Literature Is Not Only What We Read

The weather is balmy and conducive for long walks. As I hike along the walking trails around the countryside, I often listen to a multitude of interesting podcasts to keep me company.

Recently, I started listening to a narration of Dracula by Bram Stoker for a change, instead of my usual fare. It was an impulsive and unexpected decision, given that I am generally a purist with a penchant for reading a book rather than listening to a narration. However, when I stumbled across Dracula, I realised I had last read the original in my late teens. I decided to relook Literature Is Not Only What We Read it with a different and hopefully more mature perspective, given the passage of time. It is generally ascribed to as vampire literature or a gothic fiction classic, so I was mentally primed for the blatant fantasy, the archaic language of the late 19th century or even the historical and culture references set in a different era.

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Afterall, an average person has to have an open mind if they are reading a story about an undead person living off sucking blood from the ones alive and subsequently converting them into the undead too. I also do not have to hail the mastery of the Irish author in being able to weave this fantastic tale that has endured through centuries or inspired so many spinoffs, both written and visual.

My mental preparation still did not prevent me from trying to shake my head when I read about things like Lucy Westenra being given blood transfusion from four different people without testing for blood group, when she lost blood. I thought she probably died from the aftereffects of incompatible blood, rather than the vampire drinking it.

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I laughed it off as lack of scientific progress. However, the most difficult part to digest was neither the fantasy nor the science but it was the barefaced sexism almost woven throughout the story that riled me up.

I am fully aware that it is set in a different era but it made me stop and contemplate whether I wanted to read this classic again or even any other for that matter. It also reminded me of the ongoing debate around if we should study classics at all.

Should we expose the young generation to these old times with their outdated views or rather teach them contemporary stories that reflect current social norms?]