#draculablog

[my-name-is-not-kimmy]

Where is everyone today? Mina and the boys are in Varna. The Czarina Catherine is somewhere near Algeria. You can watch everyone’s progress on the excellent Draculablog. Today’s entry is here:  https://infocult.typepad.com/dracula/2021/10/lapping-waves-and-rushing-water.html  

[warningsine]

Jonathan Harker

[atundratoadstool]

Hoping to finally get back into Draculablogging form again now that I am suddenly struck with the first September in nearly a decade in which I am not the one going to school.

[astrangergivingthestrangewelcome]

As Much As Is Realistically Possible We Should Avoid Getting Our Panties in a Twist Over Being Faithful To The Canon: Me Giving Dracula Opinions Alongside a Good Does Of Generic Fandom Philosophy Because I'm A Procrastinating Idiot Who Likes To Hear The Sound Of My Own Voice

Don't get me wrong I fucking hate when what I personally love about the canon is ruined in adaptations. Still waiting on any adaptation to actually give me a post-castle Jonathan which is in any way as interesting as he is in the book. But also, the nature of fandom and fanfiction and fanon and all that is we all engage with a story, are drawn to some aspect of the canon which resonates with us, and then typically use this as a jumping off point to explore things that the text doesn't. This is true for pretty much everyone out here draculablogging.

For example, there is in my opinion absolutely no evidence that Lucy Mina and Jonathan were a trio of childhood friends. Lucy's family does not seem to have property in Exeter and Jonathan literally never thinks about Lucy on his own. It seems obvious to me that Mina and Lucy met at boarding school. I'm quite happy to keep this element of canon in my fics because it makes sense to me. Conversely I do like to dabble in Van Helsing: Vampire Slayer, and that is expressly not canon. But idrc because it's more fun and interesting to me to have it that way. People who want to see Lucy, Jonathan, Mina childhood best friend trio bc they think it's cute are just as valid, even though I don't particularly care one way or the other. It's kinda silly to be like *eye roll* well this is fanon not canon when I guarantee you if you really look at your own preferences you're doing it too, and who really cares? People just like different things. Plus the whole point of fandom is you can go places where the canon didn't like if you write in a best friend trio then you get to explore why Lucy and Jonathan apparently grew apart. If you write an occult background for Van Helsing you get to maybe color in some of his odd edges. That's cool and good who cares if it's not strictly accurate as long as you don't pretend you're being canon compliant.

Now, those two examples are pretty innocuous, but bc this novel gets pretty heavy at times, naturally the Discourse amps up when things amp up. For example, I really like to write Mina having a lot of rage. I like her to want to rip Dracula limb from limb (granted my fics always have her role-swapped with Jonathan in the books). I am well aware that this is not in her book character at all, who consistently pities Dracula and counsels against vengeance. Personally, I just think vengeful Mina is more fun, and it's also true that I don't appreciate how Bram Stoker is like "yes perfect christian woman. perfect. all mercy. so pitying." I don't think it's quite realistic to what her feelings would be to a man who assaulted her and I also think she should get to be waaaayyy more angry about the way Dracula abused the two people she loved in all the world. I like feminine rage and I think Mina should have some and so I write her as having some. But I also get that plenty of people don't really vibe with righteous anger and like Mina's whole mercy bit and find it really really compelling, and sure plenty of victims of assault in the real world are not preoccupied with revenge. And that's such a valid take and fics that run with it are more reflective of Mina's book characterization than mine. And once again both are good. Neither side needs to be going "well MY changes are inherently more feminist than yours" to justify our preferences, it's just what we like, we can just like it, and if there is a feminist slant to what we think/write/draw it does not mean the other take is anti-feminist.

This is also why, in my opinion, it's truly not that deep if people want to ship their little harkula dracumina dark romance ships. Like full disclosure I think some of the most fucked up harkula stuff can be hot, but I have 0 interest in reading the stories that really focus on Dracula embodying the repressed desires of either Jonathan or Mina. I do absolutely exclusively read the stuff where Dracula is an unsympathetic abusive monster, and I want to read stories that use that as the anchor for horror, and I want to read stories that have Jonathan and Mina overcoming that abuse.

Now That Doesn't Mean I think the people who want to do the whole twisted love stockholm syndrome thing are bad or shouldn't do it. They are clearly just coming to the text from a completely different place than I am. It's not like I would disagree that at the very beginning before the torture began Jonathan was kinda attracted to Dracula in the Victorian queer horror way. If people want to do the whole reincarnated wife thing with Mina bc idk they really like the Coppola film or whatever, sure. I will not read that, but I'm not going to invent reasons why they're Bad Dracula Fans. It doesn't matter if it's not canon, so long as you don't say it's canon (why did you name it Bram Stoker's Dracula Francis it's not Bram Stoker's Dracula you did not adapt ANY of the characters faithful why are you lying)

Anyway I know I'm not really saying anything new, and mostly the Dracula fandom has been fine but I have seen a few takes out there acting like canon is a trump card that it truly isn't, and i've also definitely seen people get up on the moral high horse on like, depictions and portrayals of abuse etc. and although fandom can be a wonderful space to tell important, compelling stories about heavy topics, when people don't want to do that, they're not less moral than you. Lots of the time they're trying to tell important, compelling stories about heavy topics of a different sort, and sometimes they're writing porn. This is normal fandom stuff.

[dykecastiels]

is everyone gonna stop draculablogging now... please come back i was such a huge fan of it before dracula daily it was great having yall:( please tell me u will at least come back next year

[frankensteinthecollegedropout]

chapter 27

i am once again posting a chapter many days after i first wrote it up due to no reason at all

i think this is the second to last chapter whoo

oh mina... :(

the scar thing is so fucked up idk if i've talked about this before but it's fucked up!!

hmm she's becoming nocturnal

you're both gonna sleep and just trust the horses to keep on the right path? seems ill advised but alright

ooh snowing now... atmospheric

wait the vampire women leave the castle?

i kind of assumed from the fact the count brings them people to feed from that they couldn't

aw shit the horses

uh hi! what terrible work are you talking about!

oh okay they're really close to the castle

MINA??? YOU OKAY??

oouuuhhh dracula's tomb

damn that's crazy. anyway is mina all right

yes! yes! get his ass!

FINALLY. DIE GRANDPA

quincey?

"it was worth this to die!" ;_;

wait this IS the final chapter oh shit

epilogue

hey honey what should we do for vacation this summer? oh how about that place from which we both got our severe trauma and almost died multiple times? sounds great let's bring the kid

aww :)

[onehandedly]

The idea of Dracula making the bed, cooking, and dusting the room for our dear friend Jonathan is hilarious, but the fury at his three wives is relatable.

Imagine slaving for years in order to make your own homemade cheese and wine for the first time ever, only to get to the basement at three am in the morning, one day before your "opening" party to contemplate your success, and what you see is: your three layabout sexy housemates opening the barrel and cutting themselves a slice. Not to mention: do they have the good grace of looking sorry now that you caught them, literally, red-handed? Not one bit. They start complaining about the fact you haven't restocked the fridge of late!

[dathen]

draculablogging has resulted in discourse about catholicism vs eastern orthodox in my notifs. did not have that on my bingo card for this year.

[yellbug]

beyond the mere zeitgeist of the dracula emails i would like to follow other people who are into draculablogging, draculaposting, dracula kinfood, all types. the real ones. the other dracula factkins out there. come and sing to me creatoures of da night

[infocult]

Blogging literature: the Draculablog begins again

Blogging literature: the Draculablog begins again

It is May 3rd and young Jonathan Harker is taking a train east to meet his firm’s new client, one count Dracula.  You may follow the rest of the story by subscribing to new posts, or dive into the novel’s archives, or leave a comment, or all three. Welcome to the Draculablog. Let me explain. Way back in 2005 I was preparing a scholarly edition of Bram Stoker’s Dracula for publication.  The…

[frankensteinthecollegedropout]

chapter 21

ok it's been a while where were we.

OH YEAH RENFIELD WHAT HAPPENED

ah. oh no

sorry quick pedantic aside paralysis of just the right (or left) side of the body would not be a sign of a damaged spine the paralysis would be on both sides this seems more like a stroke or something else that damages just a section of the brain

oh good he's still breathing at least

ok this isnt hopeless c'mon seward i believe in you

that said shouldn't you move him to an actual operating room? they had those right?

"tell them to take off the strait waistcoat" oh... :(

holy fuck that is terrifying

SEE renfield knows what's up!

the choice to capitalize He when referring to dracula? unparalleled

hoooly shit dude! this is after what MONTHS of being in the count's thrall? that is bravery

WHAT DON'T JUST LEAVE HIM HE STILL NEEDS HELP

HELLO????????

alright alright finally going to take care of mina

HEY WHAT THE FUCK

BRAM?? WHAT THE FUCK

mina mina oh dear

THANK you jonathan.

god the imagery... the sun just coming up as the darkest hour is progressing...

renfield... rest in peace sir

hey mina and jonathan (way back in the beginning) are the only accounts we actually have of a vampire attack i guess if they're not interrupted the victim's memory will be erased or something?

plot climax: reached. hair: whitened. desire to go GET that old fucker: RENEWED AND BURNING.

[frankensteinthecollegedropout]

chapter 5

MINA!!!!!!

i never found a point to mention this before but jonathan is clearly so in love with her. good for them (also finally a good fucking canon gothic lit couple)

one paragraph in and i love her so much

the tone throughout these letters is absolutely perfect

wow 😳 an immense asylum all under his own care 😳

oh yes lucy's suitors three

it's just so REFRESHING to see all these good relationships with COMMUNICATION and RESPECT... i will forgive you your abysmal choices of descriptive language, bram, for this

AHAHAHAAAA THE TEXAN

oh quincy my beloved... i absolutely love the way he speaks mr stoker have you ever even SEEN an american.

"Dr. Seward's Diary (Kept in phonograph)" PODCAST???

no idea whatsoever about what he's saying god bless <3

renfield! i know nothing about him actually

"YOURS AS EVER AND ALWAYS" MY DUDE...

tingly messages 😏

this chapter was... good. i was just smiling the whole time i care about these characters so much already

[frankensteinthecollegedropout]

chapter 19

JONATHAN POV!!! missed him <3

a respectable lunatic...

a rat whistle. is that really a thing

the religions aspect of this continually boggles me i mean vampires being unholy or whatever and repelled by crosses/crucifixes is a common thing but the use of communion wafers really seems to bring home how ridiculous it really is

the Sacred Wafer

surgeon, lockpick, what's the difference really

hold on i forgot where we are is this the place where the dirt boxes were delivered? thought that was an abandoned castle or church not a house

ah the chapel right okay

nothing is ever only the shadows!!

OH that's what. the whistle is a DOG whistle that makes much more sense

incredible. horrendously powerful unholy undead being summoning thousands of rats to trap and kill you? just grab a few terriers it'll work out just fine

dust in extraordinary proportions

renfield :(

... breathing weakly? PALER THAN USUAL?? HELLOO??!

idiotic brain theories are what i call all my ideas

IT'S GOING TO FUCKING WRECK HER IF Y'ALL DON'T START PAYING BETTER ATTENTION

mina girl... it's not your fault i promise please feel better

oouhh another weird dream-adjacent passage

oh SHIT

PLEASE tell someone i am BEGGING you your well-being is just as important as jonathan's

[frankensteinthecollegedropout]

chapter 24

"dear husband of Madam Mina" this has the polar opposite energy of all those headlines you see about 'x famous man's wife'

"he swears much... but he good fellow all the same" ✌😌

" a hat of straw which suit neither him or the time" ALRIGHT DRAG HIM

blood? with blood? of blood?

bloom and blood?

waters of strange properties...

VAN HELSING APPROVED SIMILE

ptomaines: toxic compounds produced by bacterial decomposition of proteins, especially in dead animal matter. not sure how this is an example of miraculousness

so you're just going to drop the implication that quincey and arthur defeated a pack of wolves in hand-to-hand combat and leave

*bdg two beds voice* cause 'a....... circumstances

did she just pass tf out after that speech?

90% of quincey's lines have been described as having been said "laconically" like king just give him more dialogue

good boy. brave boy *pat pat*

off to transylvania we go then i guess

[frankensteinthecollegedropout]

chapter 18

"for the first time since I had lived in it, the old house felt like home" ouch...

well that's an. efficient way of cleaning

this book really makes me grateful for how much treatment of mental illness has progressed

medicine in general too of course

hey hey can we go back to renfield telling mina not to stay that seems like it might be important

hmm interesting. so from the fact that renfield's warning mina away he must not be under the count's influence so presumably that was what was causing his strange behavior all along? but he was in the asylum before the count came to england...

THE BOYS

me and the boys investigating atrocities!!

SLAMMING my HEAD against the wall LET MINA HELP YOU OF ALL PEOPLE KNOW HOW RESOURCEFUL SHE'S BEEN ALREADY

ok i've run out of scarecrow-and-pumpkin notepad and am now writing on a hotel notepad from when my family went to universal three years ago

AOUGH not the kerning again i thought that was done

meeting at nine o'clock! everyone gathering!

big reveal moment... and it's vampires who could have guessed

die like the bee...

wait count dracula can control the WEATHER??

hey don't go talking about the rat and the owl and the bat the moth and the fox and the wolf like that

SO much material here all y'all vampire fans need to read this passage

THE COMPACT IS MADE

wait go back rewind i had a thought. so it says the vampire can command bats but not that he can transform into one. but it also says that he can grow and shrink so my question is, whenever dracula arrives seemingly in the form of a bat is he just. tiny and riding on a bat that he's controlling

ope nevermind he can be a bat. my glorious theory lies shattered

fascinating. again so much material left on the table here by modern vampire media

KAJADHFJDSFKLSDF

SORRY I FEAR I HAVE ALARMED YOU

quincey........

wow let's all go visit renfield make a day of it huh

OF TEXAS

now this is getting ominous

Fear.jpeg

[frankensteinthecollegedropout]

chapter 25

"Jonathan has asked me to note this, as he is hardly equal to the task..." uh oh!

"I... give up... eternal rest, and go out into the dark" ALRIGHT HOT DAMN

first time seward's ever broken character (so to speak) in his phonograph diary

well. okay then

"judge moneybags" I MEAN

hey jonathan buddy where did you get that large and unusually-named knife

TRAIN FIEND

i am once again thankful for how far the field of psychology has advanced since the writing of this book

interesting observation of the count though. and thank god for mina