The Girl of Dracula

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Really great, goes a lot deeper than just the story of Elizabeth Bathory. I'm just confused about how the thesis turned into a sex thing. Nov 13, Kate rated it liked it Shelves: The first half of this book was very informative, all about the life of Elizabeth Bathory with a focus on separating the legend that has grown up around her from the actual facts which, based on the trial transcripts, may not be "facts" but false information extracted from Bathory's collaborators under torture. I had hoped that the appendices would contain a complete translated trial transcript say that 3 times fast but mostly it was just a summary and certain testimonies relevant to the aut The first half of this book was very informative, all about the life of Elizabeth Bathory with a focus on separating the legend that has grown up around her from the actual facts which, based on the trial transcripts, may not be "facts" but false information extracted from Bathory's collaborators under torture.

I had hoped that the appendices would contain a complete translated trial transcript say that 3 times fast but mostly it was just a summary and certain testimonies relevant to the author's point. Jul 17, Gina rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Lovers of dark stories and history. This book provided reliable, accurate information about countess Elizabeth Bathory, the so called "Blood Countess. The estimate is between women, mostly peasants and some low-born nobles. The myth surrounding Countess Bathory holds that she bathed in the blood of virgins in the hope of appearing younger; she was deathly afraid of aging and tried anything to sto This book provided reliable, accurate information about countess Elizabeth Bathory, the so called "Blood Countess.

The myth surrounding Countess Bathory holds that she bathed in the blood of virgins in the hope of appearing younger; she was deathly afraid of aging and tried anything to stop the process. Instead it focuses on the factors that motivated Elizabeth while deconstructing the myth about Bathory bathing in blood. The author, Raymond McNally, argues that there is little evidence to support some of the more outrageous claims about the Countess.

However, her story needs little embellishment because the number of women she tortured and killed is horrific enough. I was thoroughly impressed with this book, which is non-fiction and supported by reliable research. Apr 17, Sammi rated it it was ok. The first half of this book, discussing the life of Elizabeth Bathory, was engaging and interesting. But as the author progressed, trying to prove fantastical claims that she was a necrophiliac as well as a werewolf and a flesh eater, it quickly degraded into ludicrous. Feb 14, Noah Soudrette rated it really liked it Shelves: This is one of the better books out there on Elizabeth Bathory.

It goes into great detail about her family history and genealogy. The real draw here is the details of the tortures she inflicted on approximately young women. Gruesome stuff, but also fascinating. Jan 17, Chris rated it did not like it Shelves: I really don't now why the book is titled what it is because McNally does not prove the title at all. Apparently vampires are a result of abuse at the hands of women. Jul 01, Mark rated it liked it Shelves: This is an oddball book. The history portion of the book is interesting. In the opening the author talks about going to that part of Europe and doing original research and publishing information for the first time in English.

I don't know why the author didn't choose to focus exclusively on the history. The next three sections are historical examples of vampirism, werewolfism, and necrophilia. It's hard to sort out the anecdotal from the well documented. It all kind of blends together and he only really scratches the surface. His use of dated Freudian psychology to explain this strange human behavior does him no favors.

The last chapter is on how literature and movies have handled these subjects. He makes so many mistakes on the movies I have to wonder if he saw any of the movies he discusses. I get the impression the only real work he did was for the historical portion. I took it out from the library based solely on the author photo on the back cover. He's got this great shock of white hair and a wonderful lates tuxedo.

He seems like the sort of guy who was a well-known semi-celebrity on TV for a time. After that he's really reaching outside of his area of expertise to pull together something cohesive. More of interest as a time capsule to see how these things used to be written about back in the late 70s and early 80s, really. Oct 28, Kenneth rated it really liked it. The author, the late Raymond T. Stoker's Dracula had several characteristics, however, including biting and drinking blood, that do not appear in the historical records of the historical Vlad the Impaler, nor in the folklore surrounding his memory.

The Girl of Dracula

So where The author, the late Raymond T. So where did they come from? McNally makes the case that they come from the historical records and folklore of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, who was a psychopathic serial killer of young girls and women who had been hired as her servants. Stoker travelled in eastern Europe and seems to have come across these facts and included such traits n his Dracula character. So the first 6 chapters deal with the countess and the history around her. The next several chapters deal with the folklore and psychology of vampirism, werewolfism and necrophilia.

In the last chapter, he discusses how all of this has been treated in literature and in the movies over the years. Aug 29, Winterdragon rated it liked it Shelves: The book lacks somewhat in coherency, giving a bit of an impression of being a collection of anecdotes scattered all over the place. Nevertheless, it does make some interesting points concerning Elizabeth Bathory, vampire myth, and horror fiction in general. Nov 06, Anna Pannell rated it it was amazing.

One of the most terrifying books I have read thus far. Bathory was a sick, sadistic person. Oct 13, Neena rated it liked it. This book claims to bypass the infamous myths of Elizabeth Bathory and get to the facts - which it did and the first half of the book is what I loved, although the truth about Elizabeth Bathory is actually much more horrifying than the old unsubstantiated bloodbath legend. The things she did were actually more horrific that simply bathing in the blood of virgin girls - Elizabeth does seem to be portrayed in an erotic sense though and much is made of her bisexuality and her possible incestuous a This book claims to bypass the infamous myths of Elizabeth Bathory and get to the facts - which it did and the first half of the book is what I loved, although the truth about Elizabeth Bathory is actually much more horrifying than the old unsubstantiated bloodbath legend.

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The things she did were actually more horrific that simply bathing in the blood of virgin girls - Elizabeth does seem to be portrayed in an erotic sense though and much is made of her bisexuality and her possible incestuous affair with her Aunt Klara who it is believed may have taught Elizabeth how to torture female servants as apparently it was a pastime that the "openly lesbian" and older Klara enjoyed - it's also later inferred that Elizabeth would enjoy nights together sexually using the torture and murder of girls as some sort of foreplay.

Much is also made of Elizabeth's apparent need to have her victims totally naked to increase her own pleasure. I think one thing I found most horrifying is the sheer amount of women who happily and eagerly joined Elizabeth in her evil "night games" - aside from Elizabeth, there were her main henchwomen, Helena Jo, Dorothea, Katharina and Zusanna and also Elizabeth's aunt Klara and then two of Elizabeth's rumoured lovers, Anna who was reported to be Elizabeth's main love - more so than Elizabeth's husband - apparently she was more traumatised by Anna's death than that of her husband and Ersza and then it's revealed that there was a mother, who enticed her own young daughter to Castle Cachtice, despite knowing full well that her innocent young daughter would be tortured and killed in the most brutal of ways by Elizabeth and her female cohorts.

Mar 22, Americanogig rated it liked it. All this is happening in a seaside cemetery. Why does no one ever want to use this? And then, there's the first time Dracula "visits" Mina, which is actually way before the more famous scene, and Mina waves off as being merely a dream. Tonight, when you're in bed, in the dark, trying to fall asleep, imagine this going on at the foot of your bed: I thought that I was asleep [ Then it began to dawn upon me that the air was heavy, and dank, and cold.

I put back the [covers] from my face, and found, to my surprise, that all was dim around.

The gaslight which I had left lit for Jonathan, but turned down, came only like a tiny red spark through the fog, which had evidently grown thicker and poured into the room. Then it occurred to me that I had shut the window before I had come to bed. I would have got out to make certain on the point, but some leaden lethargy seemed to chain my limbs and even my will.

It got thicker and thicker, till it seemed as if it became concentrated into a sort of pillar of cloud in the room, through the top of which I could see the light of the gas shining like a red eye. The last conscious effort which imagination made was to show me a livid white face bending over me out of the mist. I understand that you can't film a book page by page, and that there's a certain amount of compressing and rearranging and conflating that has to happen. Believe me, I know that. In fact, I'm usually the fan who defends changes and omissions in movies-made-from-books.

But there's a lot of imagery that people just don't use, and I think it would be really interesting to bring back the sentimental elements of these men swearing to protect Mina to the death. I think you could actually bring in the Twilight crowd if you touch on the more emotional points, and believe me, there is a whole lot of weepin' and prayin', as my Sentimental Literature professor once put it, in the original book.

I submit that the same girls who love Edward Cullen would fall for Jonathan Harker if you emphasized his tortured love for his brave, suffering wife. And they're both young, in their mid or early twenties. You just got pwned by a demure Victorian, Swan. But it could touch the same emotional nerves, if you see what I'm saying. You do this right, you can pull in the audience that wants the emotional romance and the audience that wants to go back to vampire horror.

They're both already there.

We can make this happen. Well, not Mina, because Mina is awesome. We keep having this problem in the book where our So Fearless Vampire Hunters are complete morons. For example, Van Helsing keeps insisting that Dracula's trapped in his box or his coffin or whatever during the day, even though he personally confronted him in daylight a few chapters back.

And there's your key: Stoker's writing from the perspective of what he wants the reader to know or what he wants to happen at any given time, rather than what a character would logically be able to figure out or what would possibly make sense. Note, however, that the trope of sunlight killing vampires does not enter popular culture until the film Nosferatu. I can't tell if Stoker's not keeping up with his own set of vampire rules or he just doesn't care.

I also love the part where Van Helsing goes all the way to Amsterdam for supplies, and when he comes back, Lucy's all like, "Oh hey!

Dracula - Wikipedia

We totes have that here! Dates persistently do not match up, Mina's illness progresses in an entirely different way from Lucy's, the castle and routes Van Helsing describes aren't anything like what Jonathan wrote about, there's like two or three full moons in a given month--when it's all pointed out to you by footnotes, it's astounding.

We're more likely to spot them as a group, and we're more likely to complain about them.

All I know is, the kind of mistakes that Stoker blithely leaves in are exactly the kind of thing that keep me awake in a writerly cold sweat at night, because I wouldn't be able to get away with them now. Klinger, however, is extremely skeptical of his actual doctorly skillz. And I laughed out loud when I got Van Helsing's line, "It would at once frighten him and enjealous him, too," and there's Klinger's footnote over at the side: And I still don't know if that explains any of this: I may take it, sir, that you are anxious of result.

Then bring it with you that in all ways the operation is successful. If not, why he hurry so? His very tone betray him, or my ears deceive. This paper is as sunshine. It opens the gate to me. I am daze, I am dazzle, with so much light, and yet clouds roll in behind the light every time. But that you do not, cannot comprehend. Oh, but I am grateful to you, you so clever woman. I like the remake of Nosferatu, featuring interminable panoramic views of the German countryside, accompanied by Wagner.

Reply Parent Thread Expand. Abraham van Helsing, the first ever lolcat. Quincey is depicted sitting on the knee of Van Helsing as they recount their adventure. Seward and Arthur have each gotten married. A small section was removed from a draft of the final chapter, in which Dracula's castle falls apart as he dies, hiding the fact that vampires were ever there. As we looked there came a terrible convulsion of the earth so that we seemed to rock to and fro and fell to our knees.

At the same moment with a roar which seemed to shake the very heavens the whole castle and the rock and even the hill on which it stood seemed to rise into the air and scatter in fragments while a mighty cloud of black and yellow smoke volume on volume in rolling grandeur was shot upwards with inconceivable rapidity. Then there was a stillness in nature as the echoes of that thunderous report seemed to come as with the hollow boom of a thunder-clap — the long reverberating roll which seems as though the floors of heaven shook.

Then down in a mighty ruin falling whence they rose came the fragments that had been tossed skywards in the cataclysm. From where we stood it seemed as though the one fierce volcano burst had satisfied the need of nature and that the castle and the structure of the hill had sunk again into the void. We were so appalled with the suddenness and the grandeur that we forgot to think of ourselves. Between and , Stoker was a business manager for the Lyceum Theatre in London, where he supplemented his income by writing a large number of sensational novels, his most successful being the vampire tale Dracula published on 26 May Throughout the s and s, authors such as H.

Wells wrote many tales in which fantastic creatures threatened the British Empire. Invasion literature was at a peak, and Stoker's formula was very familiar by to readers of fantastic adventure stories, of an invasion of England by continental European influences. Victorian readers enjoyed Dracula as a good adventure story like many others, but it did not reach its legendary status until later in the 20th century when film versions began to appear.

Before writing Dracula , Stoker spent seven years researching European folklore and stories of vampires, being most influenced by Emily Gerard 's essay "Transylvania Superstitions" which includes content about a vampire myth. Later he also claimed that he had a nightmare, caused by eating too much crab meat, about a "vampire king" rising from his grave.

Although a widely known vampire novel, Dracula was not the first. John Polidori created the image of a vampire portrayed as an aristocratic man, like the character of Dracula, in his tale " The Vampyre " The Lyceum Theatre where Stoker worked between and was headed by actor-manager Henry Irving , who was Stoker's real-life inspiration for Dracula's mannerisms and who Stoker hoped would play Dracula in a stage version. The Dead Un-Dead was one of Stoker's original titles for Dracula , and the manuscript was entitled simply The Un-Dead up until a few weeks before publication.

Stoker's notes for Dracula show that the name of the count was originally "Count Wampyr", but Stoker became intrigued by the name "Dracula" while doing research, after reading William Wilkinson 's book An Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia with Political Observations Relative to Them London , [20] which he found in the Whitby Library and consulted a number of times during visits to Whitby in the s.

In the present day however, dracul means "the devil". Costing six shillings, the novel was bound yellow cloth and titled in red letters. Dracula was not an immediate bestseller when it was first published, although reviewers were unstinting in their praise. According to literary historians Nina Auerbach and David J. Skal in the Norton Critical Edition, the novel has become more significant for modern readers than it was for Victorian readers, most of whom enjoyed it just as a good adventure story.

It reached its broad and iconic status only later in the 20th century when the movie versions appeared. It did not make much money for Stoker. Murnau's unauthorized adaptation of the story was released in theatres in in the form of Nosferatu. Stoker's widow took affront and, during the legal battle that followed, the novel's popularity started to grow.

Nosferatu was followed by a highly successful stage adaptation, touring the UK for three years before arriving in the US where Stoker's creation caught Hollywood's attention and, after the American movie version was released, the book has never been out of print. However, some Victorian fans were ahead of the time, describing it as "the sensation of the season" and "the most blood-curdling novel of the paralysed century". I think it is the very best story of diablerie which I have read for many years.

Similarly good reviews appeared when the book was published in the U. In the last several decades, literary and cultural scholars have offered diverse analyses of Stoker's novel and the character of Count Dracula. Bentley reads Dracula as an embodiment of the Freudian id. Senf reads the novel as a response to the powerful New Woman, [42] while Christopher Craft sees Dracula as embodying latent homosexuality and sees the text as an example of a 'characteristic, if hyperbolic instance of Victorian anxiety over the potential fluidity of gender roles'. Arata interprets the events of the novel as anxiety over colonialism and racial mixing , [44] and Talia Schaffer construes the novel as an indictment of Oscar Wilde.

Bruno Starrs understands the novel to be a pro- Catholic pamphlet promoting proselytization. Dracula is a work of fiction, but it does contain some historical references; although it is a matter of conjecture and debate as to how much historical connection was deliberate on Stoker's part. During his main reign — , "Vlad the Impaler" is said to have killed from 40, to , European civilians political rivals, criminals, and anyone that he considered "useless to humanity" , mainly by impaling. The sources depicting these events are records by Saxon settlers in neighbouring Transylvania who had frequent clashes with Vlad III.

Vlad III is revered as a folk hero by Romanians for driving off the invading Ottoman Turks , of whom his impaled victims are said to have included as many as , Historically, the name "Dracula" is derived from a Chivalric order called the Order of the Dragon , founded by Sigismund of Luxembourg then king of Hungary to uphold Christianity and defend the Empire against the Ottoman Turks. Vlad II Dracul , father of Vlad III, was admitted to the order around , after which Vlad II wore the emblem of the order and later, as ruler of Wallachia, his coinage bore the dragon symbol, from which the name "Dracula" is derived since "dracul" in Romanian means "the dragon".

The name "Dracula" became popular in Romania after publication of Stoker's book. Contrary to popular belief, the name Dracula does not translate to "son of the devil" in Romanian , which would be " pui de drac ". Stoker came across the name Dracula in his reading on Romanian history , and chose this to replace the name Count Wampyr originally intended for his villain. Who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground?

This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them! Was it not this Dracula, indeed, who inspired that other of his race who in a later age again and again brought his forces over the great river into Turkey-land; who, when he was beaten back, came again, and again, though he had to come alone from the bloody field where his troops were being slaughtered, since he knew that he alone could ultimately triumph!

He must, indeed, have been that Voivode Dracula who won his name against the Turk, over the great river on the very frontier of Turkey-land.

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Many of Stoker's biographers and literary critics have found strong similarities to the earlier Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu 's classic of the vampire genre Carmilla. The Irish legend of Abhartach has also been suggested as a source. Particularly themes of being buried while alive. In , McNally additionally suggested that Stoker was influenced by the history of Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory , who allegedly tortured and killed between 36 and young women. Haining and Tremaine maintain that, during this visit, Stoker was especially impressed by Slains Castle's interior and the surrounding landscape.

Miller and Leatherdale question the stringency of this connection. Many of the scenes in Whitby and London are based on real places that Stoker frequently visited, although he distorts the geography for the sake of the story in some cases. One scholar has suggested that Stoker chose Whitby as the site of Dracula's first appearance in England because of the Synod of Whitby , given the novel's preoccupation with timekeeping and calendar disputes. The short story "Dracula's Guest" was posthumously published in , two years after Stoker's death.

It was, according to most contemporary critics, the deleted first or second chapter from the original manuscript [66] and the one which gave the volume its name, [6]: It is Walpurgis Night and the young Englishman foolishly leaves his hotel, in spite of the coachman's warnings, and wanders through a dense forest alone. Along the way, he feels that he is being watched by a tall and thin stranger possibly Count Dracula.

The short story climaxes in an old graveyard where the Englishman, caught in a blizzard, takes refuge in the marble tomb of "Countess Dolingen of Gratz". Within the tomb, he sees the Countess—apparently asleep and healthy—but before he can investigate further, a mysterious force throws him clear of the tomb. A lightning bolt then strikes the tomb, destroying it and incinerating the undead screaming countess.

The Englishman then loses consciousness. He awakens to find a "gigantic" wolf lying on his chest and licking at his throat; however, the wolf merely keeps him warm and protects him until help arrives. When the Englishman is finally taken back to his hotel, a telegram awaits him from his expectant host Dracula, with a warning about "dangers from snow and wolves and night". Dacre Stoker and J. Barker will write a prequel to Dracula titled Dracul. An interpretation of the missing pages of the original novel, it was pieced together from Bram Stoker's editorial notes, artifacts, and journals.

Dracula Was a Woman: In Search of the Blood Countess of Transylvania

The story of Dracula has been the basis for numerous films and plays. Stoker himself wrote the first theatrical adaptation, which was presented at the Lyceum Theatre on 18 May under the title Dracula, or The Undead shortly before the novel's publication and performed only once, in order to establish his own copyright for such adaptations. This adaption was first published only a century later in October Murnau 's unauthorised film adaptation Nosferatu was released in , and the popularity of the novel increased considerably, owing to an attempt by Stoker's widow to have the film removed from public circulation.

Galeen transplanted the action of the story from s England to s Germany and reworked several characters, dropping some such as Lucy and all three of her suitors , and renaming others Dracula became Orlok , Jonathan Harker became Thomas Hutter, Mina became Ellen, and so on. This attempt failed to avoid a court case, however; Florence Stoker sued Prana Film, and all copies of the film were ordered to be destroyed.

However, the company was bankrupt, and Stoker only recovered her legal fees in damages. Some copies survived and found their way into theatres. Eventually, Florence Stoker gave up the fight against public displays of the film. Florence Stoker licensed the story to playwright Hamilton Deane , whose stage play adaptation toured England for several years before settling down in London.

Balderston to revise Deane's script in advance of its American premiere. Balderston significantly compressed the story, most notably consolidating or removing several characters.

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