# Have you read the novels of Frankenstein and Dracula? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143 "2018-02-04T01:25:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/61 "2018-02-05T19:13:15Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Frankenstein, however, is basically not anything like Frankenstein. You could possibly think of it more as a novel like Invisible Man (which is also, probably, not anything like you would expect it to be - being a story of a black man who has decided to take advantage of his invisible status in the era of Jim Crow). Don’t confuse _The Invisible Man_, a 1892 novel by H.G. Wells, and _Invisible Man_, a 1952 novel by Ralph Ellison. The first is a science-fiction/horror thriller, the second a (very good) novel of race relations in the U.S. And they have nothing at all to do with each other. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/62 "2018-02-05T19:36:05Z")
I own both _The Annotated Dracula_, with notes by Leonard Wolf, and _The New Annotated Dracula_, with notes by Leslie Klinger. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read _Dracula_. I find it a wonderful novel. Its flaws are readily apparent, and Stoker doesn’t always manage to maintain his atmosphere of horror. But there are some magnificent moments: the first four chapters, detailing Harker’s journey to Transylvania and his gradual discovery that Dracula is not human; the staking of Lucy; Dracula’s attack on Mina; the pursuit back to Dracula’s castle. I concur with **Sage Rat** in being puzzled that people find it slow. For a Victorian novel, it’s an absolute page-turner and full of exciting, blood-and-thunder stuff. It ain’t a literary masterpiece by any means, but it’s great fun. Despite its age, I like Leonard Wolf’s annotations. They are erudite and at the same time good-humored. Leslie Klinger’s annotations benefit from advances in scholarship in the years since Wolf’s edition. Klinger’s work is marred, however, by his ridiculous insistence on playing the Sherlockian “Game”–that is, pretending that the events of the novel really truly happened. This is irritating enough when people do it with the Sherlock Holmes stories, but at least there’s a tradition of it. There’s no such tradition with _Dracula_, and no good reason to attempt to start one. Toward the end of the book, Klinger’s annotations start to spin an alternate ending, wherein he assures us that Dracula actually survived his final encounter with Van Helsing and company, and later pressured Bram Stoker into “falsifying” the conclusion of the story. At this point , Klinger is not so much practicing scholarship as he is writing fanfiction. For that reason, I cannot recommend him. Stick to Wolf’s edition, if you can find it. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/63 "2018-02-05T20:30:44Z")
I’ve read both, and enjoyed both, but would not recommend them to most people. They are products of their eras, and from today’s perspective, are best viewed as windows into the past. Sort of like watching an old silent black&white film. You have to know what you are getting into from the start, and don’t expect a modern product. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/64 "2018-02-05T21:35:07Z")
I read both books over the summer, before my first year of high school, way back in 1975. I enjoyed them both. The prose in Frankenstein is fairly turgid from a modern-day reader’s point of view, though. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/65 "2018-02-05T21:37:07Z")
Yes to Frankenstein. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/66 "2018-02-06T01:18:24Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > I concur with **Sage Rat** in being puzzled that people find it slow. For a Victorian novel, it’s an absolute page-turner and full of exciting, blood-and-thunder stuff. Same…or more precisely, that people who find it too slow would find Frankenstein a good read. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/67 "2018-02-06T10:26:12Z")
I remember having read them but no more. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/68 "2018-02-06T10:41:43Z")
I was stoked to read Frankenstein, but for Dracula I was even stoker. mmm ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/69 "2018-02-06T11:53:00Z")
Now that was just egregious. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/70 "2018-02-06T15:47:45Z")
I read them both in college 35+ years ago. Definitely preferred Dracula to Frankenstein, but the thing I remembered was how different the novels were from all movies I had seen. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/71 "2018-02-06T21:40:50Z")
Read them both in the same day way way back in college for a Science Fiction as Literature course. I remember Dracula being a quick read and fairly modern (doing the math, I would have had older relatives who were alive when it was published, and alive when I read it.) ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2018, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/72 "2018-02-06T23:35:07Z")
I read Frankenstein and remember thinking the narratives by different characters all sounded like the same voice. I may have had Dracula read to me, but I didn’t read the full version myself. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/73 "2018-02-07T03:45:29Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Frankenstein, however, is basically not anything like Frankenstein. You could possibly think of it more as a novel like Invisible Man (which is also, probably, not anything like you would expect it to be - being a story of a black man who has decided to take advantage of his invisible status in the era of Jim Crow). Just a note here. The book Invisible Man is, like you said, the story of a black man living in the age of segregation and discrimination. However, the “Invisible Man” character in the horror movies is based on HG Wells’s “The Invisible Man”, about a man who finds a way to turn himself invisible. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/74 "2018-02-07T04:10:36Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > I remember Dracula being a quick read and fairly modern (doing the math, I would have had older relatives who were alive when it was published, and alive when I read it.) You can tell _Dracula_ is thoroughly modern because the heroes have access to the latest high-tech stuff like typewriters and shorthand. The Count, by contrast, is timeless. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/75 "2018-02-07T05:27:31Z")
I’ve read both. I first read _Frankenstein_ more than twenty years ago, and read it again about a year ago. The first time, I was struck mainly by how different it was from the movie directed by James Whale. The second time, I was struck by the interesting questions of moral philosophy that were raised. I wouldn’t class it as one of my favorite novels, but it’s worth reading. I only read _Dracula_ once, about 25 or 30 years ago. As far as I can recall, it’s just an adventure story. Not bad as far as adventure stories go, but there’s not a lot of meat to it in terms of character development or moral dilemmas. Maybe I would find more subtlety if I re-read it with older eyes, but I’m not much tempted to try. ---
**Author:** ![4d3fect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/4d3fect/32/9728_2.png) [@4d3fect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4d3fect)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/76 "2018-02-07T06:01:50Z")
Read them both in HS in the '70s. Can’t remember why or how they crept into the reading list. Glad I read them, think of them as literary history really. I do recall being slightly creeped out by Frankenstein. It was midsummer, middle of the night, middle of nowhere. I was crouching in the car, reading by flashlight while waiting for the canal water to come down the chute. ---
**Author:** ![thechangeman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@thechangeman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thechangeman)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/77 "2018-02-07T06:30:38Z")
I have read Dracula for Lit class and it was not as scary as I thought. It’s pretty lengthy but I still think worth a read. I mean, it’s a classic and it’s the basis for all other vampire books and movies that followed thereafter! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/78 "2018-02-07T14:31:36Z")
Yes, and also Phantom of the Opera. In English and the original French. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/79 "2018-02-07T15:03:31Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Yes, and also Phantom of the Opera. In English and the original French. For many years I tried to find a copy of Gaston Leroux’s _Phantom of the Opera_, and I simply couldn’t. This may seem hard to believe, given the glut of them in bookstores today, but it’s true. I searched high and low for copies at bookstores and used bookstores, to no avail. I finally found a copy in a used bookstore that had been printed as a tie-in to the 1962 Hammer Film version (starring Herbert Lom as the Phantom). Success! it was only a couple of years later that I suddenly saw copies of a paperback edition all over the place. I realized that someone must be coming out with a new adaptation of the book, and I was right. But it wasn’t another movie. It was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical, which was just about to open. That opened the floodgates. Not only were there other adaptations (another musical version at the same time, a really awful movie version with Robert Englund as the Phantom, A TV miniseries with Burt Lancaster (!) that didn’t have much to do with the book, eventually a movie version of Webber’s show), but these further bolstered the market for copies of the book, so now what had been extremely rare was now common as dust. But I was grateful when Leonard Wolf’s _The Essential Phantom of the Opera_ came out. If he hadn’t had his falling out with the “Annotated” publishers it would’ve been called “The Annotated Phantom of the Opera”, and it was fully annotated, and had quite a lot about Leroux, who was incredibly popular back in the early 1900s, and not just because of “Phantom”. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143/80 "2018-02-07T17:25:05Z")
I taught _Dracula_ for a Great Books course way back when and published an article on it last year. It’s as good a thriller as any of its period, and it captures much of British mindset as the Empire was reaching its zenith. Stoker also did a good job in effectively finishing Polidori and LeFanu’s work in reframing the vampire motif for popular fiction and film - much of what we take for granted about vampires was invented or refined by Stoker. ETA: It’s also remarkable how much of our popular conception of the vampire is NOT reflected in the novel. Stoker’s Dracula walks in daylight, for example, even visiting the zoo. I’ve read _Frankenstein_ a few times. It’s much shorter, but perhaps a bit more challenging (though less daunting - portions of _Dracula_ are outright unreadable without annotations for an American in 2018). Lately I ve been struggling with it a bit. Specifically, is Victor a rebellious alchemist/mystic in the tradition of Paracelsus and Agrippa (thus making this more of a fantasy novel than nascent science fiction), or is he intended to be read as a maverick scientist as is conventional? I find the text ambiguous on this point. ETA: I recommend the Norton editions of both (for _Dracula_, the Skal/Auerbach edition, not the Klinger). Leonard Wolf was fine for his time, but the Norton is more accurate. Several of Wolf’s annotations are mistaken. Research is a wonderful thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-read-the-novels-of-frankenstein-and-dracula/808143.md?page=5)