Thoughts on Dracula and the corona virus

April 13, 2020
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Posted By: Stephen Murray

This week I am reading Dracula by Bram Stoker.

I loved the movie by Francis Coppola (anything that involves Winona Ryder assuming the surname Murray gets my attention without delay) - and bought the book shortly afterwards, but never got around to reading it. Surprisingly (to me) for something written in 1897, it has very readable language and structure.

Obviously, it has to involve some of the most famous teeth in fiction but although I’m early into it, one line stuck in my mind – when the hero, Jonathan Harker sees Count Dracula stick his head out the wind he realises

“I was at first interested and somewhat amused, for it is wonderful how small a matter will interest and amuse a man when he is a prisoner.“

And it made me think of all the unproductive distraction I have indulged in since the Covid response has made me change my daily routines so much. I’m not particularly inclined to feel that I am a prisoner, but I think if I made a point of seeking more useful things to interest and amuse me and I’d be even less inclined.

 

 

 

(bat image from igam ogam on Unsplash)

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