dracula
Title: Dracula Author: Bram Stoker Publisher: 1897 by Archibald Constable & Co. Story Jonathan Harker, young lawyer, makes trip to Transylvania to sell land in England to Count Dracula. Meanwhile, young fiancŽe, Mina, spending summer by the sea in Whitby, port town in Eng. with friend Lucy Westenra. Lucy falls ill: blood seems to disappear. Jonathan somehow escapes, has brain fever, saved by the sisters of a convent and marries Mina there. Dr. Van Helsing, Dutch doctor comes to see what is the matter with Lucy. It seems that she is the victim of a vampire. The circle of LucyÕs freinds, who try to save her, are too late in discovering that Dracula had come across the sea on a merchant vessel, delivering crates of Transylvanian dirt. When she dies, she becomes Un-dead, preying on the blood of little children of Whitby. They drive a stake through her heart and free her of the spell. She is fully dead. The group of friends: Van Helsing, Jonathan and Mina Harker, and LucyÕs three previous suitors, Dr. Seward, owner of a mental hospital next door to DraculaÕs future estate, Arthur Holmwood, Lord Godalming, and Quincey Morris, a young American. They decide to do whatever they can to destroy the vampire. Dracula comes to get Mina and she will become like him if the group cannot defeat him. Learn that crates of earth are being sent around as places where Dracula can stop to rest or change form if he so desires. They travel to Translyvania to save their dear friend Mina and rid the world of Count Dracula and all of his followers. Book vs. Movie -Excellent Book. Movie (1993) good adaptation, relatively similar, but a few faults: -portrayal of Women. Book has strong women (contrast to Wuthering Heights) but movie weakens them. Book: Mina makes anthology of info. Movie: Mina cheats on Jonathan with "prince," Lucy is brought forward as a loose girl, but book has her shy. -I liked movieÕs Holmwood: dashing young gentleman, victorian stereotype of good englishman. Seward: withdrawn, strange, cause live in asylum; Quincey: optimistic, friendly Texan; Van Helsing: old, respected, funny Dutchman. -special effects in movie worked, but in some spots were the only good point. -Dracula in movie too evil. Friendly in book. Too outwardly malicious in movie, too obvious. Problem -everyone knows story of Dracula already, countless films made. Idea no longer very fresh. Critique: -book easy read, especially with footnoted ed. -favourite touch: set of journal entries, letters, telegrams, brought together by the author. He remarks at beginnig that all documents are contemporary. Quickly jumping narrator snaps attention and gives the reader an omniscient viewpoint without using the third person. recommend to anyone who enjoys horror movies.