The Dracula Archives

by Raymond Rudorff

The Spine chilling story behind the legend

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Vampires, Adult

208 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2010

Reviews

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I confess elsewhere (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World), I bought this book because it was labeled nonfiction. Clearly a marketing ploy, which the cover should’ve given away, like a found-footage movie this novel wants you to think it’s real. In documentary style—letters, diary entries, etc., it is providing the backstory for Bram Stoker’s Dracula. It does a reasonably good job at it, but the pacing is slow and some historical errors make it less believable (after you realize it is fiction).

The backstory ends up being quite involved. You’ve got a family curse, descent from the notorious Bathory family, and, of course, Vlad the Impaler. All of this is revealed across a couple of generations until a character you long suspect ends up being the vampire. There was so much family detail here that it was kind of difficult to keep all the relationships in mind as you were going along. The documentary style really works in Bram Stoker’s story. A little less so here.

It gets marks as a creative endeavor. As a story I really didn’t find it scary at all. I applaud the effort in deriving so much detail in one story, but there’s a little too much foreshadowing and I couldn’t really follow how the villain could be Dracula when he was born all those centuries later. Still, I’ve read worse vampire stories. The Historian was definitely better. If you need a vampire tale, however, and this one’s to hand it’ll serve in an emergency.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not badly written but it is, in no way, what the flyleaf implied! I found it in the non-fiction section of the library where books are shelved that deal with other books. This says it is about the writing of Dracula and shows some first person accounts that Bram Stoker used in his research for his book. It is no such thing. It is a well written selection of fictitious accounts of people that are supposedly of the family bloodline of Vlad Dracul. It makes an interesting read as the different family story lines eventually do overlap but it is a short story told through letters and diary entries. It is not a research book which is implied by the description in the flyleaf.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is a bit of a slower burn. It all comes together in the last act but for a while it seems to be relatively simple diary entries, well written but not a lot happens. The Dracula element doesn't even come into play until 150 pages in. Still there was something that kept me going and I am glad I did as the finale was great.

I still have questions as to certain elements of the plot but I enjoy a bit of ambiguity.

[Lisa of LaCreeperie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delight! A perfect companion piece to The Journals of Abraham van Helsing. Both will envelop you in a darkly delicious web of vampirism and Gothic atmosphere.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book which covers the period of fourteen years before the events of Dracula. It is written in journals and diaries similar to Stoker's writing of Dracula. An entertaining book.

[David Levell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-executed and erudite vampire tale in 19th-century epistolary style, rich in gothic atmosphere and foreboding. Making no attempt to reinvent or update the genre, it takes an old-school Stokeresque approach with some innovation in its intricate extension of the supernatural webs that fiction and folklore have spun about the historical personages of Dracula and Elizabeth Bathory. Despite the title, there is no Dracula archive (unless this means the letters and journals forming the book) and the plot strands take a long time to tie him in. But the story sustains interest anyway, and the final twist is satisfying. Overall this is much better than the rather jokey cover might suggest.

[Lola Noruma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ho questo libro tra gli scaffali ormai da più di un anno, ma solo adesso ho deciso di leggerlo, scoprendo con meraviglia che è un piccolo gioiello ormai quasi introvabile. "Gli archivi di Dracula" di Raymond Rudorff è stato scritto nel 1971, ma tradotto in Italia soltanto nel 2009 dalla Gargoyle Books.

Mi sono appassionata molto a questa storia, perché mi è sembrata veramente una ricostruzione storica, invece di un romanzo più o meno inventato. L'autore è stato in grado di rendere l'intera narrazione credibile storicamente, senza farla risultare banale o noiosa, come spesso accade per romanzi in forma diaristica o epistolare. Non avendo ancora letto il "Dracula" di Bram Stoker, non posso esprimermi sulle somiglianze, sui possibili spunti, ma le varie personalità emerse in questa storia hanno reso la lettura avvincente e coinvolgente, più di quanto potessi immaginare, per questo sono rimasta alquanto sorpresa nel sapere che questo fosse "solo" un romanzo di fantasia e non una raccolta di notizie e documenti storici. L'intera vicenda, che si svolge nel giro di alcuni anni, viene descritta dal narratore tramite alcune figure, tra cui spiccano quelle della famiglia Morheim, residenti in Transilvania. Il famoso vampiro tramanda il suo potere alla discendenza, si reincarna o possiede i corpi dei suoi discendenti? Tutto parte dalla storia di Voivoda di Valacchia, Vlad V soprannominato "Dracul" o "Il Diavolo", ma come arriva alla famiglia Morheim? Verità o invenzione, lo scoprirete solo leggendo!

[Niklaus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Voto abbondante. La copertina e' quanto di piu' fuorviante ci sia. Poco gotica ottocentesca e molto pulp. All'inizio ho avuto qualche perplessita', complice anche il fatto che avevo preso questo libro alla fiera di Torino come mezzo per raggiungere il numero minimo di 3 libri per avere una offerta succulenta dalla Gargoyle. Quindi non avevo fatto come mio solito ricerche preliminari sull'autore, etc. Nella prima meta' del libro le mie perplessita' riguardavano: la scrittura; il non sapere dove volesse andare a parare; la struttura che non capivo bene se a racconti o concatenata. Al termine del libro, letto in un pomeriggio al parco, do atto all'autore di avere: - scritto un prequel di Dracula utilizzando uno stile consono ad un gotico ottocentesco. - scritto una storia ben calibrata ed interessante (sebbene alcune sforbiciate qua e la ... ) - sfruttato un tòpos narrativo classico (diari ritrovati) ma non fuori luogo. - di essere l'autore stesso un personaggio peculiare nella sua caratterizzazione difficoltosa. Una persona colta, uno storico, con poche note bibliografiche disponibili. - caratterizzazione geografica attenta. Se avete letto Cazacu ritrovate in poche pagine molto di quello da lui scritto. Resta da capire perche' questo libro sia rimasto non pubblicato in italia per piu' di 40 anni.

[Elizabeth]

The back cover bills this book as nonfiction, which amused me, especially as I read much of this in public. The was a sort of prequel to Stoker's Dracula and was written in the same style of letters and journal entries. Though not necessarily a reflection on the plot, my Pocket Books edition had a large number of typos, especially toward the end of the book, which, unfortunately, detracted from the story. Not a groundbreaking addition to the Dracula mythos, nor even a particularly amazing story, but a decent enough vacation read, which is all I really wanted.

[DeCarabas · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a vampire story, it's entertaining enough; but its dramatic claims to expand upon Dracula's origins are a disappointment. (Those origins, in short: gypsies and their descendants are evil for no apparent reason.)

[Fabio Tassi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Omaggio in perfetto stile gotico all'originale ed immortale classico di Stoker, di cui mantiene fedelmente la cifra stilistica e la struttura tipo romanzo epistolare. Non si sente la distanza dei secoli...

[Claudia Guijarro · Rating 5 out of 5]

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