"Monsters exist to be vanquished," says Alric von Englebert, and this statement of his ancient people is true... twofold. A man must indomitably stand against monsters of the flesh; however, for him to achieve life saving victory, he must first defeat the monster of the spirit or risk descending into degeneracy, weakness, and become a wretched monster himself.
I’ve only seen one of the Vampire hunter D movies back in the day. Excellent animation, but I generally cannot stand vampires as a whole. Movie wise, I saw the old Dracula film and that was it.
Ah d’acc, the Dracula novel though was great. The last time vampires were cool in book format. Though I must admit to really liking Brides of Dracula as a movie.
A very good article on Vlad. There was something likable about him; perhaps his flowery manners or his love of country as you said. But I definitely found him very creepy despite all that.
Excellent analysis. The novel was recently set as a text for study in the Literature course here in Victoria. I do occasional work as an essay assessor. Every essay I looked at was riddled with 'patriarchy', 'racism', 'colonialism'. 'imperialism'. The novel had been taught as a means to emphasise these interpretive frameworks at the expensive of any other response. Not that these frameworks are without value but the repetitive, formulaic nature of the students' essays told me that the ideology came first then the novel was merely cherry-picked for examples.
I’ve seen such ideological nonsense crop up when I worked at a university, and to my mind it is without value. I don’t see any of those things in the novel, it’s particularly egregious since Stoker was Irish so technically he’d have been on the receiving end of such things.
The novel itself is a love-story more like Gone with the Wind; it is a quest to save Mina and fight evil.
But I’m glad this essay humble as it is provided some relief.
Mina is everything that an invading foreigner would not like; chaste, faithful to her man (who is English like her), and is hardly keen to welcome a foreign invader into her home or to go out and see him out of curiosity.
Mina has a natural suspicion of outsiders, and is wiser and smarter than Lucy, and in the context of the novel she is the heart in a way of England, so that Dracula is making a very pointed statement by targeting her.
The world would be a better place if we had more Mina's and less Lucy's.
Agreed, the trouble is we’re plagued with an unending tide of Lucies, both in education (the Vampire Lucy I mean) and also the dunce sort lacking all awareness of the danger of outsiders sort (the human Lucy).
My father is a very complicated man. My mom used to say I’m a lot like him. Makes sense now. We haven’t always gotten along but I love him all the same.
Here’s the article I spoke of (my apologies if I’ve sent it before, my memory is scattered at best 🤣)
I get that, my father was a complicated man and I’m just like him also so I get it. In my case the similarities brought us together and at one time caused resentment in my mother, she eventually got over it and we crack a ton of jokes now about it.
I’m quite proud of you though if you don’t mind my saying, good on you for loving him nonetheless and for your close bond with your mom.
Thank you. Wouldn’t be much of a follower of Christ if I didn’t love him despite all that. He isn’t perfect, but neither am I and he’s always done the best he can. As a parent myself now, I can’t fault him for that
Oh probably ten or so. I honestly can’t remember, it’s been a long time. My love of history and literature came from listening to my father’s stories and reading the various books from his library. It’s probably the one area with which he and I get along really well.
If you’re interested in knowing why it’s become such a popular trope (from a woman’s perspective), I actually wrote an essay on the subject some time ago. Not about vampires specifically, but I would argue it applies.
Send it to me (the article I mean) and honestly I love history and literature also, and derived mine from listening to my mom and Dad also. Then later it spiralled from there, and I’m currently setting up an enormous library to share with my kids when the time comes.
Ooh, love this. And not just because I like vampires (yes, I’m one of those women, lol). Actually, one of the first stories I ever wrote was about vampires. I remember my father telling me stories about Vlad. Subsequent research was rather horrifying. If even half the accounts are true, he was quite a psychopath.
Same, how old were you when you first discovered the book and when you discovered Vlad’s myriad deeds?
Sounds like your father was a pretty well-researched man. While I understand that Vlad wished to fight off the Ottomans (who were even more brutal than him), he still succumbed to levels of cruelty that is hard to imagine.
A vampire is cool.
A vampire hunter is cool.
A vampire vampire hunter is silly cool.
Lmao very true
Dracula also gets points for having furry palms imo
Very good point
"Monsters exist to be vanquished," says Alric von Englebert, and this statement of his ancient people is true... twofold. A man must indomitably stand against monsters of the flesh; however, for him to achieve life saving victory, he must first defeat the monster of the spirit or risk descending into degeneracy, weakness, and become a wretched monster himself.
Very well said
This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTYMGTKcNhs it is so cool!
Not really my thing tbh, I despise vampire anime.
I’ve only seen one of the Vampire hunter D movies back in the day. Excellent animation, but I generally cannot stand vampires as a whole. Movie wise, I saw the old Dracula film and that was it.
Ah d’acc, the Dracula novel though was great. The last time vampires were cool in book format. Though I must admit to really liking Brides of Dracula as a movie.
Excellent Brothers! I wrote about Vlad the Impaler and one of my sub sticks last year. Fascinating character. Thank you much for sharing. Love this!
Oh I didn’t know you had, maybe you could link it to me and I can in my next Dracula essay link to it.
A very good article on Vlad. There was something likable about him; perhaps his flowery manners or his love of country as you said. But I definitely found him very creepy despite all that.
I think you’re supposed to find him creepy. Either way, I’ve another 3-4 essays I want to write about him.
Looking forward to reading them!
Oh thank so much!
Excellent analysis. The novel was recently set as a text for study in the Literature course here in Victoria. I do occasional work as an essay assessor. Every essay I looked at was riddled with 'patriarchy', 'racism', 'colonialism'. 'imperialism'. The novel had been taught as a means to emphasise these interpretive frameworks at the expensive of any other response. Not that these frameworks are without value but the repetitive, formulaic nature of the students' essays told me that the ideology came first then the novel was merely cherry-picked for examples.
I’ve seen such ideological nonsense crop up when I worked at a university, and to my mind it is without value. I don’t see any of those things in the novel, it’s particularly egregious since Stoker was Irish so technically he’d have been on the receiving end of such things.
The novel itself is a love-story more like Gone with the Wind; it is a quest to save Mina and fight evil.
But I’m glad this essay humble as it is provided some relief.
Great post! The difference between Dracula's relationships in the book and his relationships in movie adaptations is appalling.
Very true, still hate how Mina is always done dirty along with Jonathan.
Mina is everything that an invading foreigner would not like; chaste, faithful to her man (who is English like her), and is hardly keen to welcome a foreign invader into her home or to go out and see him out of curiosity.
Mina has a natural suspicion of outsiders, and is wiser and smarter than Lucy, and in the context of the novel she is the heart in a way of England, so that Dracula is making a very pointed statement by targeting her.
The world would be a better place if we had more Mina's and less Lucy's.
Agreed, the trouble is we’re plagued with an unending tide of Lucies, both in education (the Vampire Lucy I mean) and also the dunce sort lacking all awareness of the danger of outsiders sort (the human Lucy).
My father is a very complicated man. My mom used to say I’m a lot like him. Makes sense now. We haven’t always gotten along but I love him all the same.
Here’s the article I spoke of (my apologies if I’ve sent it before, my memory is scattered at best 🤣)
https://open.substack.com/pub/makennagrace/p/the-alpha-male-is-deador-so-we-thought?r=1vkyax&utm_medium=ios
I get that, my father was a complicated man and I’m just like him also so I get it. In my case the similarities brought us together and at one time caused resentment in my mother, she eventually got over it and we crack a ton of jokes now about it.
I’m quite proud of you though if you don’t mind my saying, good on you for loving him nonetheless and for your close bond with your mom.
I’ll happily read your article.
Thank you. Wouldn’t be much of a follower of Christ if I didn’t love him despite all that. He isn’t perfect, but neither am I and he’s always done the best he can. As a parent myself now, I can’t fault him for that
That’s beautiful, and I could not agree more.
Oh probably ten or so. I honestly can’t remember, it’s been a long time. My love of history and literature came from listening to my father’s stories and reading the various books from his library. It’s probably the one area with which he and I get along really well.
If you’re interested in knowing why it’s become such a popular trope (from a woman’s perspective), I actually wrote an essay on the subject some time ago. Not about vampires specifically, but I would argue it applies.
Send it to me (the article I mean) and honestly I love history and literature also, and derived mine from listening to my mom and Dad also. Then later it spiralled from there, and I’m currently setting up an enormous library to share with my kids when the time comes.
Sounds like your dad is pretty awesome.
Ooh, love this. And not just because I like vampires (yes, I’m one of those women, lol). Actually, one of the first stories I ever wrote was about vampires. I remember my father telling me stories about Vlad. Subsequent research was rather horrifying. If even half the accounts are true, he was quite a psychopath.
Same, how old were you when you first discovered the book and when you discovered Vlad’s myriad deeds?
Sounds like your father was a pretty well-researched man. While I understand that Vlad wished to fight off the Ottomans (who were even more brutal than him), he still succumbed to levels of cruelty that is hard to imagine.