At the time at which
“Dracula” was written, the Fearless Vampire Hunters™ were using high-tech. No
matter whether the shorthand which both Jonathan and Mina Harker use, the
typewrite Mina is working with, the phonograph Dr. Seward uses to keep his
diary, or the many telegrams sent to organise the movements of the hunters
towards the end, the group makes use of all new technology to defeat an old
evil - and one might argue that they do defeat it because of that modern
technology. It is Mina who sits down to type out all notes and diaries to make
them available and easily readable for the rest of the group. It’s also, of
course, the tendency of all involved, including poor Lucy, to keep a diary
which makes this possible. But then, Stoker only moved away from epistolary
writing in his very last novel - “Lair of the White Worm.” Until then, his main
characters had to keep diaries and write letters to drive the story.
Today, we look at
“Dracula” as a historical novel - which is most pronounced in some modern
versions which go to great lengths in order to connect the vampire from the
novel with Vlad Tepes Draculea, a medieval area lord with a very bad reputation
(who, admittedly, was part of Stokers material for the novel). When it was
written, it was a contemporary novel which could easily play out down the
street from where the reader was living - especially if they happened to live
in Whitby, of course.
The same goes for
Sherlock Holmes. Modern interpretations of the character got a lot of flak a
few years back, when both “Sherlock” and “Elementary” came out. In those
series, Sherlock Holmes lived in modern London/New York
(“Sherlock”/“Elementary” respectively), used modern means of technology, and
still solved crimes with his brain. One series even dared to rebrand Dr. Watson
as a woman! Can you imagine that?!
Late spoiler: the same
series also very successfully rebranded Professor Moriarty as a woman - and put
Watson and Moriarty into an enmity which cost Joan Watson her boyfriend by way
of poisoning (the poison was meant for her, to be fair). The reason? Joan came
up with the plan which put Jamie in jail.
Even though today we
read Sherlock Holmes as a man from the British society of the Victorian era,
when he was written, he was just a man living in London at the time at which
Doyle put the stories on paper. There was no specific setting, no historical
background (even though Doyle loved historical fiction and wanted to be
remembered for his - no such luck).
The same is true for
Dracula and the people hunting him down - when Stoker wrote the novel and when
it was first published, it was a contemporary book, not something historical.
That might be why both Sherlock Holmes and Dracula lend themselves well to a
reboot in modern times. Some things would no longer work, but others might make
things easier. The Fearless Vampire Hunters™ would keep in contact via
smartphones these days - just as Sherlock would use his for quick internet
research. Dracula would probably not come in with a ship, but with a plane. The
hunt back to Transylvania would be much more fast-paced, because transport
would be much faster. On the other hand, the modern nightlife would offer
Dracula much more prey and more possible servants as well. Things could be very
interesting, indeed. On the other hand, as Red put it in this video (van
Helsing Serious Face to the win!), Dracula works as a novel, because it’s a
slow burn, so modern speed might hurt it.
But what, you might
wonder, does that mean for your writing, gentle reader? Well, if you’re working
in a contemporary setting (as I usually do), you will know a lot about the
technology your characters use. You might need to look up specific things (when
I wrote “Crime Pays Sometimes,”
I had to do some research on guns), but the general technology which everyone
uses will be familiar enough to you.
If, on the other hand,
you want to use a historical setting (or, like I do with John Stanton, base a
fantasy setting on a historical one), researching available technology is just
as important as researching society and other aspects. Humans have used
technology from very early on - even a spearhead is technology and humans have
next to no natural weapons.
Technology also is
more than just weapons or even physical stuff. I’ve mentioned that both
Jonathan and Mina Harker use shorthand, which is a nifty way for them to keep
their diaries (especially for Jonathan, who is on a trip and might not have
that much time for writing his diary). In addition to being faster than writing
normally (that, after all, is what shorthand was developed for), it also means
that Dracula can’t read Jonathan’s diary when he drops the disguise and shows
himself as the monster he is. Without knowledge about what all these squiggles
mean, the text cannot be deciphered. Shorthand, too, is technology.
What is also
important, is to assign technological means to characters they fit with. Let’s
go back to “Dracula” again and look at the technological means I’ve counted off
first: shorthand, typewriter, phonograph. For Jonathan and Mina, who plan on
marrying soon, the shorthand knowledge is useful. Mina is a teacher and
Jonathan is a solicitor’s clerk on the verge of becoming a solicitor. Both of
them profit from a quick and efficient way of taking notes. In addition, Mina
is training herself to use a typewriter, so she can take over writing out
letters and suchlike once they’re married and Jonathan has been made a partner at
his current employer’s. Both makes sense for them.
The phonograph was a
present for Dr. Seward, who uses it to keep his own records - which are
extensive, as he leads an insane asylum. For a man who works hard and long
hours, a phonograph means to just turn on the machine and talk to it, instead
of having to pick up a pen and make long and detailed notes for his files. He
might have some of the cylinders typed out by a secretary in time to physically
add them to the files - as Mina types out his diary for the rest of the team
during the novel. It’s possible for a doctor to get a present from a rich
patient or the family of a rich patient they healed - especially if it was a
mental problem and the healing was done very discreetly. Mina or Jonathan
couldn’t afford a phonograph and no other character in the book would have need
of one for keeping a diary - Lucy has more than enough spare time for writing,
Arthur and Quincy don’t keep diaries, and van Helsing only takes up
note-keeping while he and Mina are on their way to Castle Dracula. Telegrams
are often sent by Arthur, who has the most money of the whole group, so him
making use of expensive services makes a lot of sense.
As you can see from my examples,
contemporary novels become much less contemporary over time, but the technology
used in them will always be on point. The same can’t always be said if you try
to write a historical piece like it would have been written at that time. In
this case, a lot of research is needed.
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