Bram Stoker"s Dracula - Why And How The Evil Fiend Scares Mortals
Having been engrossed in the reading of Stoker's novel, Dracula, when I looked at my watch, it was way past my bedtime (midnight); so I meandered to farthest bathroom at the end of our long hallway, since I didn't want to awaken Mary Patricia (my wife). Halfway there I was seized with a primal fear that froze me to the spot: I could swear the evil vampire Dracula --lurking in the shadows-- was welcoming me to his kingdom, fangs bared, blood dripping, arms outspread.
Fear I've felt before, but this was different.
Dracula is a book one has to revisit once in a while. Finally it dawned on me that Dracula scared the living daylight out of me not because of his appearance or ill-fame, but because the vampire owns something I don't: non-human knowledge.
Bram Stoker's Dracula is one of the scariest books ever written, and the reasons for its perennial appeal are basically two:
(1) The vampire theme in which the supernatural is thrown into the natural world
(2) Writing techniques: use of Absolutes.
When Count Dracula says, "There are far worse things awaiting than death." Ah, what could that be? Orpheus, Tiresias, and Dante, belong to the set of personages who returned from the other shore; and what they had to say was horrifying, but they said things within human understanding. So, what are the "worse things" that Dracula mentions in passing? Is it something unmentionable? Is it something so tremendous and non-rational and unholy that he must leave unsaid?
Human fear I can live with. Take Stephen King --the unsurpassed master of horror-- who terrifies us with human knowledge: sins, transgressions, and human cruelty. With adroit prose and distinctive voice Stephen King exploits our fears and dark emotions, often appealing to grossness and revulsion. Bram Stoker also uses this sense of repugnancy in his novel: "As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me... a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal."
Yet, what always puts a chill in my heart and mind is the lingering question of the beyond: what worse things did Dracula refer to?
Because the novel Dracula raises questions rather answering them, it will go on delighting readers for many generations. And what a treat it is! Not sparing a single rhetorical figure, Bram Stoker stabs and twists the reader's central nervous system where horror resides. In some scenes, the narrating voice employs the 'Nominative Absolute' to add the sensation of simultaneity.
Watch closely this excerpt:
"As my eyes opened involuntarily I saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing with passion."
"Eyes transformed" is a past participle Absolute: "Teeth champing" and "Cheeks blazing" are both present participle Absolutes.
While we think that Ernest Hemingway was the inventor of the Absolute, Stoker was way ahead of him. Hemingway abused the technique, Bram Stoker was measured and sober in his use of it.
Subjunction is a rhetorical device that repeats contiguous words. Notice how Stoker makes use of it:
"I closed me eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited-waited with beating heart."
Rhetoric isn't dead. It is always present in the great works of literature.
Humans instinctively seek beauty in what they read. In Dracula we find it not in the theme or the plot, but in the composition itself, since it is masterfully written. Readers, students and blossoming writers who are serious about literature will find elegant and yet thrilling writing that will seize both their minds and viscera. And if one reads this novel at night, don't go to the bathroom!
What makes Dracula such a beautiful piece of work? There's only one answer: it is well balanced by the power of well-balanced sentences; it is harmoniously woven, and its prose sparkles with a radiance that is short of wondrous.
Fear I've felt before, but this was different.
Dracula is a book one has to revisit once in a while. Finally it dawned on me that Dracula scared the living daylight out of me not because of his appearance or ill-fame, but because the vampire owns something I don't: non-human knowledge.
Bram Stoker's Dracula is one of the scariest books ever written, and the reasons for its perennial appeal are basically two:
(1) The vampire theme in which the supernatural is thrown into the natural world
(2) Writing techniques: use of Absolutes.
When Count Dracula says, "There are far worse things awaiting than death." Ah, what could that be? Orpheus, Tiresias, and Dante, belong to the set of personages who returned from the other shore; and what they had to say was horrifying, but they said things within human understanding. So, what are the "worse things" that Dracula mentions in passing? Is it something unmentionable? Is it something so tremendous and non-rational and unholy that he must leave unsaid?
Human fear I can live with. Take Stephen King --the unsurpassed master of horror-- who terrifies us with human knowledge: sins, transgressions, and human cruelty. With adroit prose and distinctive voice Stephen King exploits our fears and dark emotions, often appealing to grossness and revulsion. Bram Stoker also uses this sense of repugnancy in his novel: "As the Count leaned over me and his hands touched me... a horrible feeling of nausea came over me, which, do what I would, I could not conceal."
Yet, what always puts a chill in my heart and mind is the lingering question of the beyond: what worse things did Dracula refer to?
Because the novel Dracula raises questions rather answering them, it will go on delighting readers for many generations. And what a treat it is! Not sparing a single rhetorical figure, Bram Stoker stabs and twists the reader's central nervous system where horror resides. In some scenes, the narrating voice employs the 'Nominative Absolute' to add the sensation of simultaneity.
Watch closely this excerpt:
"As my eyes opened involuntarily I saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with giant's power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing with passion."
"Eyes transformed" is a past participle Absolute: "Teeth champing" and "Cheeks blazing" are both present participle Absolutes.
While we think that Ernest Hemingway was the inventor of the Absolute, Stoker was way ahead of him. Hemingway abused the technique, Bram Stoker was measured and sober in his use of it.
Subjunction is a rhetorical device that repeats contiguous words. Notice how Stoker makes use of it:
"I closed me eyes in a languorous ecstasy and waited-waited with beating heart."
Rhetoric isn't dead. It is always present in the great works of literature.
Humans instinctively seek beauty in what they read. In Dracula we find it not in the theme or the plot, but in the composition itself, since it is masterfully written. Readers, students and blossoming writers who are serious about literature will find elegant and yet thrilling writing that will seize both their minds and viscera. And if one reads this novel at night, don't go to the bathroom!
What makes Dracula such a beautiful piece of work? There's only one answer: it is well balanced by the power of well-balanced sentences; it is harmoniously woven, and its prose sparkles with a radiance that is short of wondrous.