oxford\u2019s World Classics), A.N. Wilson gently mocks Stoker\u2019s efforts, sentencing that while \u201c[t]he writing is of a powerful, workaday sensionalistic kind\u201d, in his view \u201cNo one in their right mind would think of Stoker as a \u2018great writer\u2019\u201d. I agree that Dracula<\/em> is not in the same league as \u201cMiddlemarch<\/em> or Madame Bovary<\/em> or War and Peace<\/em>\u201d but, then, we\u2019re comparing here different kinds of talent. Eliot, Flaubert and Tolstoy could never have written Dracula<\/em>, for good or bad. And it does take a still poorly understood type of talent to make this weird vampire tale survive since its inception in 1897, after spawning so many other creatures of the night. Also, if you check as I have done, how many \u2018original texts\u2019 Stoker uses in each of his chapters to maintain the illusion that his gothic yarn is \u2018real\u2019, you\u2019ll see that he did make a remarkable effort to compose his novel. This apparently extends even to his having produced a quite accurate version of how Dutchmen speak English in Van Helsing\u2019s singular idiolect.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the plethora of ridiculous American-style vampires plaguing us since Anne Rice published Interview with the Vampire<\/em> in 1976, presenting one of the creatures as a Romantic hero, has done much harm to the vampire myth\u2013I forgot to say that Wilson calls Stoker a myth-maker. In the original novel, as some commentators have noticed, Count Dracula is actually a secondary, even minor, character. His actions are narrated by others\u2013his actual or prospective victims\u2013and they always see him as a menacing, predatory monster; this is how vampires should be portrayed. Edward Cullen and his kind are, excuse me, idiotic embodiments of the still more idiotic idea that a woman might find satisfaction in loving a monster. Victorian Mina does find satisfaction in her Christian conviction that by staking and beheading her harasser the gentlemen in her circle may be saving the Count\u2019s soul, but she is never in love<\/em> with Dracula. To my dismay (and disappointment), when I explained in a recent seminar that there is no romantic plot in Stoker\u2019s novel, a young girl announced that this is why she will never read the book.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Meyer\u2019s already d\u00e9mod\u00e9 Twilight<\/em> saga borrows its romantic plot from James V. Hart\u2019s absurd screenplay for Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s so-called Bram Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em> (1992). This well-received adaptation significantly deviates from the original by supposing that Mina is a reincarnation of Dracula\u2019s long-lost lover Elisabetta, who committed suicide centuries before when both were ruthlessly persecuted by their Ottoman enemies. The Count embraced vampirism in despair but seeing her lover reborn in the portrait of Mina that Jonathan carries with him, he determines to win her back. What is baffling about Hart and Coppola\u2019s work is that theirs is certainly the most accomplished rendering of Stoker\u2019s novel ever seen on the screen. As I re-read the book, I marvelled at how exact some of the filmed scenes were, even despite the bizarre outfits (Lucy\u2019s burial\/bridal dress) and the strange tone used by some performers. Anthony Hopkins played Van Helsing right after playing Hannibal Lecter and something of this vampiric character is visible in his Dutch vampire hunter.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to list next some of the moments that make Stoker\u2019s Dracula<\/em> so scary (most of them well known) and try to figure out what factors are usually overlooked. Perhaps this is obvious to any reader but I\u2019ll claim that the three strongest points of this novel are: Stoker\u2019s grounding of his paranormal tale on the technoscience of his ultra-modern late 19th century Victorian England, the urgency in the swift race against time in the last third of the novel to save Mina\u2019s soul by killing Dracula and, above all, a very deft use of the hypnagogic state of consciousness, that is to say, of the phase between wakefulness and sleep. The most terrifying moments happen when characters cannot tell whether they are dreaming or being actually attacked. I\u2019m not sure whether Stoker wrote in this way thinking that his readers would read his novel in bed, but the scenes can easily generate nightmares if read before falling asleep. Give it a try\u2026 if you dare. <\/p>\n

Here are the most horrific touches. In Chapter 2, Harker describes the Count who, incidentally, begins the novel as an old man and progressively ages back towards youth as blood nourishes him. Dracula\u2019s \u201ccruel-looking\u201d mouth with its \u201cpeculiarly sharp white teeth\u201d and his \u201cextraordinary pallor\u201d warn us that he\u2019s no ordinary man; but what really scares us is that his hands sport \u201chairs in the centre of the palm\u201d. When Harker feels their touch he cannot \u201crepress a shudder\u201d\u2013could you? During his imprisonment in Dracula\u2019s castle, Jonathan is shocked by how his jailer pretends that he\u2019s staying as a free guest\u2013when told that he can leave, Harker finds a pack of wolves at the door. <\/p>\n

There are a few even more hair-raising moments. One is the sight of the Count creeping down the wall, \u201cusing every projection and inequality to move downwards with considerable speed, just as a lizard moves along a wall\u201d. Another one is Dracula\u2019s offering to his brides of a bag with something squirming inside which, when opened, releases \u201ca gasp and a low wail, as of a half-smothered child\u201d. And, of course, the death of the poor baby\u2019s mother, attacked by the Count\u2019s feral minions: \u201cThere was no cry from the woman, and the howling of the wolves was but short. Before long they streamed away singly, licking their lips\u201d. Notice the concise phrasing.<\/p>\n

The horrific events on board the Demeter, the Russian ship carrying Dracula to Whitby (Chapter 7), appear to be the earliest predecessor of the film Alien<\/em>. If, as its slogan went, \u2018in space none can hear you scream\u2019, the same happens at sea during the Demeter\u2019s doomed voyage as Dracula decimates the crew. I must also highlight, obviously, Lucy\u2019s rape in the graveyard, witnessed by Mina (Chapter 8). Rape? Yes, indeed. Mina does not know about Dracula but we do and, so, her inability to clearly see what is going on is totally unnerving. Lucy is here sleepwalking at night in Whitby\u2019s graveyard: \u201cThere was undoubtedly something, long and black, bending over the half-reclining white figure. I called in fright, \u2018Lucy! Lucy!\u2019 and something raised a head, and from where I was I could see a white face and red, gleaming eyes\u201d. Mina boldly rushes to her friend\u2019s aid but, by then, the phallic \u2018something\u2019 is gone. Not from our minds. <\/p>\n

Other dreadful moments colour the failed attempts to protect poor Lucy. Her mother dies of a heart attack when a wolf crashes into their bedroom window. As she dies, Mrs. Westenra tears the garlic flowers off Lucy\u2019s neck, leaving her vulnerable again to Dracula\u2019s bite-raping procedure. Lucy writes that \u201cI tried to stir, but there was some spell upon me\u201d; her mother\u2019s dead body also weighs her down. Later, once Lucy dies, a victim of this paralysing dread, we find the most stunning passage in the whole book: Van Helsing\u2019s stark declaration to Dr. Seward that, since Lucy is actually un-dead, he \u201cshall cut off her head and fill her mouth with garlic, and I shall drive a stake through her body\u201d (Chapter 13). Appallingly, Seward says: \u201cIt made me shudder to think of so mutilating the body of the woman whom I had loved. And yet the feeling was not so strong as I had expected\u201d. How callous and\u2026 chilling.<\/p>\n

Lucy\u2019s fianc\u00e9 Arthur is initially dismayed but he soon proceeds gleefully to do the deed, with hands that \u201cnever trembled nor even quivered\u201d. Instead of the shortish stake used in films, Arthur impales Lucy with a 90 cm (three-feet) monster weapon as \u201ca hideous, blood-curdling screech came from the opened red lips\u201d. Once the terrible deflowering concludes she looks her old pre-vampire virginal self, seemingly satisfied that her soul has been saved. Please recall that Stoker imagined this sensational assault as a straightforward horror scene, and not as a scene to show the men\u2019s misogyny. This is doubly terrifying for us.<\/p>\n

Van Helsing\u2019s list of the vampire\u2019s powers in Chapter 18 is far more daunting than any similar list of features in other versions. Here Dracula is \u201cstrong in person as twenty men\u201d, extremely cunning, a powerful necromancer, and capable of appearing \u201cwithin limitations\u201d whenever and wherever he wants. Most vampires are burnt by daylight but the Count can walk in the sun though only as a vulnerable mortal. The film Nosferatu<\/em> (1922), an illegal adaptation, introduced (I think) the trope of the lethal sun-rays (or was it the serial Varney the Vampire<\/em>?). Proof that Dracula can appear as he wishes is how, once invited in by madman Renfield into Dr. Seward\u2019s home, the Count attacks Mina after reaching her bedroom as a mysterious mist. \u201cI thought that I was asleep\u201d she records in her journal, and our horror is amplified because rational Mina cannot tell that this was no dream. The same happened to her husband, remember, in his ordeal with Dracula\u2019s voluptuous brides.<\/p>\n

Nothing, however, is as strikingly pornographic and violent as the scene in Chapter 21 when Arthur, Morris, Seward and Van Helsing catch Dracula in Mina and Jonathan\u2019s bed. Harker is \u201cbreathing heavily as though in a stupor\u201d and this is the revolting sight the men face: \u201cWith his left hand [Dracula] held both Mrs. Harker\u2019s hands, keeping them away with her arms at full tension; his right hand gripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosom. Her white nightdress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man\u2019s bare breast which was shown by his torn-open dress\u201d. This oral rape and\/or bloody fellatio, however, is infantilized by Seward who reports to us that \u201cThe attitude of the two had a terrible resemblance to a child forcing a kitten\u2019s nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink\u201d. Some kitten, some milk\u2026 This is, excuse me, the climax of the whole story. <\/p>\n

It is, in any case, Stoker\u2019s merit as a superbly good story-teller that the anti-climax is also full of suspense. In their thrilling chase of the Count back to his Transylvanian lair (he needs to be killed or Mina will become a vampire when she dies, even if never bitten again), our heroes even take the Orient Express!! For, as we are told again and again, this is the 19th century with a vengeance and the vampire cannot compete with the rush of the modern world. And rush the gang of heroes do, all the way to Dracula\u2019s crumbling castle, where Van Helsing indulges in more female decapitation (of the brides), and Morris finally shows that he is not a superfluous addition: the Bowie knife of the American hunter is the tool that stakes Dracula\u2019s heart. Thus is his soul saved, as Mina wishes, although, perplexingly, Morris is also killed (by a gypsy henchman of the Count). <\/p>\n

In case you\u2019re interested, the word \u2018blood\u2019 appears in the text 115 times (\u2018vampire\u2019, just 28). \u2018Soul\u2019 is mentioned 65 times, and the verb \u2018save\u2019 34. Now here\u2019s the surprise: \u2018sleep\u2019 appears 193 times (\u2018asleep\u2019, 47) but \u2018dream\u2019 only 18, and \u2018nightmare\u2019 just 6. The biggest surprise of all is that the real keyword of Dracula is \u2018time\u2019, with 386 appearances; \u2018late\u2019 is used 60 times (\u2018rush\u2019 10, \u2018hurry\u2019 10). And \u2018train\u2019, 36\u2026 they didn\u2019t have modern cars back then. Characters rush here and there in mortal fear that time is running out and that they are too late to save those who risk losing blood and soul while they\u2019re apparently asleep, unaware that they are actually under attack by a monstrous vampire. This gives Dracula<\/em> its amazing tension, its terse suspense, and its huge capacity to scare.<\/p>\n

Step aside, Cullen and company.<\/p>\n

I publish a new post every Tuesday (follow updates from @SaraMartinUAB). Comments are very welcome! Please be warned that I check them for spam and this might take some time. Download the yearly volumes: http:\/\/ddd.uab.cat\/record\/116328. See also: http:\/\/gent.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This is long and contains many spoilers, be warned!] Reading Bram Stoker\u2019s novel Dracula with fresh eyes is practically impossible. Even new readers carry with them countless images of the vampire in fiction and film (and in many other media, even toys and food). Those of us who return to this bizarre text now and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,19,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dracula","category-gothic","category-victorian-literature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1404\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}