Puttering in the Study

Bram Stoker's Dracula: A Documentary Journey Into Vampire Country and the Dracula Phenomenon - Elizabeth Miller, editor

This book is a large collection of scholarly articles and commentary on numerous aspects of Stoker's life and work, probably all of which has been published elsewhere first (did we really need to have Dracula's Guest reproduced in its entirety?) but for the Stoker completist it provides some useful information on numerous topics.  Ever want a complete analysis of the debate over what the cause of death notations on Stoker's death certificate mean?  Both sides are here.

What particularly attracted me to it - other than the cheap price at HP Books in Dallas - was that it contained an essay I had not seen before providing detailed analysis of what Stoker wrote when, showing the gradual evolution of the book as he wrote and researched, which has always been a major part of the fascination of the book for me - how someone like Stoker researched wrote something like this, and what changes he made along the way.  

Most important of all was that it nails down (maybe I should say "stakes") when the name of the protagonist changed from Count Wampyr to Count Dracula, and why.  We have enough information now to know when this happened (very late in the process), and what reference Stoker consulted - a couple of sentences in a single reference about a Central European prince and his son, both of whom went by the name Dracula, but who generally fit Stoker's profile of the king vampire, and gave him an authentic historical name.  But that was all the source contained, and all Stoker saw about the name.  

What is significant about this is that, disappointingly, the name is all Stoker knew about.  He did not know at the time of the writing anything about the younger Dracula's reputation for impaling people. If he had, that detail certainly would have made it into the book, because it would have fit well with the main character.  This also makes clear that Stoker wasn't basing Dracula on the 15th century Wallachian prince.  He was simply using a name to provide his lead character with a bit of historical verisimilitude.  Countless books, articles and movies began in the 1960s to tie the two together, and it's not a bad fit dramatically - but it isn't anything Stoker intended or even knew about.  He simply struck gold with the name.

An analogy would have been if a Polish writer of fiction about the American Revolution ran across the name "Revere" in the context of the history of 18th century craftsmen in New England and switched the name of his Boston-based main character from Williams to Revere.  Based on the reference the writer consulted, the writer would have no clue that Revere had a significant connection to the Revolution - but a later literary critic or filmmaker would not know that, and would assume that the connection was known and intended, and act accordingly if the connection worked from a dramatic perspective.

Anyway, the book has a lot of padding, but is a useful reference for a lot of minor details that I was interested in. 

Cage on the Sea - Kaoru Ohno

In late 1944, three Japanese military supply ships were sunk near the small island of Anatahan in the Marianas Islands.  Their crews were stranded on the island for several years, unwilling to surrender to U.S. forces until 1950.  What made the story suibject to a lot of media attention at that time was the presence of a single woman on the island during this time, whose presence inspired rivalries, jealousies and apparently multiple murders.  

Cage on the Sea is a novel about this situation.  It reads like fiction because the author has provided a day to day, blow by blow account from the minds of multiple members of the story.  What made it unusual to me was that the translation was extraordinary.  The Japanese sailors and soldiers speak using contemporary slang that makes them as familiar as the standard WW II characters on the American side - the hard-bitten Brooklyn native, the country hick, the career sergeant, and so forth.  The personalities are no less Japanese, but the translation makes them more than just another character - they live and breathe in the English translation because they speak as we expect people to speak, and act as we would expect them to act.

My Carrier War - Norman E. Berg

This was an enormously interesting read.  Berg was a carrier aviator from 1942-45, and this is his diary-like memoir about that time.  

What struck me about it was the enormous amount of time he spent in training - the weeks and months he spent becoming an experienced pilot before coming anywhere near the combat zone.  Because the book is in chronological order, and treat all his experiences essentially the same in terms of space, the reader really gets a better feel for the weight of his time in training, and taking care of his personal life, from courting to marrying and the trials of seeking adequate housing for his wife.  Almost every wartime account skips over all of this, beginning with the soldier/sailor/airman when they enter the combat zone, and this book decidely doesn't.  You would think that would make it boring, but it really doesn't - Berg is constantly revealing his thought processes as he gets closer to war - how will he do, will his fears overcome him, how will his marriage turn out?  

You can read about combat anywhere.  Here is where you can read about the years of training that preceded it - the whole experience.

The Rhesus Chart (Laundry Files #5) - Charles Stross

Listened to Stross' latest Laundry book recently and enjoyed it. This time Bob Howard is battling vampires that are almost as scary as the bureaucratic requirements of the Laundry.  This provides enough structure to make this book not too difficult to get through - unlike some of Stross' more space-oriented books - but it could still have stood some condensing where we are getting back story on the newbie vampires.  But I'm a sucker for anything that keeps making passing references to eldritch horros from beyond space-time.

Lambeau Field - Green Bay, Wisconsin

Jamie and I arrived in Green Bay yesterday excited about cheering on our Cowboys Sunday. We had heard so much abut what a great game experience Lambeau Field is that we couldn't wait to see what the real thing was like. Weather was 1 degree Fahrenheit when we got here and didn't vary more than a couple of degrees either way all day (or night), but it was clear and for the short periods we were out it really wasn't as cold as we thought. Plus game time it should be about 15 degrees warmer, so dramatic rhetoric aside, we will be over 30 degrees warmer than the Ice Bowl by Sunday. We went straight to the stadium, which is gorgeous on the outside, with the original 1957 bowl wrapped (for the second time) with a new shell of brick and green steel, and a connected multistory building that is combination atrium for game day, shopping, restaurant, convention center (seriously) and Packers offices. It also has the team's Hall of Fame museum, but that was closed for renovations as they are juggling the pro shop, restaurant and exhibits. But the entire visible part of the building is circa 2003 brand new and looks a lot like the Ballpark in Arlington with windows. Well, there is a 30 foot tall replica Lombardi Trophy in the foyer, which is pretty awesome. After lunch at Curley's, which involved a lot of cheese, brat and kraut, we took an hour-long tour of the stadium. Most of the time was spent in the biggest of the luxury suites, which overlooks the stadium bowl. The bowl itself, only about half of which was there originally - the end zones were only about fifteen rows tall - is jaw-droppingly small and intimate. This picture shows what it looked like when built - the first fifteen rows are below ground level, and the rest is all that was above grade. The model shows that they had filled in one end zone by 1967. I can see now why they say there are no bad seats because the seating is so, so close to the field. Literally the worst seats in the house are the suites because they are farther than any of the bleachers. Which brings me to another thing - the seating in the original bowl (the top few rows were added in 2003 and I think replaced the original suites which were built new further back) is all aluminum bleachers, which is unique in the NFL and means they have around 70,000 seats crammed into what would be maybe 40,000 in a normal stadium with individual seats. But the bowl itself is just hypnotizing it is so small and I can't wait to see what watching a game there is like. After the suite view we went down into the tunnel and they bring you out onto the field the same way the Packers come in - complete with recorded team introduction. You then get to go out and walk the actual frozen tundra (which isn't frozen, and when we were there was covered). We took a picture there by the south end zone, which the guide was quick to tell us was the site of the Bart Starr sneak which won the Ice Bowl. Compare the photo above to the one taken during the game and you can see how much has been added. It is also next to the visitors tunnel, which is one-player narrow. Oddly the Green Bay guides were in a big hurry to get out of the cold, so we accommodated them and headed back the atrium, which is now the main entrance to the stadium on game days. Jamie actually was interviewed by a local TV station, which was looking for Dallas fans to talk to - and saw her nails(shown here at last week's win). We toured the pro shop, which was pretty comparable to the Cowboys one - actually bigger and a significantly broader selection in some ways, and then headed out for dinner - at Brett Favre's steakhouse, which is a couple of blocks from the stadium. But really enjoyed getting to see this piece of NFL - and Cowboys - history. Today we're sleeping late and then up to greet the Cowboys when they get to the hotel tonight, then a good night's sleep before a long (and cold) day cheering tomorrow! Yes, we are dressing warm after reading every piece of advice on attending games at Lambeau, but we are far more worried about our defense than we are the cold!