Arts & Entertainment
Dracula Rises—Again Dracula—The Un-Dead has
emerged as the official sequel to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. One of its authors, Dacre Stoker, will be signing copies at Rock Point Books on Saturday. A bit surprisingly, the other author, a screenwriter named Ian Holt, had the initial idea to write the Dracula sequel, but he wanted to create it as a screenplay. The resulting novel has a cinematic tonality, a number of spectacular sequences, and there’s a strong likelihood that it will become a movie. By Michael Crumb
“The resulting novel has a cinematic tonality, a number of spectacular sequences, and there’s a strong likelihood that it will become a movie.”
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Unlike the original book, Dracula—The Un-Dead ought not to be recommended as all-ages fare. An early sequence in the new novel reads much like an excerpt from de Sade’s The 120 Days of Sodom, and there are a few other passages that certainly aren’t for kids. I would like to talk about this novel without discussing specific plot points, because this book is aimed at fans of the original. Nevertheless, there’s a good deal to discuss with regard to this new offering. Probably the biggest issue has to do with literature and the market. Although Dracula wasn’t the first vampire novel, it was probably the best of the early ones, and it became a wellspring for the vampire-gothic literary and filmic
The Pulse | Vol. 7, Issue 41 | October 14, 2010 | www.chattanoogapulse.com
phenomenon. Since the Stoker family had only limited control of the copyright, part of the motivation to produce this work comes from a desire to remedy that situation. This Dutton-Penguin edition contains explanatory material by these authors that follows the text of the novel. There’s no doubt that Ian Holt’s motivation stems from a love of filmic drama. Bram Stoker’s Dracula stands as a literary work. His innovative style not only presented the story in an economic and interesting way, but his use of multiple viewpoints explored deeper literary issues as well. Dracula—The Un-Dead emerges as a cultural product—the term “fan service” comes to mind. Of course, this remains a kind of relative scale, since literary works are also cultural products, but the salient distinctions fall out as aesthetic on the one hand and commercial on the other. Even before I read this novel, I had been reminded of a quote from the manga Hellsing’s Vampire, from the character Alucard. Alucard’s persistence and service to humanity may be a model for the more contemporary “Dracula”. Stoker’s Dracula is mysterious and deep, very much outside of cultural conformity. The supposition in the original novel is that some alchemical attempt resulted in Dracula’s condition. Alchemy is outside of science, at least in conventional discussion. In Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, there is a scene where Jonathan
discovers Dracula’s “chemistry set.” I believe that scene is meant to carry on the same conjecture. Now, there is so much importance placed on the historical figure Vlad the Impaler, with its consequent emphasis on brutality, that other, more interesting aspects seem lost. It seems to me serious morbid for a culture to fetishize brutality. Another minor issue has to do with style. Dutton-Penguin has prestige as a premium house, but Dracula—The UnDead reads like a galley proof, that is, a copy that is offered for reading before its publication and release. There is a “prologue” before the text that has little to do with the actual novel, yet the volume is actually decorated with its words. Why? There is a focus on historical minutiae that gets in the way of the narrative rhythm. Also, there is so much exposition, amounting to a kind of rewriting of the Stoker original. I would have thought that Bram Stoker left a lot out of the original because it wasn’t necessary to the dynamic his novel presented. I am reminded of the very many great authors who would not allow such writing problems—Bram Stoker being one.
Booksigning of Dracula—The UnDead by Dacre Stoker Free Noon, Saturday, October 16 Rock Point Books, 401 S. Broad St. (423) 756-2855. www.rockpointbooks.com