From Harper Collins: "Originally published in 1897, Dracula is one of the most enduring and influential works of literature ever written, spawning countless adaptations and reimaginings from every generation of readers.
Stoker’s epistolary novel follows young English lawyer Jonathan Harker who arrives in Transylvania to meet with Count Dracula, one of his firm’s clients. Feared by the locals, the count is indeed a mysterious man, stranger than Harker could ever imagine—a vampire who lives on human blood. After Harker fails to kill Dracula, the vampire travels to England, where he threatens the lives of Harker’s fiancée, Mina, and her friend, Lucy.
When Harker finally returns home, he reunites with Mina, and the brave pair risk everything to destroy the fiendish monster.
Told through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles, Dracula is ingrained in the collective imagination and remains as haunting and eerie today as when it was published more than a hundred years ago."
Zoom information will be provided closer to the planned meeting: 12:00pm-1:00pm, October 30th, 2024.
SPOILERS! Discussion questions will be similar to the following (from litlovers.com):
Discussion Questions
1. Dracula relies on journal fragments, letters, and newspaper clippings to tell its story. Why might Stoker have chosen to narrate the story in this way? Do letters and journal entries make the story seem more authentic or believable to you?
2. How does the novel invert Christian mythology in its description of Count Dracula's reign of terror?
3. Discuss the roles of Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker in the novel. How are the two women similar? Different? To what extent does the novel depend on both of these women to propel the narrative forward?
4. Discuss the role of sexuality in Dracula. Would you say that Dracula attempts to reproduce himself sexually or by some other means? In what ways does the figure of Dracula subvert conventional notions of heterosexuality?
5. What are the elements of vampire folklore? For example, what, according to the novel, attracts or repels a vampire? How do you kill a vampire? How do you save one?
(Questions issued by Random House.)
Copies of the Novel (it is public domain):
University of Regina Library (multiple copies, physical and online)
Project Gutenberg
Regina Public Library
