Here we go again!

And so, once more we begin the journey through Dracula.

Welcome to the new Year 12 students who are embarking upon the blogging task this year.

Once more I look forward to reading your ideas and your reactions to what you have read. Every year, new insights and ideas come to light, and they only help to strengthen and develop our understanding.

I hear that there are some teething problems with the blogs this year. Please stick with it.

And we venture into the depths for a third year

Every year the quality of reflections improves, and this year is no exception. Some fantastic thoughtful considerations of the first 4 chapters or so. The challenge now is to keep it up.

Welcome to Y12 2010

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to the second year of the project, in which we blog our way through Dracula, as a 'community of writers'...

Some really interesting blogs so far on the first chapter or so - please link to each other's blogs and consider following as they post.

Marching on through the novel

Most of you by now should be heading into Chapter 20, and a lot has happened along the way...

The first time I read this (which, incidentally was on a 12 hr train ride from Toronto to NYC), I remember being really suspicious of Quincy Morris - he comes back suddenly into the picture, and then when he shoots the bat (or attempts to) I couldn't help but think that there was more to him ... or perhaps I've been watching too many episodes of 'Columbo' ... it seemed too pathetic to just have him make them jump, and there be no real other discernable reason for the shooting. I suppose it reinforces his Americanness (remembering that that was really still a very new idea), and of course again alerts us to the presence of the bat, but was the window shattering necessary? I'm unconvinced.

In other news, Van Helsing's philosophising provides some interesting rationalising of the presence of the 'Un-Dead' among us. Do we at this point find ourselves becoming convinced by his logic, like Dr Seward? There is, after all, quite a strong message to the contemporary audience, and perhaps to us too, regarding the supernatural, and a deeper spiritual realm, when he says:

Ah, it is the fault of our science that wants to explain it all; and if it explain it not, then it says there is nothing to explain. But yet we see around us every day the growth of new beliefs, which think themselves new; and which are yet but the old which pretend to be young - like the fine ladies at the opera.

Remember at this time that science was replacing religion as the main guiding factor. As it advanced rapidly, people became more and more obsessed with the idea of fact, and being able to prove things, as the structure of the novel emphasises. Whatever Stoker's metaphorical message, it is certainly true that the logical and rational argument laid out by Van Helsing is carefully thought out to make most sense to the discerning late Victorian reader... Shame the accents are less convincing eh?!

My favourite line...

... has to be:

"Chasing an errant swarm of bees is nothing to following a naked lunatic when the fit of escaping is upon him!"

Indeed, Dr Seward - we do need an exclamation mark! 

Why does this sentence stand out and even make us chuckle? Could it be because it is so matter of fact, when it compares two completely out-of-the ordinary and random things? Why would anyone chase a swarm of bees? But, more to the point - it makes it sound like he often chases naked lunatics... perhaps he does... or perhaps this is Stoker going too far...?

It is coming - coming - coming!

Well, doesn't the pace pick up a little here? Why do you think the first part of the novel solely follows Jonathan, and then, as it progresses, flips between more and more points? Does it add realism to the plot? Does it give a sense of the storm gathering (in a metaphorical way)? As Dracula approaches on the ship, the pathetic fallacy is pretty impressive! Look at my earlier link regarding the sublime in this chapter for a further consideration of the idea, and in order to view some of the artists mentioned.

What do you think is the significance of the dog, and the bat and the bird? Could it be that Dracula is morphing into different animals? Some scholars suggest that in portraying him in this way Stoker is aiming to incorporate Darwin's theory of evolution. If so, what does this say about Stoker's response to evolution? Does he see it as a positive or as a threat? If Dracula is a shape-shifter, how would this fit with the idea of obscurity? Does this make the concept of a vampire easier or more difficult to grasp?

Lucy continues to be developed into the passive heroine, becoming more and more pathetic in these chapters. Do we feel sympathy for her? I find it hard to summon much... Rather, I think, we feel for Mina, who, for a long time has lost her fiance, and now her best friend is fading fast. Combine this with the fact that Lucy's mother is dying so Mina can't tell her her fears for Lucy, and surely Mina is en route to a nervous breakdown...  What is the symbolism here? Is it that the old order of women is past? Or does it signal an end to wealthy families' domination of life? Does Lucy have her just desserts, having broken men's hearts? Is this a warning to any of us who play the field? After all, why is it that it is Lucy who sleepwalks? Surely it would be more convincing to have the woman who is under pressure, i.e. Mina, the one that lets it all out in her unconscious... Just a few thoughts. Nevertheless, notice how we are being conditioned to receive Lucy as innocent victim: in her nightdress (which we assume to be white and thin) - implying innocence - as does the point that Mina makes - that Lucy follows her "with the obedience of a child". 

Incidentally - why does the dog cower? What is it sensing? Is it Lucy that is having such a negative effect?

Meanwhile, things are hotting up - Renfield is on the loose, his Master having summoned him (a bit Voldemort-esque here!) and the only vaguely good news is that Jonathan is alive, if being looked after by nuns, and raving in delirium. Interesting that Mina is told to marry him - by Harker's boss! Some new woman there then! So, leaving Lucy at a terrible time, she heads off to marry JH: a dilemma really - both of them have equal need of her!

A FREE copy of Dracula!!

Click on the title of this post and it will take you to simply audiobooks... where the free book of the month for October is none other than... you've guessed it...

Dracula!