There are a number of critical readings of Bram Stoker's Dracula. However, I
am yet tocome across him as a chivalrous person - a polished, intelligent,
well-read and suave villain yes
The point of Kostova's book is that he is seen as a historical persona who
was on the side of christendom against the Ottomans (Crusades), while in her
novel itself christendom holds hands with a muslim turkey to defeat Vlad
Dracula!!!!!!
I have not read Chullikad's poem, but would definitely like to know more
On 17/07/2008, damodar prasad <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Kunhu,
> {Shall I call like this, there is a sort of cuteness :) .
> tell my name..
> damodar prasad. it grinds like a rusted heavy machine of that old mavoor
> rayons factory.:( }
>
> . Ys.. I read the review.. Liked it.
>
> Mnw, i cant clearly recollect.. this I read longtime back..
> There is a critical reading of Bramstoker's dracula. The reading points to
> the moment of dissection of Draculas' self to a blood thirsty one from the
> chivalarous knght dracula. It crtical;y points to the 'westren encounter' of
> the non-european world. Remaining things coming not easily to the mnd now..
>
> anyways, there is an interesting historical redaing of draculas' text.. not
> failing to remind of our own chullikad's "Dracula" poem. But am sure some in
> this group defintely has read this.. Pls. do tell us about it
>
> damodar
>
>
> On 7/17/08, Bobby Kunhu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>> A Guide to Bram Stoker's Dracula
>> **
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> That's what Elizabeth Kostova's novel *A Historian *can be rightly
>> described. The notes are extensive and Dracula has been historicised. The
>> Count is brought out of Bram Stoker's Transylvania and from the dark corners
>> of the numerous Hollywood adaptations of the novel and placed in his
>> historic context - Vlad III, Vlad Tepes or Vlad Dracula.
>>
>>
>>
>> Vlad, the ruler of Wallachia and Transylvania, has been an important peg
>> in the history of the resistance against Ottoman incursions. Supposedly
>> hostaged by his father to Sultan Mehmet as a young boy in exchange for a
>> ceasefire, he learnt extensively from his captors, particularly methods of
>> torture and employed them liberally in his later life as the ruler of
>> Wallachia and Transylvania, impaling his enemies and earning the epithet of
>> the *Impaler *for himself. Kostova provides the missing links in Stoker's
>> novel or rather provides defence against the criticisms of lack of
>> historicity of the novel.
>>
>>
>>
>> The novel tells the story of a family of Historians and their friends
>> piecing together various fragments of evidences in a chase for the tomb of
>> Vlad Dracula, to destroy him – there are personal passions that drive each
>> of the protagonists on this macabre trail – for those with a taste for the
>> supernatural. The novel offers vignettes of a not-much-studied past for
>> those of us who are fascinated by either history or theology or the history
>> of theology. It is pieced together through oral narratives, letters between
>> lovers, parent and child and simple references to texts – a labyrinth of
>> love stories straddling the horrific.
>>
>>
>>
>> But what makes the book beautiful is the way Kostova goes about this. In
>> the process of writing this novel, Kostova's characters, most of whom are
>> historians, bring history down from its pedestal of high culture and uses
>> credible subaltern sources like folklore without any hint of condescension,
>> navigating through texts with as much alacrity as superstitions and personal
>> narratives. The text is replete with vampire stories from Romania, the
>> Balkans, Russia and Turkey and these stories act as the key to the search
>> for the tomb of Vlad Tepes III
>>
>>
>>
>> In the process, Kostova dwells a lot on medieval Central European History,
>> particularly the skirmishes with the Ottoman Empire, and the role of the
>> Order of the Dragon (the word Dracul is supposed to be the Romanian
>> derivative for Dragon), careful enough not to take sides in the process of
>> telling the story. In fact as a masterstroke, she gets the protagonists to
>> ally with traditional rivals from the erstwhile Ottoman Empire and with
>> interesting forays into the former soviet bloc in fighting the dreaded
>> Dracula – a Vampire.
>>
>>
>>
>> The flipside of the novel is the uncanny feeling that Kostova is trying to
>> do a *Da Vinci Code, *especially with pure bloodline bit tracing the
>> direct descendants of Vlad Dracula. The most touching part of the book is a
>> post-card written by the Narrator's mother, which in some ways validates
>> this tracing of the bloodline:
>>
>>
>>
>> "*My beloved daughter*
>>
>> * *
>>
>> *When you were born, your hair was black and stuck to your slimy head in
>> curls. After they washed and dried you, it became a soft down around your
>> face, dark hair like mine, but also coppery like your father's. I lay in a
>> pool of morphine, and held you and watched the lights in your newborn hair
>> change from Gypsy dark to bright, and then back to dark. Everything about
>> you was polished and shone; I had shaped and polished you inside me without
>> knowing what I was doing. Your fingers were golden, your cheek was rose,
>> your eyelashes and eyebrows were the feathers of the baby crow. My happiness
>> overflowed even the morphine.*
>>
>> * *
>>
>> *Your Loving Mother*
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Bobby Kunhu
>> http://community.eldis.org/myshkin/Blog/
>> >>
>>
>
--
Bobby Kunhu
http://community.eldis.org/myshkin/Blog/
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