“How about a trip to Transylvania?” I asked my daughter-in-law.
The invitation from the groom’s mother may have been intended as a casual bit of FYI: my godson was getting. Did I want to attend the wedding?
How often do you get to spend time with old friends you haven’t seen in ages?
How often do friends invite you to a week-long wedding celebration in Romania?
Of course I wanted to attend.
The only thing I knew about Romania was Nicolae Ceauşescu‘s reign of terror, several orphans adopted by friends, and the terrific gymnasts during the cold war.
Oh, and Hannah Pakula’s The Last Romantic: a Biography of Queen Marie of Romania, which I had enjoyed 20 years ago.
As is my custom, I read up on the country: memoirs about growing up during World War II, another book about Queen Marie, stories about pilgrimages throughout the land.
Rick Steves’ website didn’t have much information about the country and I was horrified to read rabies immunizations were recommended if you were spending much time in the capital, Bucharest.
Rabies? I’ve never visited any country–including China–that suggested a rabies vaccination!
I contacted my good friend, the groom’s mother, who also happens to be a doctor.
Nothing to worry about; we’d only spend one day in Bucharest before moving on to Brasov for the festivities.
Brasov
I looked up Brasov. It’s in Transylvania.
You know exactly where my mind went. I could almost hear the eerie music and see Bela Lugosi’s toothy grimace as Count Dracula.
Transylvania actually has a history of churches and valiant peasants standing up to Communists, Nazis and even the Turks.
Vlad the Impaler, also known as Dracula (Son of the Dragon) was a mad ruler who lived in their neighborhood some 600+ years ago.
A vicious, blood thirsty man in the sense that he slaughtered tens of thousands of people often by impaling them, Vlad’s armies warred against the advancing Ottoman Empire and the Turks.
(Some of you will remember the Ottoman Empire reached the gates of Vienna–from which they were turned back in 1529, thus allowing western Europe to remain Christian).
Few people shed tears when he died in 1486. The victors sent his head to Constantinople as a trophy.
But that was all in the past. Brasov, the closest major town to his castle, is a walled medieval city of universities and hard working Romanians. We actually attended an organ recital in the Black Church (now Lutheran, built circa 1477) our first night in town.
Everywhere I went, however, I saw signs, tourist trinkets or pictures of Dracula.
Some were as historically accurate as the painting on the left, others were as grim as the vampire novels that became Bram Stoker‘s legacy.
The book
Naturally, I decided I should read Dracula while I was in his homeland.
I’m sorry I did.
My husband stayed home, but he read the book at the same time on the Kindle. (I was reading it on my I-touch using the Kindle app).
The curious story drew me in at first; I thought I knew it but soon realized my only experience with Dracula was from the 1948 movie farce Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
The book is very different.
Disturbing in fact.
I didn’t like it. I recognized some Christian aspects, but rather than comforting me, they left me uneasy.
Not wanting to continue, I felt had to as a good traveler, English major, adult.
Skype saves the nightmares
About this time, I chatted with my husband via Skype (using that same impressive I-touch).
He was disturbed with Dracula as well, but had read further into the book. When I told him of my misgivings–the spiritual aspects of this novel were very troubling to me–he told me to quit.
“It’s only going to get worse and I don’t think I’m going to finish it.”
So I turned off my I-touch. The nightmares I had about the story just confirmed the wisdom of that decision.
Not all Christians have a problem with Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Queen Marie of Romania
Novelist Mike Duran, in particular, wrote a long blog post about the possibility Dracula is really a Christian novel. You can read Mike’s thoughts: here.
Dracula’s castle
As for me, we took a trip to Dracula’s castle not far from Brasov.
We wandered through the rooms and came to a section that made me feel completely comfortable: Queen Marie of Romania’s personal rooms in her summer home at Castle Bran.
The woman whose life first introduced me to Romania provides a sillier, yet much more comfortable sense of welcome to Romania.
As for my godson, he and his bride are living happily ever after.
In Bucharest.
I have to admit after I read Mike Duran’s blog I thought, “hey, I should have finished it.” But when I remembered the uncomfortable chills, I thought, “nay, there are plenty of books to read. I don’t need to finish one.” I did read the last page, however, which isn’t easy on a Kindle ap! 🙂
Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein! I can only imagine. Years ago, Judy Gann presented a workshop at OCW Summer Conference and handed out bookmarks that said, “I give myself permission not to finish this book.” I love giving myself permission to put down a book (though I do it rarely) when it is JUST NOT CUTTING IT for whatever reason.
I found the book to be creepy, but not overly-scary. Unlike your experience, I did find the Christian aspects of it to be comforting. (Haven’t read the blog post you linked to, but I’ll get around to it.)