Talk:Dracula/Archive 1

message: There is a mistake here stating Dracula died by being stabbed by a Bowie knife. I checked copy of the book and while Quency Morris did stab Dracula in the heart with the Bowie at the same time Jonathan Harker decapitated Dracula with a Kukri knife. I'm pretty sure it's meant that the decapitation killed the count not the stabbing--Matthew Ilseman--Mornatur Ormacil 14:13, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Agree. Seems like the author of this and some other paragraphs (like that of the "Strange Wolf") based his or her synopsis on the Coppola's movie.--Mornatur 16:20, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Dracula's Death

message: Should this page mention the series of books by Fred Saberhagen told from Dracula's point of view? The Dracula Tape is a re-telling of the original book by Dracula himself, taking a predictably dim view of Van Helsing's MO. There are several more, including one with Sherlock Holmes as Dracula's nephew (explaining the remarkable physical resemblance between the two characters :-). --Phil 11:01, Feb 5, 2004 (UTC)
:It does now. (Reminiscence: I once saw the first two books in the series published in an omnibus edition under the title Vlad Tapes. Ouch.) —Paul A 09:36, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fred Saberhagen 

message: Compare this page to superman.  In this case I think separating out Dracula (about the character, its history, the current meme and its many offspring in literature and otherwise; with a brief summary of the various tales of Dracula's life) from Dracula (book) (with detail on Stoker's novel, a more fully spoilered plot synopsis, and analysis of the text).  The many paragraphs of textual and character analysis are out of step with an article giving an overview of what modern audiences (who have yet to read the original novel) think of when they hear "Dracula".   For that article, perhaps a movie poster picture of a black-and-white dracule about to sahck someone's blahd? +sj+ 04:26, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Separate book from icon 

message: I'd really like to know how the original novel Dracula became so much a "love story" that the claim was worth making in the first paragraph.  While Bram Stoker's Dracula portrayed Dracula's pursuit of Mina as a love story, this is clearly revisionism and not what Stoker intended, and the relationships between the human characters really don't justify the classification of the book as a "love story".  -- Antaeus Feldspar
:I concur, Antaeus. —Stormie 00:05, Sep 24, 2004 (UTC)
::I think it might be too complicated to put in the article, but I'm guessing that someone was trying to get at the idea of romanticism, of which the novel is certainly representative, and got confused between romanticism and the eroticism of the Count's relationhip with the women, and came up with "love story".  Ortolan88 00:18, 24 Sep 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Love story?!? 

message: In an early issue of OMNI magazine (now that takes me back more than a few years) there was an interesting speculation that the Dracula Myth might go back to prehistoric man. I don't have the original article, nor do I remember all of it (which is why this belongs here on the discussion page and not edited into the article). But the main point went something like this. When our ancestors were living in caves some might have strayed so far into them that they might have been bitten by bats, either when awake or asleep. This might have led to the onset of rabies, symptons of which can include an aversion to light and water. The madness that can follow might cause such problems in the tribe that killing the person might be the only way to protect the rest. Of course, this could all be terrible codswollop (or batswollop if you prefer). I wanted to post it as food for thought for Dracula fans and just in case it puts me in contact with someone who hung on to their copies of OMNI and can let me see the article again. MarnetteD | Talk 19:56, 5 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Prehistoric Origins 

message: sorry if that has come up already, but I looked for the book "Dracula" and the first definition was: "Dracula is a fictional character" - wouldn't it be better to put something like "Dracula is both a novel and its eponymous antagonist"? (clem 19:06, 14 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  fictional character VS book title 

message: Was Dracula: The Musical, which was on Broadway earlier this year, mentioned in the article? Link: http://frankwildhorn.com/projects/dracula/
--Kindeditor 16:08, 22 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Broadway Muscial

message: The image of the Dracula postage stamp appears to violate the conditions of fair use that are claimed on the image page:
:It is believed that the use of postage stamps to illustrate the stamp in question (as opposed to the subject of the stamp) … qualifies as fair use
BrainyBroad 21:49, 31 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Image Copyright Status

message: According to Leonard Wolf a published expert on Dracula (who wrote "The Essential Dracula"), the most faithful reproduction was a BBC mini-series (I'd have to look up which) -- I think we should not be overly definitive about one movie or another being the most accurate. --Stbalbach 15:19, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Mr Wolf is referring to the 1977 production titled Count Dracula with Louis Jourdan in the title role. It also starred Frank Finlay as Van Helsing and Judi Bowker as Mina. Although not a miniseries it was two and a half hours long and covered virtually all of the book. It includes all of the main characters with the exception of blending Arthur Holmwood and Quincy Morris. It includes scenes filmed in the town of Whitby and we see characters recording events in their diaries, letters and dictaphones much like the way the book is written. In particular the character of Renfield is very close to the way that he is portrayed by Stoker. Some viewers decry its special effects but if you take into account the state of BBC TV F/X of the time they are actually fairly effective (for me anyway). I have read at IMDb that it is available on DVD from ebay, although some postings on their message board say that the quality is so so. Here in the US it was an annual Halloween broadcast on PBS for a few years in the 1980's. My VHS copy of it is starting to show it's age a bit. I agree with your statement about easing the rhetoric about which versions are the most faithful and I will try to help in keeping an eye on this page. User:MarnetteD | Talk 17:41, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Most accurate movie 

message: Ok some Drac-buffs need to do work here:
(1) Separate the novel and films from the character. The character should include different portrayals of him and also comparison to Vlad III. Dracula (novel) Dracula (character)
(2) The best picture we have is of a postage stamp?
(3) A separate article on the castle, with renditions and possible candidates for the real Castle Dracula. Castle Dracula or Dracula's Castle
--Codenamecuckoo 09:33, 17 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Suggestions 

message: I've made a minor change to the Popular Culture section to correct a statement about Count Duckula.  The Count is a creation of Cosgrove Hall, not Nickelodeon.  He's a spin-off character from Dangermouse.  Snowflake Sans Crainte 00:02, 28 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Count Duckula 

message: Disagree with tag suggesting to split the article into a dab page. There is a lot of context and discussion that would be lost that is currently in the article. I would consider creating a "Dracula in the arts" or "Dracula in popular culture" article, similar to Frankenstein in popular culture, and making this entirely a novel article -- Stbalbach 16:19, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Split article 

message: Please consider adding a link to the public domain, LibriVox recording of the book to this article: http://librivox.org/dracula-by-bram-stoker/
thistlechick 18:42, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  LibriVox recording 

message: This page said nothing about the Romanian prince, Vlad Dracula, who Bram Stoker really based his novel on.  The history channel just aired a special on Dracula and a short biography can be found at http://members.aol.com/johnfranc/drac05.htm.
Thanks!
:Actually, it does talk about Vlad. However the evidence that Stoker based his character on Vlad is very weak. -- Stbalbach 15:46, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: With a split article focused on the Dracula character, it would be possible to enhance info about Vlad. By the way, even if the Stoker's character wasn't based on Vlad, at least the name's origin it's clear enough to keep the Vlad subject important. --Mornatur Ormacil 21:31, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Not saying it's not important, and our article does address it (split or no). Also the connection to the word "Dracula" does not mean he was inspired by Vlad it's more complicated. -- Stbalbach 14:27, 6 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I´m trying, without success, to find info obout a celt chieftain, named ABHARTACH (Possibly misspelled) who might have been another source character for the Count Dracula. Yet my analog resouces - my own and my town's libraries - are lame on the historic subject. Please, if anybody has access to ACADEMIC VERIFIABLE SOURCES about Abhartach, please let me know. --Mornatur Ormacil 13:51, 7 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: There is a wikipedia article Abhartach and Google has a bunch. Try also books.google.com, archive.org, a9.com (books). I think the only thing you'll find are quotes from researchers giving their opinion - if there was hard factual evidence it would be common knowledge. -- Stbalbach 14:02, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

text: The wikipedia article Abhartach seems to be a stub. And the other sources look no better. Thank you anyway. I'm still in the search.--Mornatur Ormacil 23:24, 11 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  history 

message: When i first came upon this article - and this discuss page - i found myself troubled with the systematic doubt about the character basis of the count Dracula, and the several notations about the fact of Dracula possibly not being based on Vlad Tepes. So i went to read the novel again and found this on a Dracula dialogue on chapter 3: "Who was it but one of my own race who as Voivode crossed the Danube and beat the Turk on his own ground? This was a Dracula indeed! Woe was it that his own unworthy brother, when he had fallen, sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them!"
This, with some other phrases like this one - being this the most concise - and with the very detailed Count's portrait on chapter 2, make clear - at least to me - that the original inspiration for Count Dracula was, indeed, the Voivoda Drakulya, Vlad Tepes, and that Stoker has in fact made some research on him, the extent of such research being wide or narrow being a minor matter and unrelated to the fact of Stoker never having visited Transilvania by himself.--Mornatur Ormacil 22:47, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Dracula: character basis

message: "In 1914, two years after Stoker's death, Dracula's Guest was published. This was in fact the deleted first chapter from the original manuscript, which the publishers deemed unnecessary to the overall story." THis is tripe. Not even a cursory glance at the text can lead to such an error. Miller's work has shown this conclusively as well. Check out dracula sense and nonesense sometime. --Jasonnolan 19:20, 9 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Sources added. A quick browse of Google Books confirms this is a popular and widely known bit of trivia. If it is "right" or not is an entirely different issue. Where's your source, what does it say? -- Stbalbach 14:06, 10 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Sorry, Jasonnolan, but even the editors of most english and spanish versions of the novel, when "Dracula's Guest" is added, comment on the fact of it being omitted onn the first edition. --Mornatur Ormacil 22:46, 18 October 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Note It looks like the "Dracula's Guest" material is indeed added to modern editions, but that this is done inconspicuously, so that the reader doesn't know the material was ever omitted and published separately. (It's the first chapter that starts as he goes from Munich and ends as the driver takes the coach back in hand after the wolves disappear, right?). I had to be reminded of this detail to notice that the first chap, I read independently long ago, and that the firt time I read Dracula (in an edition from the 50's), it started with Harker arriving at Castle Dracula. --Svartalf 18:09, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dracula's Guest

message: There are several reasons people confuse Dracula with Hungarians.  First of all the article correctly points out that Stoker incorrectly called Dracula a Szekely and that group is only for Hungarians.  Second, the most famous movie Dracula was played by Hungarian Bela Lugosi.  Lugosi even inserted some Hungarian into the scripts.  Last but not least, Hungarians ruled Transylvania for a thousand years.  Inspite of everything above the real Dracula was a Romanian.  We Hungarians get enough grief from George Soros so we dont need another Vampire.—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Belgrade Glendenning (talk • contribs) .
:Mmh, never heard of anyone confusing Hungarians with Dracula. 
:The literary figure of Dracula is a Szekely (self-declared) even though he also claims Vlad Tepes who was not a Szekely but is not identical to the novel's protagonist either. Str1977 (smile back) 17:13, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Hungarian V. Romanian

message: Zoe, KQ, film buffs alert!  There was no links on the page either to the Browning film or the Hammer films, because, amazingly there are no articles in the Wikipedia on any Dracula film except Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein!
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Wasn't there a recent movie about the filming of the original Nosfertatu in which the actor playing the vampire actually was a vampire?Ortolan88
:Yes, Shadow of the Vampire, with John Malkovich as Murnau and Willem Dafoe as the vampire.  -- Zoe
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There are more than enough movies featuring Dracula to serve as the basis for a Wikipedia article entitled List of movies featuring Dracula, but would it be more efficient to do a List of vampire movies and include a special section for Dracula? --Modemac 17:27, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with the second option: "List of vampire movies". --Paul A 01:38, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Films

message: Can someone verify the value of the first edition of the book?  Should we put the approx. value as part of the article?  Leonida  November 14th 2006
:nah it's too open to change and condition of the book for sale and other factors. Check abebooks.com for some current market prices. One asking $90,000.00 "Near Fine in Poor dust jacket; The dust jacket is missing. Signed by author". -- Stbalbach 16:06, 14 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Book Value