One advantage Dracula has over Infinite Jest (at least from our perspective): it is broken up into actual chapters, of roughly equal length. Thus, we can provide a schedule without having to resort or page numbers or Kindle locations. Thanks, Bram!
Each row in the table below shows a date followed by the chapter you should have finished by that date.
| Date | Chapter Completed |
|---|---|
| Fri, 10/02 | Chapter 1: Jonathan Harker’s Journal |
| Sat, 10/03 | Chapter 3: Jonathan Harker’s Journal |
| Sun, 10/04 | Chapter 4: Jonathan Harker’s Journal |
| Mon, 10/05 | Chapter 5: Letter From Miss Mina Murray To Miss Lucy Westenra |
| Tue, 10/06 | Chapter 6: Mina Murray’s Journal |
| Wed, 10/07 | Chapter 7: Cutting From “The Dailygraph”, 8 August |
| Thu, 10/08 | Chapter 8: Mina Murray’s Journal |
| Fri, 10/09 | Chapter 9: Letter, Mina Harker To Lucy Westenra |
| Sun, 10/11 | Chapter 10: Letter, Dr. Seward To Hon. Arthur Holmwood |
| Mon, 10/12 | Chapter 11 Lucy Westenra’s Diary |
| Tue, 10/13 | Chapter 12: Dr. Seward’s Diary |
| Wed, 10/14 | Chapter 13: Dr. Seward’s Diary |
| Thu, 10/15 | Chapter 14: Mina Harker’s Journal |
| Sat, 10/17 | Chapter 15 Dr. Seward’s Diary |
| Sun, 10/18 | Chapter 16: Dr. Seward’s Diary |
| Mon, 10/19 | Chapter 17 Dr. Seward’s Diary |
| Tue, 10/20 | Chapter 18: Dr. Seward’s Diary |
| Wed, 10/21 | Chapter 19: Jonathan Harker’s Journal |
| Thu, 10/22 | Chapter 20: Jonathan Harker’s Journal |
| Fri, 10/23 | Chapter 21: Dr. Seward’s Diary |
| Sun, 10/25 | Chapter 22: Jonathan Harker’s Journal |
| Mon, 10/26 | Chapter 23 Dr. Seward’s Diary |
| Tue, 10/27 | Chapter 24: Dr. Seward’s Phonograph Diary |
| Wed, 10/28 | Chapter 25: Dr. Seward’s Diary |
| Thu, 10/29 | Chapter 26: Dr. Seward’s Diary |
| Sat, 10/31 | Chapter 27: Mina Harker’s Journal |
So, for example, you should have finished chapter 20 on Thursday, October 22nd.
Note the absence of “Dracula’s Guest”, which appeared in the manuscript as the first chapter but was excised from the published novel. Some editions include this chapter and you are welcome to read it, but I’m afraid you’ll have to do so on your own time. (You can read “Dracula’s Guest” online here.)
In the forums, someone asked “Is there an edition that we’ll consider canon?” Not canon, per se, but the three Guides (whom we’ll announce tomorrow, by the way) we all be reading Simon & Schuster’s Dracula: Enriched Classics Series. But please feel free to read whatever edition you prefer.
Speaking of which …
Another advantage Dracula has over contemporary novels is that it is in the public domain, and is free for anyone to read, publish, or adapt. And fortunately for us, we have Jonathan McNicol on board to do just that. Jonathan designed and writes for Chip Kidd’s website Good is Dead, and is a contributor to the group culture blog clusterflock. He has also, for the last year or so, been creating web-readable editions of classic novel and publishing them to his site Never mind that; never mind that now. He previously created beautifully typeset versions of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Stolen White Elephant, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds. He is currently serializing Ulysses.
Over the course of October, Jonathan will be supplying us with Dracula in PDF form, chapter by chapter. If you’d like to see a sneak peek of Chapter 1, you can find it here.
If you are allergic to PDFs, you can read a plain text version of Dracula here.
And it’s only $0.99 on the Kindle. Thanks for the schedule – it’s exactly what I wanted.
…and free from FeedBooks, MobiPocket and other sites, in Kindle format.
A version is also included with Classics app for iPhone/iPod touch.
Jonathan McNicol’s PDF adaptations look wonderful.
What happened to Chapter 2?
By the end of the second day you should be done with Chapter 1; by the end of the third day you should be done with Chapter 3. Chapter 2 is in there, but it’s brief and didn’t land on a day boundary.
Although we are using chapters as milestones (to avoid having to sync between editions and Kindles), we actually divvied the novel up by page count. It’s just happenstance that the daily allotment of reading corresponds almost perfectly to the chapter distribution.
A most obvious answer, in hindsight. Thanks!
Re “Dracula’s Guest”, there is no evidence that Stoker ever planned for it to be the first chapter. The manuscript shows that about 100 pages were cut from the beginning before the book went to print, including the episode that we know as “Dracula’s Guest.” (Unfortunately these MS pages have not survived.) But Stoker’s Notes for Dracula make it clear that the original Chapter 1 was to comprise a series of letters between British lawyers and the Count.
I’m in, and already ahead of the schedule! Reading the Norton Critical edition and darn glad to be here. After the fun that was IS/IJ I wouldn’t miss it.
Thanks for posting the link to Dracula’s Guest. I’ve read Dracula itself a few times, but this was new to me and well worth reading. Particularly liked the depiction of the imperialist Englishman who always knows better than the ‘natives!’
I have updated the Infinite Summer Reading Progress Tracker for _Dracula_. Not that it really needs a tracker…
infinite-summer.appspot.com
I wasn’t planning to join in, until I realized that I could get Jonathan McNicol’s terrific PDF versions and read them each day at lunch. I might fall behind every weekend, but this is a fun way to stay involved before 2666.
One other possible avenue for reading – for those on the fence – is to take advantage of the Librivox public domain audio version. I can’t vouch for the Librivox edition of Dracula, but I’ve had some success with other books there. You can check it out at:
http://librivox.org/dracula-by-bram-stoker/
It turns out that most of the chapters are of the same duration as my commute, so I may end up “reading” a good bit of the book by listening.
Hi, all!
Just wanted to let you all know that I’ve got the first four chapters up and reading for readin’ and downloadin’ and printin’ and suchlike over here.
Enjoy.
Thanks! Suggestion to Matthew–can you maybe put the links to Jonathan’s PDF on a sidebar on the left somewhere, along with a note that tells us what chapter it’s currently up to? Would help us e-readers.
Either you were already doing this and I missed it, or you just put it up, but either way, thanks Matthew! That “Milestones” section is great.
Okay, kids. Two more chapters up here. Three more later tonight.
Okay, two more today. More tomorrow.
You’ve done an excellent job designing and typesetting your edition of Dracula. Thank you.
gimme!
Yes, thank you!
I’m in. But between my Dad passing last week and being away for a few days this week (and forgetting my copy of the book at home–d’oh!) it may take me a few days to catch up. I have read this book before, but I am looking forward to reading it again and to seeing what other people have to say about the book. I’m not an English major, so I couldn’t come up with a cogent comment if you threatened me with a 2×4, but I’ll do the best I can.
Reading IJ was such a fantastic way to begin this community; I’m thrilled to be continuing! Someone deserves a prize for creating/sustaining Infinite Summer … Barbara
When I read the line where one of Harker’s coach companions quotes from “Lenore”: “Denn die Todten reiten schnell”(“For the dead travel fast.”)– I was transported back to Gately’s hospital room with the Wraith (and his ilk) zipping around at speeds invisible to the human eye. Did Wallace have an endnote citing to this line in the poem or am I: (1)just making that up because of the proximity of the reads or (2) under some sort of spell cast by DFW and/or Dracula and/or JOI zipping around my room planting connections (and heretofore unknown foreign poetry) in my head?
[...] Club, Dracula, Horror, Infinite Summer, Vampires by jaycruz I’m just one chapter ahead of schedule, but I think I’m going to speed it up a little to finish it before October 31st. I’m [...]