THE DEEP ONES: "Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker
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1semdetenebre
"Dracula's Guest" by Bram Stoker
Discussion begins July 27, 2022.
First published in Dracula's Guest (1914).
ISFDB: "Written in 1897 as part of Dracula, this chapter was omitted from the published book for reasons of length."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?83927
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories with The Lair of the White Worm
The Ghouls
Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural
The Mammoth Book of Vampires
ONLINE VERSIONS
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10150/10150-h/10150-h.htm
ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdXmN68lPBc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUgQ1cnh58o
MISCELLANY
http://dracula.cc/literature/bram_stoker_interview_dracula/
https://www.bramstokerestate.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker
https://time.com/5411826/bram-stoker-dracula-history/
https://tinyurl.com/7xts3ks8
Discussion begins July 27, 2022.
First published in Dracula's Guest (1914).
ISFDB: "Written in 1897 as part of Dracula, this chapter was omitted from the published book for reasons of length."
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?83927
SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS
Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories with The Lair of the White Worm
The Ghouls
Masterpieces of Terror and the Supernatural
The Mammoth Book of Vampires
ONLINE VERSIONS
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/10150/10150-h/10150-h.htm
ONLINE AUDIO VERSIONS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdXmN68lPBc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUgQ1cnh58o
MISCELLANY
http://dracula.cc/literature/bram_stoker_interview_dracula/
https://www.bramstokerestate.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker
https://time.com/5411826/bram-stoker-dracula-history/
https://tinyurl.com/7xts3ks8
2semdetenebre
Don't think I've read this before. Cracking open the Stoker volume in the Centipede Press Library of Weird Fiction series.
3AndreasJ
Just read it online.
I might mention that Dracula is by some margin the novel I've drawn out the reading of the most preposterously; I read the first third or so quickly enough, then took literally years to finish the rest.
(There are also novels I've simply abandoned, of course, but I always regarded this one as "in progress".)
I might mention that Dracula is by some margin the novel I've drawn out the reading of the most preposterously; I read the first third or so quickly enough, then took literally years to finish the rest.
(There are also novels I've simply abandoned, of course, but I always regarded this one as "in progress".)
4papijoe
Setup: “Go home, Johann—Walpurgis-nacht doesn’t concern Englishmen.”
Neither apparently does meteorology.
“Those Things Which Don’t Concern Englishmen” would have been a good Carveresque title for the story.
Epiphany: “Here a thought struck me, which came under almost mysterious circumstances and with a terrible shock. This was Walpurgis Night!”
Alas, if only someone had warned him…
Neither apparently does meteorology.
“Those Things Which Don’t Concern Englishmen” would have been a good Carveresque title for the story.
Epiphany: “Here a thought struck me, which came under almost mysterious circumstances and with a terrible shock. This was Walpurgis Night!”
Alas, if only someone had warned him…
5AndreasJ
A couple of things that unnecessarily strained my suspension of disbelief: forests of cypresses in Bavaria, and a patrol of 1890s Bavarian soldiers who apparently not merely all know English but speak it among themselves.
There was some interest in the scene with the tomb, but on the whole I don’t think the novel suffered for having this excised.
There was some interest in the scene with the tomb, but on the whole I don’t think the novel suffered for having this excised.
6semdetenebre
It might have been nice to meet the undead Countess Dolingen were it not for that very convenient snowstorm lightning bolt.
A bit of confusion? After the wolf runs off, an officer examines (presumably) Harker's throat and says, "“He is all right; the skin is not pierced". And yet a bit later on we're told, “Look at his throat. Is that the work of a dog, master?” And then, Harker says, "Instinctively I raised my hand to my throat, and as I touched it I cried out in pain." What goes on here? Is there a wound or not?
A little blizzard of now-familiar vampire lore pops up, including the custom of burying suicides at a crossroads, rosy-cheeked exhumed corpses, shape-changing, and the phrase "The dead travel fast". And then there's Walpurgis Nacht, of course. Though this excised chapter is full of action and grue, I can kind of understand how it was ultimately left out, as it would interfere a bit with the novel's pacing during the sequence leading up to Dracula's appearance and the escalating events at the castle.
The following contains some nicely evoked vampire imagery that seems to point the way directly to 'Salem's Lot: "men had died there and been buried in their graves; and sounds were heard under the clay, and when the graves were opened, men and women were found rosy with life, and their mouths red with blood. And so, in haste to save their lives (aye, and their souls!—and here he crossed himself) those who were left fled away to other places, where the living lived, and the dead were dead and not—not something."
A bit of confusion? After the wolf runs off, an officer examines (presumably) Harker's throat and says, "“He is all right; the skin is not pierced". And yet a bit later on we're told, “Look at his throat. Is that the work of a dog, master?” And then, Harker says, "Instinctively I raised my hand to my throat, and as I touched it I cried out in pain." What goes on here? Is there a wound or not?
A little blizzard of now-familiar vampire lore pops up, including the custom of burying suicides at a crossroads, rosy-cheeked exhumed corpses, shape-changing, and the phrase "The dead travel fast". And then there's Walpurgis Nacht, of course. Though this excised chapter is full of action and grue, I can kind of understand how it was ultimately left out, as it would interfere a bit with the novel's pacing during the sequence leading up to Dracula's appearance and the escalating events at the castle.
The following contains some nicely evoked vampire imagery that seems to point the way directly to 'Salem's Lot: "men had died there and been buried in their graves; and sounds were heard under the clay, and when the graves were opened, men and women were found rosy with life, and their mouths red with blood. And so, in haste to save their lives (aye, and their souls!—and here he crossed himself) those who were left fled away to other places, where the living lived, and the dead were dead and not—not something."
7AndreasJ
I assumed that his throat was bruised but not pierced.
Another thing - what’s up with the “great Russian letters” (Cyrillic?) on the tomb of an Styrian countess buried in Bavaria?
That she’s from Styria particularly is presumably a nod to “Carmilla”
Another thing - what’s up with the “great Russian letters” (Cyrillic?) on the tomb of an Styrian countess buried in Bavaria?
That she’s from Styria particularly is presumably a nod to “Carmilla”
8semdetenebre
>7 AndreasJ:
Perhaps Harker's throat was bruised by Dracula's manhandling of him when he was tossed out of the tomb.
Good point about the Carmilla/Styrian connection - I missed that!
It's nice to find out that the familiar, original book cover up above was so accurate!
Perhaps Harker's throat was bruised by Dracula's manhandling of him when he was tossed out of the tomb.
Good point about the Carmilla/Styrian connection - I missed that!
It's nice to find out that the familiar, original book cover up above was so accurate!
9papijoe
>7 AndreasJ: Yes nice catch on the Sheridan LeFanu reference!
And I was also puzzled by the Cyrillic inscription, and thought it odd Harker could read Russian but not speak the most basic German
And I was also puzzled by the Cyrillic inscription, and thought it odd Harker could read Russian but not speak the most basic German
10housefulofpaper
I hope to re read this and produce some comments soon.
From my reading about Dracula, I understood this to be chapter two of quite a late draft of the novel, before Stoker removed both chapters to start the narrative with Jonathan Harker arriving at Bistritz.
Presumably somebody other than Bram Stoker could have edited the draft chapter to turn it into a stand-alone short story.
From my reading about Dracula, I understood this to be chapter two of quite a late draft of the novel, before Stoker removed both chapters to start the narrative with Jonathan Harker arriving at Bistritz.
Presumably somebody other than Bram Stoker could have edited the draft chapter to turn it into a stand-alone short story.
11AndreasJ
The WP entry of the story left me with the impression that Stoker himself prepared it for independent publication.
12housefulofpaper
>11 AndreasJ:
Maybe that was the case, but I don't think the original manuscript* exists, so we can't check. (We do have the manuscript of the original novel and lots of working papers, which is how researchers have known since the '70s (I think, or possibly the '80s. Certainly not earlier than the '70's.) that the origin of this story is the original chapter two. Chapter one was apparently a lot of scene-setting stuff that the novel undoubtedly benefits from jettisoning).
I've looked at the notes in The New Annotated Dracula and the Penguin Classics Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales. Granted, neither book goes out on a limb to suggest a rewriter other than Bram Stoker.
What we do know is that the story first appeared in print two years after Stoker's death, the contents "collated" by his widow, Florence. I can't prove it but i can imagine a scenario where this rejected chapter was adapted into a stand-alone story, and made the title story of the collection, in order to make the book more marketable. I gather Florence needed to raise funds as Bram did not die a wealthy man.
What's more, Florence's preface states that Bram intended to publish three collected volumes of his short stories of which Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales was only the first; however
- Florence says "had {he} lived longer, he might have seen fit to revise this work";
- and "I have added an hitherto unpublished episode from 'Dracula'"
The way I read it, Bram had not revised anything published in Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales. Furthermore, he had not even intended to include "Dracula's Guest". Florence says she chose to add it to the book's contents. We now know that it differs from the original Dracula chapter two. All of which inclines me to think that other hands were involved in adapting it as a stand-alone.
Maybe that was the case, but I don't think the original manuscript* exists, so we can't check. (We do have the manuscript of the original novel and lots of working papers, which is how researchers have known since the '70s (I think, or possibly the '80s. Certainly not earlier than the '70's.) that the origin of this story is the original chapter two. Chapter one was apparently a lot of scene-setting stuff that the novel undoubtedly benefits from jettisoning).
I've looked at the notes in The New Annotated Dracula and the Penguin Classics Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales. Granted, neither book goes out on a limb to suggest a rewriter other than Bram Stoker.
What we do know is that the story first appeared in print two years after Stoker's death, the contents "collated" by his widow, Florence. I can't prove it but i can imagine a scenario where this rejected chapter was adapted into a stand-alone story, and made the title story of the collection, in order to make the book more marketable. I gather Florence needed to raise funds as Bram did not die a wealthy man.
What's more, Florence's preface states that Bram intended to publish three collected volumes of his short stories of which Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales was only the first; however
- Florence says "had {he} lived longer, he might have seen fit to revise this work";
- and "I have added an hitherto unpublished episode from 'Dracula'"
The way I read it, Bram had not revised anything published in Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Tales. Furthermore, he had not even intended to include "Dracula's Guest". Florence says she chose to add it to the book's contents. We now know that it differs from the original Dracula chapter two. All of which inclines me to think that other hands were involved in adapting it as a stand-alone.
13RandyStafford
5> I agree the novel does lose anything without this story in it. However, there is some nice misdirection with Dracula seeming to be Harker's savior from vampiric horrors.
14housefulofpaper
On the subject of Harker's, or "the unamed narrator's" wounded throat, my reading of what happened is that, through his own wilfulness and stupidity the narrator has put himself in the postion of either being killed or vampirised by the Countess, or dying of exposure in the storm.
The Wolf/Dracula (if it is Dracula) is protecting him from hypothermia, partly by licking his throat. However Stoker imagines a wolf's tongue to be much rougher than a dog's, and the abrading causes a nasty graze or rash, but none of Harker's blood is spilt or drunk.
Although John Reppion and Leah Moore used this as the opening of their graphic novel version of Dracula (The Complete Dracula) I think the novel is stronger without it. Harker crosses from West to East with no intimation of what's ahead, but cheerfully writing spicy chicken recipes in his pocket book.
The Wolf/Dracula (if it is Dracula) is protecting him from hypothermia, partly by licking his throat. However Stoker imagines a wolf's tongue to be much rougher than a dog's, and the abrading causes a nasty graze or rash, but none of Harker's blood is spilt or drunk.
Although John Reppion and Leah Moore used this as the opening of their graphic novel version of Dracula (The Complete Dracula) I think the novel is stronger without it. Harker crosses from West to East with no intimation of what's ahead, but cheerfully writing spicy chicken recipes in his pocket book.
