Bram Stoker's Dracula

First of 12 Classics in 2023

Kindle in Motion Edition of Dracula

I’ve set my Goodreads goal for 2023 to read 75 books. Of course, finding books to read is no problem. Finding time to read becomes an issue sometimes! At the end of last year I read an interesting post and challenge by Joel J Miller, who posted this goal:

Read 12 classic novels in 2023 and share one review each month through year end.

I was intrigued by his list and by his goal, and it moved me to set the same goal for myself. As the year came around I ran across THIS POST by Adsum Try Ravenhill in which he revisits Dracula and addresses some of the spiritual themes to be found there. So, that’s why my first classic of the year is Dracula. I chose to read the Kindle-in-Motion edition linked above, and I’m glad I did. The animated artwork scattered throughout this novel made it even more interesting (without detracting from the literature).

Of course, I have watched many iterations of the Dracula story on television and in movies. Nothing prepared me for the richness and beauty of this writing, though. The story, told through journal entries of the various characters, captured my imagination. As it turns out, Count Dracula is a central character in the book, but not really the main character. It is more about man’s seemingly hopeless fight against evil, except for courage, heart, and God. I think that’s what makes this a timeless classic.

And oh, Madam Mina, my dear, my dear, may we who love you be there to see, when that red scar, the sign of God’s knowledge of what has been, shall pass away, and leave your forehead as pure as the heart we know. For so surely as we live, that scar shall pass away when God sees right to lift the burden that is hard upon us. Till then we bear our Cross, as His Son did in obedience to His Will. It may be that we are chosen instruments of His good pleasure, and that we ascend to His bidding as that other through stripes and shame; through tears and blood; through doubts and fears, and all that makes the difference between God and man.”

The presence of God throughout this novel is surprising to me, but I did notice how essential a religious theme was to the plot. I’m not sure how to characterize this novel. It is gothic, it does have elements of horror, but it feels more like an adventure.

Thus are we ministers of God’s own wish: that the world, and men for whom His Son die, will not be given over to monsters, whose very existence would defame Him. He have allowed us to redeem one soul already, and we go out as the old knights of the Cross to redeem more.

So, I’m off to a good start on my twelve classics for 2023. My list won’t look like Mr. Miller’s. I’m not sure what is characterized as a “classic” - and probably finding a definition won’t be easy. But I do look forward to this. I think I have neglected the classic words in favor of contemporary fiction over the years. The only classics I can remember reading in the past several years were written by Charles Dickens.

So, here’s to some old adventures!

My Kindle Highlights from Dracula HERE.

Do you have a favorite classic to suggest? (I won’t wrangle with you over the definition of what is a ‘classic’ or not!)