Dracula Daily 2023
May. 6th, 2023 01:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
between_time_and_42So I decided to participate in Dracula Daily this year, since 1. a lot of my friends are doing it again, and 2. I've been wanting to read this book for a long time. I remember when I was a kid, I read an extremely abridged version of it, and then during the time of Twilight, I was reading more vampire stories and one of the stories I read mentioned Dracula, naturally, so I started looking for it in libraries for a while after that, but I never found it... And then I forgot that I wanted to read it, so it's about time I finally did. I also saw the original Universal film adaptation at some point, probably when I was in high school.
Here's what I remember about Dracula from the version of it that I read a long time ago (ignoring what I have gleaned from last year's memes and meta): Jonathan Harker is the protagonist and he has a partner, Mina. (I think they're engaged? I can't remember.) Mina has a friend, Lucy. There's another character named Van Helsing, but I remember nothing of what he does in the story despite his character being hugely popular in pop culture. (I take it he's a doctor who treats vampire victims?) Jonathan becomes trapped at Dracula's castle, but I can't remember what he was there for in the first place. I do remember feeling very bad for him. At some point, I think Mina takes ill and eventually turns out to be one of Dracula's victims? But I think this happens to Lucy too? Anyway, that's all I remember. What I remember from the movie adaptation is that Dracula doesn't drink... wine, and he has a lackey named Renfield who eats bugs and is played to excellent perfection by Dwight Frye and is really the highlight of the movie for me. Now that I think about it, I also remember Mina being preyed on in the movie, and Van Helsing showing up to help out the protagonists. But... yeah, that's about it.
Here's what I think about the story so far:
-It's so funny that the first entry has an element of "DUN DUN DUN! The guy he's going to see is DRACULA!!" to modern readers, whereas this probably had zero effect on readers at the time. :D
-I REALLY like the writing style so far. The descriptions of the countryside are great.
-Getting bad vibes from Dracula and his driver immediately, right around the point where the driver grabbed Jonathan's arm in a too-tight grip. (I also got the impression that Dracula was the driver- and Jonathan seemed to think that too for a second- but I’m not sure yet if that will be revealed as true.) That feeling only grew when Jonathan was dining and listening to the wolves howling, and Dracula was all ":D :D :D" about it while Jonathan seemed more concerned. That, and the fact that all of the people Jonathan has met in the area so far seem terrified of the idea of him going up to the castle...
-I can see the potential already in Jonathan's relationship with Mina. It's so cute to me how he makes notes to get the recipes for the foods he's being served so he can make them for Mina (or so she can make them, probably, but the first thought I had was that he wanted to do the cooking), and how he admonishes himself for downplaying his achievements in becoming a solicitor, because "Mina wouldn't like that." I'm looking forward to getting to know the both of them better as this story progresses.
Now I find myself sad that there’s no entry for today… I want to continue the story.
The only thing about Dracula Daily so far that I’m unhappy about is that I can’t really go on tumblr and read people’s posts about it, because a lot of the posts are from people who participated in it last year and they’re coming at it from a position of “this part hits different now that we know [insert thing that I didn’t know about the story here].” I now wish I had done it last year so that I wouldn’t get as many spoilers.
Here's what I remember about Dracula from the version of it that I read a long time ago (ignoring what I have gleaned from last year's memes and meta): Jonathan Harker is the protagonist and he has a partner, Mina. (I think they're engaged? I can't remember.) Mina has a friend, Lucy. There's another character named Van Helsing, but I remember nothing of what he does in the story despite his character being hugely popular in pop culture. (I take it he's a doctor who treats vampire victims?) Jonathan becomes trapped at Dracula's castle, but I can't remember what he was there for in the first place. I do remember feeling very bad for him. At some point, I think Mina takes ill and eventually turns out to be one of Dracula's victims? But I think this happens to Lucy too? Anyway, that's all I remember. What I remember from the movie adaptation is that Dracula doesn't drink... wine, and he has a lackey named Renfield who eats bugs and is played to excellent perfection by Dwight Frye and is really the highlight of the movie for me. Now that I think about it, I also remember Mina being preyed on in the movie, and Van Helsing showing up to help out the protagonists. But... yeah, that's about it.
Here's what I think about the story so far:
-It's so funny that the first entry has an element of "DUN DUN DUN! The guy he's going to see is DRACULA!!" to modern readers, whereas this probably had zero effect on readers at the time. :D
-I REALLY like the writing style so far. The descriptions of the countryside are great.
-Getting bad vibes from Dracula and his driver immediately, right around the point where the driver grabbed Jonathan's arm in a too-tight grip. (I also got the impression that Dracula was the driver- and Jonathan seemed to think that too for a second- but I’m not sure yet if that will be revealed as true.) That feeling only grew when Jonathan was dining and listening to the wolves howling, and Dracula was all ":D :D :D" about it while Jonathan seemed more concerned. That, and the fact that all of the people Jonathan has met in the area so far seem terrified of the idea of him going up to the castle...
-I can see the potential already in Jonathan's relationship with Mina. It's so cute to me how he makes notes to get the recipes for the foods he's being served so he can make them for Mina (or so she can make them, probably, but the first thought I had was that he wanted to do the cooking), and how he admonishes himself for downplaying his achievements in becoming a solicitor, because "Mina wouldn't like that." I'm looking forward to getting to know the both of them better as this story progresses.
Now I find myself sad that there’s no entry for today… I want to continue the story.
The only thing about Dracula Daily so far that I’m unhappy about is that I can’t really go on tumblr and read people’s posts about it, because a lot of the posts are from people who participated in it last year and they’re coming at it from a position of “this part hits different now that we know [insert thing that I didn’t know about the story here].” I now wish I had done it last year so that I wouldn’t get as many spoilers.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-09 12:09 am (UTC)The writing style is so great! I definitely agree with you there!
I'll confirm right now that Dracula was indeed the driver. That's not a spoiler per se, since there's no big reveal about that, it's just left for us to deduce. I'm dying to hear what you'll think of Dracula and Jonathan's dynamic as it progresses.
I won't say much about JonMina, because again, spoilers, but I'll say that considering what we later learn about them, Jonathan is probably getting the recipes so that either he can make them for Mina or, at the most, they can cook them together. It's not a "woman stays in the kitchen" relationship. Not. At. All. And I'm glad you can already see how cute they are. ^^ They are truly adorable, I can't remember the last time I got this obsessed with a f/m couple (although I'm in the group of people who think there's room to believe Jonathan has some struggles with gender. I won't say anything else about it at the moment, but I'm planning a modern day adaptation and in it I'd make him a trans woman. It's definitely just a headcanon, though.)
I'm so sorry you can't go into the tag because of how full of spoilers it is. :/ I'm tagging "dracula spoilers" in all my posts that involve things we learn later.
Also, I wanted to ask if you know about Re: Dracula? It's a WONDERFUL podcast that delivers Dracula Daily in audio format, with a full cast, and sound effects like the wolves howling in the distance. It's creepy, atmospheric, and overall great. The actor who's playing Jonathan is doing a wonderful job at sounding desperate, uncomfortable, and creeped out. I don't know if you like podcasts, but if you do, I recommend it strongly. :)
no subject
Date: 2023-05-09 09:44 pm (UTC)Aha, so I thought! The last entry from Jonathan confirmed it too. I’m interested to see how their dynamic ends up… , with VOTN on the brain, for a second during one of their conversations, I was fooled into thinking “maybe they’ll be like Aronnax and Nemo!…” Then I remembered that’s DRACULA, haha. Nemo’s hardly a saint, but he also doesn’t literally prey on people. (Sidenote: I’m very interested to see how the actual original Dracula character compares to his many, many versions from various adaptations and references over the years. I feel like some of the things I think I know about Dracula are going to be proven wrong.)
Jonathan and Mina are very cute already! I like that you can tell just from the way they talk about and mention each other how much they love each other. I replied on tumblr saying this, but I’ll say it again, the thought of them in the kitchen puzzling out a recipe together is adorable and definitely seems in line with how Mina has described their relationship in her letter today. Transfem Jonathan sounds interesting, I’m definitely interested to see if I’ll share that headcanon as the story progresses.
Thanks for spoiler tagging, it’s helpful! I probably wouldn’t mind too much if I didn’t remember so little about the story. It feels entirely new to me.
Oh that’s what Re: Dracula is! That sounds really cool. I never really got into narrative podcasts but I might listen and see what I think.
no subject
Date: 2023-05-16 09:30 pm (UTC)I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the character of Dracula as you get to know him better. :) But YES, VERY different from Nemo. Let's put it this way, I read Dracula for the first time a year before I read 20000 Leagues, and I did NOT crush on Dracula, haha.
Jonathan and Mina are one of the cutest literary couples I know. ^^ I'm curious to hear your thoughts on them as the story progresses. And very interested in seeing what you think of the transfem Jonathan headcanon. Today's entry was one of the ones that make me, and other people, see him this way.
It's so cool to read your thoughts on the story, coming from an entirely new perspective! ^^
no subject
Date: 2023-05-19 01:09 am (UTC)This chapter also is a huge indicator of why one would not crush on Dracula, haha. Though I didn't like him from his very first appearance.
I'm finding them very cute too, surprisingly so! I can't remember the last time I read a book written around this time period where I actually felt invested in the main romantic relationship. And I love that Mina is a complete well-rounded character of her own, or seems to be from her introduction.
I definitely picked up on Jonathan finding comfort in the thought of the room he fell asleep in having once been part of the women's quarters, and choosing to stay there perhaps because he felt he belonged there. Something about that really got to me, though I'm not sure what it was that I found so emotional. AHHH I wish I could talk about this chapter more but it's hard, I really loved it.