Bram Stoker

a cura di L. Giolitti e M. Sillitti
 A young solicitor goes to Transylvania to sell a house in London to Count Dracula. It is the beginning of troubles, both for himself and his dear ones. A group of friends, however, led by Prof. Van Helsing - an expert in occultism and magic arts - engage in a fight to the death to defeat the terrible vampire.
 Dracula (1897) can be considered the last of the great gothic novels in which Bram Stoker revives the myth of the vampire and creates a novel with gloomy and sinister atmospheres, where fear, terror and horror are the prevailing feelings.
 Stimulating inserts about the origins of Dracula, bats, Transylvania, theatre and cinema performances on the subject enrich the book. 
 
 Teacher's Resources available online: Answer Key - Audioscripts - Key to Summing-up Activities.
 
 Un giovane agente immobiliare si reca in Transilvania per vendere una casa londinese al Conte Dracula. È l'inizio delle sue pene e di quelle delle persone a lui più care. Dracula (1897) può essere considerato l'ultimo tra i grandi romanzi gotici. Bram Stoker riprende il mito del vampiro e realizza un romanzo dalle atmosfere oscure dove paura, terrore e orrore sono i sentimenti prevalenti.
 Corredato da dossiers sulle origini di Dracula, sui vampiri veri e presunti, sui luoghi dei misfatti come la Transilvania e sulla ricca filmografia.

Chapter 1 – A Mysterious Castle

Chapter 2 – Like a Rat in a Trap

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Extension: Origins of Dracula

Chapter 3 – Mina’s Worries

Chapter 4 – The Bloofer Lady

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Extension: Bats, Vampires and Dracula

Chapter 5 – The Chase Begins

Chapter 6 – A Sea Journey

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Extension: Welcome to Transylvania

Chapter 7 – Mina’s Awareness

Chapter 8 – All’s Well that Ends Well

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Extension: Dracula at the cinema and theatre

Summing-up activities

Glossary

AFTER READING   A Sea Journey WORKING ON SKILLS: Listening 6 Chapter mListen and complete the dialogue. 8 MINA: Go, call the ..................................................... I want to see him immediately. JONATHAN: Why do you want to meet him? MINA: I have an ......................................................... , I suppose it has come while I was dreaming. He must ............................................................... me before dawn, and then I ll be able to speak. Go quick, dearest, ..................................................... is running out. JONATHAN: I ll be ................................................................ in a short time. VAN HELSING: My Dear Mina, you look .............................................................. . You are back with us again today. What am I supposed to do for you now? MINA: Well, Professor, I ......................................................... better and I want you to hypnotize me! You must do it before dawn so I can speak freely. Be quick because time is one of my enemies. VAN HELSING: All right. Let s start then, stare at me for ............................................. minutes and then close your ........................................................... , breathe slowly and now, answer my ....................................................... . Where are you, now? MINA: I don t know. Sleep has no place. VAN HELSING: Where are you, now? MINA: I don t know. Everything is ........................................................... to me. VAN HELSING: What can you see? MINA: I can see ......................................................... . It s all dark, ............................... . VAN HELSING: What can you hear? MINA: The lapping of ........................................................ and waves from outside. VAN HELSING: Then you are on a ............................................................ . MINA: Oh, yes. VAN HELSING: What else can you hear? MINA: The sound of ................................................................ walking overhead, the creaking of a .................................................................. . VAN HELSING: What are you doing? MINA: I am still like in a ............................................................ , it s like death. VAN HELSING: Thank you, you can wake up, now we have what we wanted to know. 80 

E X T E N S I O N WELCOME TO TRANSYLVANIA Did you know that  Bram Stoker never visited Transylvania? Transylvania was not Stoker s original choice of homeland for his vampire? Even in folklore, Transylvania does not have vampires? Transylvania is one of the three former principalities (the others being Moldavia and Wallachia) which form the modern state of Romania. The name  Transylvania  (from the Latin for  the land beyond the forest ), dates back to Transylvania landscape (I. Nagy, 1893-1976) documents in the ninth and tenth centuries. This region has had a turbulent history. At the time Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, Transylvania was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Because of Bram Stoker s decision to select it as the homeland of his fictional Count Dracula, it is invariably represented in fiction and films as a mysterious realm1 where the supernatural rules supreme. Its inhabitants are still described as backward2 peasants3 who strongly support their primitive and superstitious past. Stoker s original intention was to use Styria (in Austria) as Count Dracula s homeland but as a result of his research, he made the change to Transylvania. There is a widespread4 tendency among Romanians to deny5 the existence of vampire figures in their folk beliefs. To the modern Romanian, the word  vampire  refers to a supernatural figure that originates in Western culture and may be extended to describe bloodthirsty6 murderers. (Adapted from Elizabeth Miller s article, in the Newfoundland Quarterly, December 2002) 1. realm: country ruled by a king or a queen. 2. backward: developing slowly. 3. peasants: poor farmers who own or rent a small amount of land. 4. widespread: existing or happening over a large area or among many people. 5. deny: to refuse to admit. 6. bloodthirsty: wanting to kill or wound. 81 

Narrativa inglese, livello B1 pre-intermedio. In questo romanzo gotico Stoker riprende il mito del vampiro e delle atmosfere cupe.

Dracula - Collana RAINBOWS

Level B1 • Pre-Intermediate - Collana RAINBOWS

Dracula

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