Talk:Dracula's Guest

Hello all

I support the recent edits to this article, particularly the removal of poorly sourced content. My suggestions for further improvement are:

1) Background and publication. Florence Stoker did not write that "Dracula's Guest" was the excised first chapter of Dracula. Nor does she say that the publisher removed it. (It is more likely that Stoker removed it himself as part of the drafting process.) Florence wrote: "I have added an hitherto unpublished episode from Dracula. It was originally excised owing to the length of the book..." Source is: Stoker, Bram (2019). Eighteen-Bisang, Robert; Miller, Elizabeth (eds.). Drafts of Dracula. Tellwell Talent. ISBN 9780228814313. p. 183

"Dracula's Guest" was not included in the typescript of Dracula, showing that Stoker removed it before that stage. (Ibid.)

Stoker's notes show that early drafts of Chapters 2 and 3 of Dracula were to include Munich, an adventure in a snow storm with a wolf, and a dead house. (Ibid).

Florescu and McNally's The Essential Dracula (1979) was the first edition to include the story as part of the novel Dracula. Op. cit. p 187.

2) Plot. This needs a bit of elaboration and tidying up.

3) Critical analysis. A section on this would be useful to flesh out the simiarities and differences from Dracula and other gothic works. Bisang and Miller (2019) write that the opening of the story is very similar to the introduction to Baring-Gould's The Book of Were-Wolves. It that book, Baring-Gould goes for a late night walk (also with a stout stick) in the woods around Vienna despite the locals warning him of werewolves. (Op. cit. p. 185) Roger Luckhurst argues that the story is an early draft of an abandoned chapter, rather than an excised section of the final version of Dracula. He notes the story's "strong debts" to Le Fanu's Carmilla. Stoker, Bram (1897). "Appendix: 'Dracula's Guest'". In Luckhurst, Roger (ed.). Dracula. Oxford University Press (published 2011). ISBN 9780199564095. Miller and Bisang note that various lines of dialogue and plot elements in Dracula's Guest were incorporated into Dracula. This section could specify which ones.

Happy to dicuss

@ImaginesTigers Let me know if you woud like me to go ahead and make some of these changes, or whether you would rather do it yourself after you have finalised the Dracula article. Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 09:04, 10 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

@Aemilius Adolphin: Happy for you to make them! I'm a bit burned out and have settled on a new project. — ImaginesTigers (talk∙contribs) 09:33, 10 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Hello all

As discussed above, I have added a new section on Critical Analysis of the novel. I have also expanded the plot summary and have revised the lead to include a summary of the newly added material.

Happy to discuss Aemilius Adolphin (talk) 23:52, 11 February 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

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