One book I have always wanted to read is ‘Dracula’. Beside the fact it is the birth place of vampires (a fascinating subject). It is a classic piece of literature that everyone should at least attempt to read. So I was faced with a problem. I want to read the book, find out where the ideas all began, understand the original story. But what if is rubbish? Beside the fact I will never get through it no matter how much I want to, I will be very disappoint that a book that I have held in high regard as not only an original idea, but a great piece of horror history turned out to be no where near as good as I had hoped.

The book

People who know me, know I don’t read many books. Its not because I dislike reading. The problem is I read very slowly and get bored very easily. So if the story is not taking me along, or I feel confused with what it is trying to tell me (the plot is not clear, or I want to think about what they are saying). I will put the book down and promise myself I will come back and read it at some point (knowing I never will). This has happened countless times, and I’m sure will happen again (I’m looking at you Neuromancer).

Well. I am pleased to say ‘Dracula’ did not disappoint me. In fact I was surprised at how good the story was, and how it was not what I expected at all. We all think we know the ‘Dracula’ story. We have seen it countless times in b-movie horror films (can’t beat Christopher Lee. Though Bela Lugosi is very good). But this is not the story of Dracula (not a surprise I’m sure). Frances Ford Coppola’s Dracula is probably the closest, but it is only half the story. Coppola’s film gives a hint there is much more to it than Dracula coming to London, being discovered, and being chased down by Van Helsing.

The namesake of the book, the legendary ‘Dracula’ is hardly in the book at all. You meet him at the start when Johnathan Harker goes to his castle to meet with him. He slowly comes to realise just how evil the count is. This is told through his journal. In fact the entire story is told through the journals of the various people involved. This is an effective way to tell the story as it keeps reminding you of the period of time that is passing as the events unfold. It also lets you see some aspects of the story from different view points, and gives a better understanding of what the characters are thinking as the strange events occur.

I’m not going to go into a full review of the book. Suffice to say the films I have seen do not do justice to the ideas put forth. Nor do they really express the true nature of Dracula and how it affects those who come into contact with him. Parts of the story are truly touching, and it is a real battle of good vs evil.

The Joy of Public Domain

So why is public domain such a joy? Bram Stoker wrote this legendary story in 1897. Under British law, all work falls into the public domain 50 years after it was first published (some exceptions). ‘Dracula’ falls into this category. That means anyone can do anything they want with the story and its ideas. So that means I could reprint the book in its entirety here if I wanted an no one can stop me. This is very important to me (especially with the current climate on copyright). The idea is not about taking away someones work after a certain period of time. Its about making sure all work survives, and work that is important to society become available to be kept freely and used without restriction.

So if you want to read it, download it here. Recently discovered FeedBooks. An excellent site with a massive library of public domain books in various formats.

I was orignally going to buy the book and read it on the train. Nothing wrong with that (except of course the book is actually free and borders wanted to charge me £7). But as the book was written at the end of the 19th century I knew it could be hard to follow, and I really wanted to follow the story. I knew if I read the book, I would get bogged down in the language (and it really is great) and miss the story.

So what about an audio book? I have always loved audio books and plays. I checked around and found there are a few (of course) but non stay close to the book. Then I found LibriVox. Its a site where the public can volunteer their time to read public domain books. The site has a whole structure around creating projects, getting volunteers, proof “reading”, and making them available. They have tons of content, and they will be my first stop from now on.

I found Dracula on there and downloaded all 27 chapters. They even give you a choice of formats to get the audio in, including Ogg-Vorbis (excellent). Stuck it in the car, and away I went. It was exactly what I wanted. A word for word reading of the original book. All I had to do was listen to all 16 hours of it and I can say I had “read” it.

I am really glad I “read” the book this way. It is great to just be able to concentrate on the story, and enjoy the victorian use of language.

If there is one problem with LibriVox it is the quality of some of the reading. Please don’t think I am meaning this to be harsh. People give there time freely to read these books and they do a sterling job. But it can be quiet jolting experence going from one reader to the next. Some are much better than others and this is not an easy text to read. I would say it is a very english story, with very english language. Hearing someone miss pronouching the words, and missing the inflections can get quiet annoying. But some readers do an outstanding job of really bringing it to life.

On the whole I loved listening to the story, and I am glad I now know it as it was written. It is actually much better than I expected, and througly different to what I expected. I think I will actually read the sotry again for myself at some point. But for now I am happy I at least know it.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 3rd, 2008 at 7:24 am and is filed under Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.