The Epistolary as Genre
Dear Classmate:
My name is Jose Salas and I’m currently a sophomore pursuing a B.A. in Art&Design: Games and Playable Media here at UCSC. I am writing to you to discuss my impressions of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and break the ice through this discussion.
This is my first time reading Dracula and so far I’m impressed at the style of the book being composed of multiple writing forms, which is strikingly different from the standard narratives. Similar books I’ve read include Flowers for Algernon for its journal entry structure and Edgar Allan Poe for its cross-reference between a series of flashcards and a story. Another thing that strikes me impressive about the novel so far is the amount of imagery that’s present in the first few chapters as Harker is captivating not only his thoughts but also the sites, sounds, textures of objects, and even smell if I recall correctly.
As far as tropes go for vampires, Stoker is giving a full personality to Count Dracula, and within the first few chapters, I’ve seen the Count portrayed as a clever yet prideful individual. But what I’m interested in the most is how calculated Dracula is in the story and ambitious, almost as if he were playing a game as he practically led Harker right into a trap. Dracula is two steps ahead despite how arrogant he can be, and it is this meta-gaming of psychological thought that I’d enjoy researching further into the quarter as I continue reading the novel.
Correct if I’m wrong, but from what I understand is that you don’t consider Dracula to be a metanarrative, rather a kind of multi-viewpoint narrative. This is mostly because the various mediums tied into the novel are from different character’s perspectives, though it does sound like an interesting topic to research. I’d also like to thank you for reading this email and I hope to contact you again soon.
Sincerely,
Jose