It’s beginning to look like one of this spring’s trends is a scary one — no, not wearing Birkenstocks to work — modernizing classic horror novels. As of May 3, dracula-feed.blogspot.com founder Whitney Sorrow (yes, that really is her name) has been posting one entry per day from Bram Stoker’s Dracula so that readers can follow along in “real time.”
However, only if you consider following a story written 112 years ago to be “real time,” that is. The novel is structured as a series of journal entries beginning on May 3 and running until November 6. Hence, the blog will be updated daily until the novel concludes this autumn. Not since the mash-up of zombies and Pride and Prejudice has there been a more enticing spin on 19th Century literature. Finally there are modern outlets for horror that are a little more sophisticated than a sixth Saw movie.
(Top image: Detail from 1931’s Dracula film poster. Hat tip to the freakonomics blog.)
Perhaps readers would be willing to lose their heads over Mary Shelley’s, Frankenstein. Published anonymously in 1818, Frankenstein might seem rather tame compared to a novel that was condemned, “lewd, libidinous and impious.” [Filled with] “lust, murder, incest, and every atrocity that can disgrace human nature.” The Monk, written by then-19-year-old Matthew Lewis, was considered an immediate bestseller way back in 1796!
Kinda’ makes the Twilight series read like—with all due respect—our beloved, Dr. Seuss.
AO
I would have to say that those mentioned books are great and is incomparable with Twilight. I wonder if Dracula have their own way of taking care of their teeth. Or if they have any Dracula-dentist who takes care of their oral health.