Old vs. New Vampires

In returning to the classical canon side of reading, I decided to go with a little Victorian gothic. Considering how immensely popular to current fiction and other pop culture vampires have become, I decided to explore one of the earliest famous vampire novels. So of course...

Title: Dracula
Author: Bram Stoker
My start date: 8/15/10
My finish date: 8/19/10
Book count: 40/100

For some reason, this novel has sat unread on my shelves for half a dozen years. I bought it during my early college years during which time I started collecting classical works of literature for my library, however I had only made it through the first chapter before losing interest and putting it aside. How that is possible, in retrospect I don't know. I loved this novel! The plot was great, the epistolary form made it easy to read and the characters were all well written. It was a classic adventure tale with all the great elements of a spooky but not terrifying story!

It is interesting to earlier characterizations of horror type characters, especially in contrast to present usages. One question I had wanted to explore in my academic research involved discovering at which point our writers started writing and our readers started craving characters who are traditionally evil figures but who are good. The vampire with a soul who doesn't hunt humans (Meyer's Cullen family, Buffy's Angel, the good vampires of True Blood, or those of Vampire Diaries), the protective werewolf pack (again, Twilight) or the good witches and wizards made world famous by J.K. Rowling. I was fascinated to register in reading Stoker's novel, the very epitome of horror genre, gothic classic, that even at the turn of the century these figures were not depictured as universally evil. Regular reference is made to their pitiable nature and the desire by all characters to free these evil ones from themselves. Granted, there is no human-vampire ill-fated love scenario, but they aren't entirely maligned either. Interesting.

All in all, a very fun read. Perhaps one of my favorites among the classics. Considering my affinity for vampires, werewolves and witches, I will definitely read this one again.

In the meantime,
Keep Reading!
Sarah