Stoker, Bram and Elizabeth Kostova. Dracula. New York: Back Bay Books, 2005. $10.99.
I picked up this classic horror tale recently with a gift card from my baby son (really from his mom). I've seen a couple of the movie adaptations of the book, and the concept has always interested me. It was a good exercise for my imagination.
Stoker's book is amazing as the fountainhead of so much in this genre. Unfortunately for me, the horror genre has changed dramatically from what it was in the Victorian period, when Stoker wrote. I noticed early on that I was not really affected much emotionally by the tale. This may be due, in part, to my familiarity with movies that have told the story in similar ways, but I think it was largely due to the fact that our modern culture has made horror so much more horrific. Of course, if I were really in Jonathan Harker's shoes in the early part of the book, trapped in Castle Dracula with the Count and his creatures, the experience would be terrible. I guess the imagery used simply fails to excite my modern and inured mind. That said, I was never once bored throughout the 400 pages!
One of the interesting issues surrounding the interpretation of Dracula is the extent to which the story is that of science and modernity overcoming medieval superstition, or even of West over East. This theme appears so often that it seems Stoker must have intended it. I can see how this would have been especially powerful to readers in the time of its first printing, but today the "modernity" present in the book, when thought of in this way, is often laughable. Professor Van Helsing, the symbol of modernity and logic, practices hypnotism, consults ancient superstition, and seems to believe in alchemy. This is not to say that modernity/science should not triumph over superstition but to point out that the hubris associated with any period's estimation of its own learning is dangerous. We have discovered too often that our modern ideas give way to better ideas to come and are sometimes found out to be mere superstition after all.
1 comment:
If you're going through a classics fad: I would suggest borrowing Mark Gibson's tape on Worldviews: Frankenstein vs. Jeckell & Hyde and their discussion of which is an accurate portrayal of a Christian worldview. Tim & I listened to it a few years ago and it was really insightful. Great review, makes me want to add this to my Barnes & Noble classics reading list. You can't beat $7.99! I have several of their paperback series. How thoughtful of your newborn son to purchase such a spooky book for his father. ha ha. I do agree that when I think of the horror genre, I'm more inclined to think of graphic and corny images, things I want to avoid...it's very different from what this book was intending...
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