Revisiting Dracula for Halloween 

*** PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE LEAVING COMMENTS ABOUT HOW I’M WRONG *** I filmed and edited this video a week before publishing it, and there’s a lot of stuff in it that I don’t like. There are points I make that I immediately disagree with (like the terrible argument that Dracula isn’t actually gothic) and other parts that I didn’t explore or flesh-out enough (especially with regard to queer readings and allegories). Sorry about that, everyone! Still, we learn and we grow :)

Dracula pretending to be his entire staff of servants and also his own driver will never not be funny to me.

I highly recommend the Daily Dracula reading of the novel. It's told chronologically and I feel like in that order Lucy and Mina also come across stronger and more interesting characters. Mina especially and her intelligence is more striking when you're reading it in order of the things happening, I love her and Jack working together.

It really irritates me when Van Helsing tells Mina that she has a "man brain" because of how smart she is :(

i just read both recently and while i absolutely loved both i definitely thought “mary shelley could have written dracula but bram stoker could have never written frankenstein” 😂

That edition of Dracula is beautiful ❤

Among other things, Dracula is a technothriller. Cutting-edge communication tech is crucial at various points. Characters keep logs and other documents with the latest typewriters and even dictaphones. On and on. There’s even a Texan who in the modern day would obviously be a CIA agent. And when will someone write the prequel with Quincey and the English guys riding around fighting crime and monsters?!? (In case it’s not clear, Dracula remains one of my favorite books.)

I found Dracula so much more interesting as a book than I expected and this was largely because of the structure. As you say, it seems like he deliberately avoids the gothic tone and goes for a more modern and scientific feel. It loses a bit of atmosphere and pace as a result. But the juxtaposition of Dracula who is an ancient figure with a London on the verge of the 20th century was effective as horror.

Happy Halloween Willow! I want to highly recommend the short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". I just read it last week and loved it. There were really great autumnal vibes. References to the leaves, food, cozy fireplaces etc. Of course there's the Headless Horseman too. Hello from Minnesota, USA. :)

thank you for not assuming everyone knows the story ^^

I read Dracula through the Daily Dracula email newsletter and it definitely changes the view on the book by a lot. Ive yet to read it as it was traditionally published (working on it) but its definitely one of my favorite books. The community that was built around the Daily Dracula style was very interesting, being able to take in different parts of the book and talk about its meaning and impact, and how it was seen during the time of publishing. I enjoy the points you made, very good video!

You are my absolute favorite book reviewer. You insights and recommendations have led me to so many great reads! Thank you!!!

I just finished reading Dracula, for the first time ever, this morning. So this video couldn’t have come at a better time!

I found your summary and analysis simply excellent. It helped me understand my reluctance to reread this book. Having read other comments and your comments on those, I just feel the Gothic thing is up for grabs. It really saddens me for you to feel dumb and stupid about it. Don't do that to yourself, Willow. 💜😢💜

I think you can see the influence of Stoker’s experience in the theatre in Dracula. This theatrical quality makes it more accessible to the average modern reader, more so than Frankenstein. If someone is interested in revisiting Dracula but doesn’t want to do a re-read of the original, I highly recommend Powers of Darkness:The Lost Version of Dracula by Vladimar Asmundsson (translated from the Icelandic). This is about the Icelandic version of Dracula that was discovered by English speakers not long ago. There are many differences from the original, and it has a foreword by Bram Stoker, so he was aware of it. They have a side by side of the Icelandic and English versions, and I found it fascinating.

I adore Dracula. Definitely my favorite pre-1920s classic.

That is such a nice edition. I wish I could find it in Europe for an affordable price.

I am rereading Dracula at the moment (norton critical edition) and i agree that its a horror novel and the pacing yep that too, interesting that critics at the time saw it as an entertaining romp not a social commentary while they were up in arms about The Island of Doctor Moreau which was published a year or two earlier. I have this thought that if we hadnt had the Bela Lugousi Dracula the book would be forgotten by now and its the power of the adaptations which has kept this book in print

I love your review and I totally agree with your view of Dracula! I love the book a lot, and the things you mention also came to my mind and I found them really surprising when I read the book for the first time. Your view of the ancient mariner being a Yang to Dracula's Ying is a super interesting insight. The way nineteenth-century men wrote about women is often very interesting. I see Mina as the most badass person in the book, she is written to be courageous and super intelligent and the one who sees all the connections and who binds the group together, and in typical nineteenth-century fashion the view of her intellect is so impressive..... that she has like..... the brain of a man...... And she is herself a ''New Woman'' and yet Bram Stoker lets her talk/write disparaging about The New Woman.... Oh well... She still totally rocks.

Loved your summary and insight on Dracula! 🤩💯

Dracula, the House of Leaves OG

Hi! Thank you for the interesting point of view. Will try to keep those things in mind when I will finally get to reading it 😊 I excited to see what will I see for myself in there 🧐

I'd recommend: - The Historian, you Elizabeth Kostova

I have the audiobook too. And it's really good one. Some good names in it

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this! In listening to the audiobook book and then watching the movie that was closely in line with the novel, Dracula, there were some things that I really liked about this story. While I do agree that some of the dialogue between the Men and Mina can come across as a bit cheesy, especially with with the assumption that everyone in the group is perfect and amiable, I do appreciate the loyalty and trust that they have for one another. As someone who has also grown up as a Christian, I appreciated the importance of Morals such as purity (not feigned purity, but living with Moral Principles), Humility, Honesty, and realizing the moments when we some things need to be petitioned to the Divine, or Fate. I also really appreciated when Mina chastised her husband, Jonathan, for becoming vengeful towards Dracula, and instead, having been subjected to Dracula's influence, desired to choose pity. I also appreciated Mina's desires for self control and a desire to correct her situation after she was coerced into giving into Dracula's influence and demands. For the welfare of her husband, she chose to submit her will to Dracula. After this ideal, instead of hiding what happened and seeking to go further into the carnal desires for Dracula, she immediately confesses, feels remorse for her actions, and wishes to rectify what's already been done. We see that instead of piling up secrets like Lucy and Van Helsing (to a certain extent with Lucy's mother), the forthcoming honesty of Mina and Jonathan that helped them overcome the evil that is represented in Count Dracula. Count Dracula could be a metaphor for discovering our carnal desires and deciding whether or not to perpetuate these desires or not. Will we try to cover up our secrets that lives inside our coffins of self indulgence, or will we choose to be frank and open with them - rallying around others and Divine or forces outside our own selves and choose higher moral standards and self control? (I realize this theme about choosing to take responsibility and getting support can also be tied to "Frankenstein" or other classic Novels, like "The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde".) All and all, I really enjoyed learning more about this classic novel and the themes of morality, trust, and the classic "Good vs Evil", influences.

Unless I missed something your argument about the genre boiled down to just having characters that are likable and victimized / are fighting back against what's threatening them. To be honest, I think it's possible that you've just read a lot of gothic novels that happen to have unlikable characters because that's not really a defining characteristic of the genre. The truth is that Dracula is not just gothic, it is quintessentially so. A tale full of fear and claustrophobia with the haunting danger of a supernatural threat, set in a dark environment full of architecture that embodies the physical decaying and crumbling past as a threatening embodiment of the dangers lurking in the present...... Looking up any article on what makes a gothic work "gothic" practically reads as a summary of Dracula.

Speaking of epistolary books with monsters in them, another one that I’m fond of is Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons). 📖

Oh man. You are so inspired me! I'm unable to watch up your video because you are description so poetic and scrupulous. So I will come back to this video after read up!

One of my favorite Japanese bands called Malice Mizer made a movie adaptation of Dracula. It is very, very pretty visually but the special effects are severely lacking lol

Kaz Rowe did a really excellent video on Bram Stoker and in my opinion the queer elements of the story are Stoker struggling with his internalized homophobia to a negative outcome

Dracula might be my favorite book of all time, I'm actually finishing it now for the 6th (?) time. I saw your pinned comment, so I won't go into details, but the queer history and the satire of gender roles makes me laugh every time. Honestly, it's a dream of mine to teach a class where we go through the text page-by-page and discuss it, and I've ever wanted to teach anything lol.

👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Love hearing you talk about Dracula! Especially the bits about the fear of immigration and queerness. But I feel like I must disagree a little with you though(sorry!!). There are so many examples of sympathetic leads in gothic literature, that I can't see that as a prerequisite for the genre. Most of the characters in castle of Otranto, with the exception of Manfred. Emily and Valancourt in mysteries of Udolpho. Jane Eyre ofcourse Helen and Arthur from tenant of wildfell hall. These are the ones on the top of my head, but there must be more! I haven't read much contemporary gothic yet, but Miri and Leah from our wives under the sea certainly fit the Bill too. Completely unrelated and might just be because I've only read Frankenstein once and Dracula too many times - But I feel like the female characters are better written in dracula and with more distinct personalities - but that might just be because I love Mina and Lucy haha Anyways, I'm sorry because this was a very fun video and I love love love when you talk about gothic fiction

The simping that the women do over the men does induce eye rolling but I guess it's a product of its time written by a man. I appreciated Stoker giving Mina some agency in terms of her wanting to be involved in taking down Dracula instead of sitting back and letting the men save her. It was like an attempt was made but Stoker definitely fell flat

I read Dracula last year it was good but i much prefer the book that the descendant of bram stoker wrote Dracula undead

so, what you're saying is--johnathon harkers pov: mark me down as scared *and* horny (everyone else thinks he's just a kinky wimp)

I am less than half way done with re reading Dracula. I don't think he wrote the female cheracters that badly. Mina is a standout character for me even more than va Helsing it might be because you see a great deal though her eyes. I can't help but note that during this re read how much she loves poor Lucy sometimes it felt like more than Jonathan. Speaking of which comes off bit like your arrogant Engliah men for a good part of the first half than he gets trapped in Dracula castle and disappears for a while. One more thing poor Lucy gets almost as screwed over as her many film counterparts. I can for the life of me figure out why Dracula keeps going for her specially after she leaves for London. There are so many other people to feed off of.

Actually, I find Frankenstein badly written. The prose is puerile.