Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring.
A blood-sucking monster’s reign ended on November 6. I am, of course, referring to Dracula [depicted here by Bela Lugosi], the vampire in Bram Stoker’s classic of gothic horror. I first read this epistolary novel at thirteen, on the recommendation of a teacher who said it scared her away from her basement laundry room for a week. I didn’t understand all the logistics then, but the lore of the undead was so artfully wrought that I have been drawn to revisit it again and again, most recently in the fifteen-hour Audible recording starring Tim Curry.
The world has changed more than Stoker could have envisioned in the century and a quarter since the Count debuted. International travel is a matter of hours rather than weeks. Women would not stand to be patronized as the heroines Mina and Lucy were. The language is formal to modern ears. Transfusions were so innovative that blood typing was unknown, adding unintended suspense to the plot, as explained in this light-hearted medical article. But therein lies the book’s wonder and charm, the step back into the mists of time feels stranger and stronger now than it did even fifty years ago. There are many long dark nights ahead in this pandemic, just ripe for an escapist scare.