Sunday, May 26, 2024

The Victorian Era is Not Dead...

...it's alive in a coffin in the dungeon!!!

On this day, 26 May, 1897, Bram Stoker's "Dracula" was published.

The celebrated book is of cultural importance; critics have inevitably classed Dracula as a genre novel but it falls into so many of their categories – vampire literature, horror fiction, gothic novel, invasion literature, crime, mystery, the supernatural – that categorisation is problematic. 

It is much more than that – a fine novel, dealing with Victorian sexuality, British culture, and more, and, moreover, it is a significant addition to the novel genre in its own right.

And...there are some fun memes for your enjoyment too!

🦇🦇🦇

If you have not read the actual Dracula novel, I highly recommend it; it's surprisingly fresh for a book written during what is thought of as a very repressed time in our history.

For those who want to have some fun with it, please consider Laurie R. King's "Castle Shade", when Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell assist the Queen of Romania to solve dark doings at Bran Castle.

12 comments:

  1. I bought the paperback version of Dracula when I was about 12. It is still included on my bookshelves 60 years later. It gets taken down and reread every now and again. It is my most reread book.

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  2. Oh, these wonderful cartoons make our day such fun!!! LOVE the 'turn into bats' and that kitty's expression.

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  3. "Turn into bats" (mol).

    That is a kind of flying mousie, isn't it?

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  4. Those cartoons made us laugh! I read Dracula in college, and agree wholeheartedly with your recommendation of it. :)

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  5. Oh my, I didn't realize that, it's a really good read!

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  6. Those cartoons are winners! LOVED them. Sorry to say it took me a few beats to catch on to the bat hanging upside down one. These are all super good!

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  7. I think the Victorian era was alive with diversity and interest, humour and more tolerance than we give it credit for. Could "Dracula" have proven popular then, otherwise?

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  8. It is a good read. Thanks for the giggles. I had to think for a second about the middle panel. Too funny. Best wishes to you and yours!

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  9. It is also surprisingly terrifying despite lacking some of the "modern: horror tropes.

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  10. Mommy read it in college. She must have gone to Salem State

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  11. Love the funnies, and the original novel, I was told, was not such a huge success. I'll have to look up that history again.

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