A site dedicated to book lovers providing a forum to discover and share commentary about the books and authors they enjoy. Dracula by bram stoker book club discussion questions. See a complete list of the characters in dracula and indepth analyses of count dracula, van helsing, mina murray, and lucy westenra. Dracula relies on journal fragments, letters, and newspaper clippings to tell its story. The vampire is a type of legendary creature falling into the broader category of revenanta person who has returned from the dead, often to do harm to the living. What is the effect of stokers epistolary format for the novel. Pitching a novel as steel magnolias meets dracula is a bold move, but the southern book clubs guide to slaying vampires lives up to the comparison. The historian by elizabeth kostova book club discussion. It introduced the character of count dracula and established many conventions of subsequent vampire fantasy. Heres where youll find analysis about the book as a whole. Dracula, novel by bram stoker, derived from vampire legends and published in 1897, that became the basis for an entire genre of literature and film. Read on for some chilling book club selections, and dont miss our exclusive video of karen essex talking about her favorite spooky stories. Oct 7, 2015 dracula by bram stoker book club discussion questions.
Dracul book club kit published on aug 27, 2018 the prequel to dracula, inspired by notes and texts left behind by the author of the classic novel, dracul is a supernatural thriller that r. What do you think dracula is referring to when he says, yes, i too can love. It follows the vampire count dracula from his castle in transylvania to england, where he is hunted while turning others into vampires. Patricia is a charleston housewife whose husband carter spends more time traveling for work than he does at home. Dracula is a novel by bram stoker that was first published in 1897. Discuss stokers decision to recount the story of dracula through journal entries, letters, and newspaper clippings. This question promotes conversation about the novel very much because it is openended, which allows the members of our group to have a. Professor stanley stepanic teacher of now famous dracula class at uva digs into vampires and popular culture. Stoker also wrote several other horror novels, including the jewel of seven. Though many have tried to replicate stokers horror classic in books, television shows, and moviesonly the 1931 bela lugosi film. Stoker explicitly links vampirism and sexuality from the early chapters of the novel, when the three vampire beauties visit harker in draculas castle. Since its publication in 1897 dracula has enthralled generations of readers with the alluring malevolence of its undead count, the most famous vampire in literature. Dracula by bram stoker meet your next favorite book.
He last led a discussion group for our 2016 production of mice and men bram stoker. Im not much for reading horror, but bram stokers dracula is really wellwritten and has a lot of interesting discussion points. Bram stoker dracula william shakespeare othello about me. Discussion questions for dracula by bram stoker oupblog. The discussion questions in this lesson will help encourage critical thinking and deep work.
Dracula questions and answers discover the community of teachers, mentors and students just like you that can answer any question you might have on dracula. Uva clubs uva clubs digital book club with professor. Every month we will get together and discuss a different book. How do van helsings comments about mina in chapter 14 of dracula intensify the horror, especially for victorian readers, of lucys actions against the children in chapters 15 and 16 van helsing praises mina as a model of victorian womanhood in dracula, chapter 14. This is the story of draculas move from transylvania to england to find new blood and spread the curse of the undead. Van helsing, and arthur holmwood confront count draculas gathering. He was a sickly boy but he fully recovered when he was seven. Content includes books from bestselling, midlist and debut authors. Dracula is an 1897 gothic horror novel by irish author bram stoker. Why might stoker have chosen to narrate the story in this way. Steel magnolias meets dracula in this 90sset horror novel about a womens book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small southern town, perfect for murderinos and fans of stephen king.
The southern book clubs guide to slaying vampires by. This gathering is a place for students of all houses to come together and celebrate their love of books. Written in epistolary form, dracula chronicles a vampires journey from transylvania to the nighttime streets of london and is a virtual textbook of victorianera fears and anxieties. Download additional activities including fact or fiction, fascinating facts, book club discussion and book club activities here. How do their views of death shape the ways in which mina harker, dr. We are thrilled to announce that michael strelow will again lead a pentacle theatre book clubthis time for our oct. I liked how the whole book is told through letters and journal entries and it is legitimately creepy. Give your book club the creeps dracula knopf doubleday. The southern book clubs guide to slaying vampires is about the presence of a suspected vampire in a south carolina suburb in the 1990s. Dracula for over 100 years oxford worlds classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary and analysis.
Each affordable volume reflects oxfords commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, uptodate bibliographies. Count dracula has made it to england a new world pulsing with fresh blood and lays his plans to spread his foul vampire contagion. Hyde is also one of the big three classic literary monsters the other two being dracula and frankensteins monster, which makes the story wellworth a read, given its frequent presence in pop culture. Dracula by bram stoker the punctured throat, the coffin lid slowly opening, the unholy shriek as the stake pierces the heart these are just a few of the chilling images bram stoker unleashed upon the world with his 1897 masterpiece, dracula. Also included are a discussion of stokers working notes for the novel and draculas guest, the original. Jonathan is blessed to have mina as his wife because, van helsing says, she is a good woman who lives to make others happy and. He had no other major health problems and even became an athlete at trinity college, dublin when he studied there from 18641870. This course will explore bram stokers 1897 classic vampire novel, dracula, which is famous for introducing the vampire count dracula. Dracula by bram stoker book club tips and ideas for. The fact that such temptresses are destroyed without exception in dracula testifies to the level of anxiety victorian men felt regarding womens sexuality. Plus, all are sure to inspire plenty of discussion. But why does he set his sights on the seemingly ordinary lucy westenra. The glass hotel book club discussion the mom of the year. The book painted social parallels between the plight of the french peasantry with the lives of dickens contemporary london readers.
Discussion dracula, by bram stoker so i recently read the progenitor to the modern vampire tale, and found it interesting. Course heros expertwritten discussion question and answer pairs for bram stokers dracula offer insight and analysis on themes, symbols, characters, and more. The novel tells the story of draculas attempt to move from transylvania to england so that he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and of the battle between dracula and a small group of people led by. Abraham bram stoker 18471912 is the author of one of the english languages bestknown books of mystery and horror, dracula. Utilize the around the world common core state standards teacher resource for classroom discussion questions and activities for ela grades 26. The southern book clubs guide to slaying vampires st eel magnolias meets dracula in this 90sset horror novel about a womens book club that must do battle with a mysterious newcomer to their small southern town, perfect for murderinos and fans of stephen king. Dracula book differences how similar to novel is the new. Inspired by the folk legend of nosferatu, the undead, stoker created a timeless tale of gothic horror and. Dracula the undead by dacre stoker, ian holt reading. How does it lend verisimilitude to an otherwise fantastic tale. Discuss the characters of lucy westenra and mina harker. What is it about the dracula legend that has made it so enduringly frightening. October book club classic group read dracula by brom stoker. It also introduces the nowfamous character of professor abraham van helsing.
Filed under book club, british literature, classic literature, fiction, gothic novel, monsters tagged as bram stoker, dracula, jonathan harker, lucy westenra, van helsing search for. In what ways does it create suspense for the reader. Bram stokers dracula is an exciting and engaging novel that can give students so much to think about. Also included are a discussion of stokers working notes for the novel and dracula s guest, the original. Streaming live on the web, stan will lead online discussion of the digital book clubs halloween selection, anne rices interview with vampire. Do letters and journal entries make the story seem more authentic or believable to you. Kirsten parkinson as you read mary shelleys frankenstein, either on your own or with a group, we invite you to use these questions to add layers to your discussion or thinking about the novel. Dracula by bram stoker classics made modern book discussion group. At what points in the novel does stoker seem to elicit the readers sympathy for dracula. Were just over a fortnight away from the end of our second season of the oxford worlds classics reading group.
Why do you think dracula was being kind to johnathan harker at the beginning of the book when he is the villain of the novel. The mystery at draculas castle transylvania, romania. Claes bang, dolly wells, lydia west, matthew beard, mark gatiss, john mccrea. Classics made modern is a book discussion group at the library that reads public domain classics that. If you cant make a meeting in person or you just cant wait until the meeting to start the discussion, no problem. The novel tells the story of the years leading up to the french revolution. Each month, we will bring back an older book club discussion for a revisit, that way people who missed out the first time around can join in. It is a really great and creepy story that deserves classic status 2. A tale of two cities is a famous work of victorian literature by charles dickens. In the book, dracula travels incognito within one of the earthfilled boxes notably, the crews discussion about them containing mould is a detail lifted directly from the text in the. Discussion questions for frankenstein written by hailey toporcer, hiram college class of 2019 edited by prof. Find a summary of this and each chapter of dracula. Introduction at lastthe sequel to bram stokers classic novel dracula, written by his direct descendant and a dracula historianbram stokers dracula is the prototypical horror novel, an inspiration for the worlds seemingly limitless fascination with vampires.
670 192 1467 1386 1506 1370 296 1151 916 489 1222 1121 407 591 550 187 295 1302 707 796 697 754 531 512 574 1181 33 1185 1104 370 1139 910 1317 457 47