What do you think?
Rate this book
R E D
Poetry. R E D is an erasure of Bram Stoker's Dracula . A long poem in 27 chapters, R E D excavates from Stoker's text an original narrative of violence, sexual abuse, power dynamics, vengeance, and feminist rage while wrestling with the complexities of gender, transition, and monsterhood.
76 pages, Paperback
First published May 8, 2018
10 people are currently reading
686 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
June 5, 2018
I love the whole concept of this book: it’s an erasure of Dracula by a trans writer—it totally stripped the text of its misogyny to transform it into searching, scorching, empowering poetry.
September 2, 2022
In the acknowledgments, Bergrrun dedicates Red to survivors of rape, sexual abuse and domestic abuse. That dedication to the narratives of survivors comes through this epic erasure poem subverting the themes of bram stoker's Dracula to dazzling effect. For survivors, this book might bring some catharsis as the poems take readers through an abusive relationship that comes to a satisfying ending for those that feel men get away with so many atrocities daily. I love these poems, and Bergrrun for the courage to make them.
Read
October 3, 2021Super cool conceptually. Kinda sad I liked the process poem at the end more than the way it appeared in the collection
October 26, 2018
Chase Berggrun used erasure to Bram Stoker’s Dracula text, transforming it from a storyline in which women have little to no agency into an exploration of abuse, violence, power dynamics, and femininity. A powerful collection of work.
August 3, 2018
REVIEW FORTHCOMING
April 5, 2021
I really loved this book of poetry, and cruised through it in an afternoon. I will want to revisit it again soon. The poems are erasures of Dracula, in sequence. Chase has removed the original plot and characters, while utilising language from the original text (i.e. repetition of the word "queer"). As a trans woman working out her identity while writing this text, and also using it to discuss trauma and the disintegration of an abusive relationship, Chase asserts power in the reclaiming of this text, utilizing the inherent structure and strictures of the original as a way of opening possibilities to new interpretation. I am impressed with this work as much as I am inspired to try making more erasure poetry myself.
October 30, 2018
This is a series of erasure poems done from b(R)am stok(E)r's (D)racula = R E D. So all of the words in these poems appear in that book, in the same order; the poet has created new text and new meaning simply by erasing around these words, to pretty great effect. There's a new story here, a feminist one that almost responds to the fairly misogynistic original text. And a fair amount of heightened suspense at the end, almost as though this were a novel in verse. Really impressed at this accomplishment within the constraints.
March 27, 2023
"but my queer tongue would not could not shut up"
Content warnings are listed at the end of my review!
R E D is like a phoenix, it looks firmly at violence with disobedient eyes and makes it a story of feverish and relentless survival and rebirth. It sees the darkness, the dismissal, the attempts at crushing and extinguishing the light of queer and femme people, and embraces the monstrosity forced onto us with a grin. It is passionate, unforgiving, and withstanding, openly working through the gritty and complex emotions following traumatic experiences. The blood flows, the emotions hurt, the thoughts overwhelm through the masterfully put honestly R E D exudes.
At the blank core of R E D, we watch our narrator awaken and process her queer identity while trapped in a sexually abusive relationship- but through the stylized text, there's so many interpretations Chase Berggrun allows the reader to explore. Its themes of gender, power dynamics, feminism, and trauma support the core narrative, making it a fantastic manifesto of queer feminist text.
"The best thing on this earth is a woman
God sends us men when we want other satisfaction"
Summary:
Readability: ★★★★☆, It's heart wrenchingly beautiful, but it is heavy in the themes of domestic abuse and sexual assault. While the words, being poetic, aren't fully graphic, the details it does give can impact readers strongly still, so please be mindful of the content warnings. The poems are fairly open ended leaving a lot up to interpretation rather than giving a definitive narrative, which could be hit or miss for some readers.
Entertainment: ★★★★★, I really loved the emotions that came out of this, and if you're a creative, I think you will find this work inspiring. I think it's really a highlight of the erasure poetry medium, possibly even the penultimate example of the potential it holds, especially considering the context going into it, and the reclamation that the very act is.
Audience: I really recommend this to anyone that wants to read trans writing, it's so beautiful and brutal. Trans readers will appreciate the wit and elegance of Berggrum's work, and cis readers will gain great perspective from what is said.
Content Warnings: blood, death, domestic violence, fatphobia, ghosts, grief, implied drowning, misogyny, murder, sexual assault, storms, suicide
Content warnings are listed at the end of my review!
R E D is like a phoenix, it looks firmly at violence with disobedient eyes and makes it a story of feverish and relentless survival and rebirth. It sees the darkness, the dismissal, the attempts at crushing and extinguishing the light of queer and femme people, and embraces the monstrosity forced onto us with a grin. It is passionate, unforgiving, and withstanding, openly working through the gritty and complex emotions following traumatic experiences. The blood flows, the emotions hurt, the thoughts overwhelm through the masterfully put honestly R E D exudes.
At the blank core of R E D, we watch our narrator awaken and process her queer identity while trapped in a sexually abusive relationship- but through the stylized text, there's so many interpretations Chase Berggrun allows the reader to explore. Its themes of gender, power dynamics, feminism, and trauma support the core narrative, making it a fantastic manifesto of queer feminist text.
"The best thing on this earth is a woman
God sends us men when we want other satisfaction"
Summary:
Readability: ★★★★☆, It's heart wrenchingly beautiful, but it is heavy in the themes of domestic abuse and sexual assault. While the words, being poetic, aren't fully graphic, the details it does give can impact readers strongly still, so please be mindful of the content warnings. The poems are fairly open ended leaving a lot up to interpretation rather than giving a definitive narrative, which could be hit or miss for some readers.
Entertainment: ★★★★★, I really loved the emotions that came out of this, and if you're a creative, I think you will find this work inspiring. I think it's really a highlight of the erasure poetry medium, possibly even the penultimate example of the potential it holds, especially considering the context going into it, and the reclamation that the very act is.
Audience: I really recommend this to anyone that wants to read trans writing, it's so beautiful and brutal. Trans readers will appreciate the wit and elegance of Berggrum's work, and cis readers will gain great perspective from what is said.
Content Warnings: blood, death, domestic violence, fatphobia, ghosts, grief, implied drowning, misogyny, murder, sexual assault, storms, suicide
May 4, 2023
Though I can't comment on the particular correlations between Berggrun's book and Dracula, I can account for the surprise of reading about vampires from the woman's perspective. Especially from the perspective of a young woman who has an optimistic view of what it will mean to be an adult woman. And how that view is devastatingly changed when she is assaulted by vampires. I don't know that I would say R E D is committed to developing a plot line, especially given the ornate plot lines running through Bram Stoker's book (or that's who the book's summary I read on the internet makes it appear).
However, it's Berggrun's use of conceptualism, along with the book's very brief introductory note that I find one of the most fascinating frames for my reading. As with Reddy's Voyager (which Berggrun's nods to in her Acknowledgments) and Lewis's Voyage of the Sable Venus, the book encourages a reader to ghost the original text with the reading. In both Reddy and Lewis, I had not read the original texts, and it's strange to me how the slightest suggestion that I should hear those texts makes them available while I'm reading. Simultaneously, I hear the poems as though they themselves were the original, if that makes sense. Yes, R E D carries the voice of a Victorian writer, but more like a 21st Century writer who's fluent in writing like a Victorian. It really is hard to explain the sensation of successful conceptualist writing.
But Berggrun proposes an additional layer to the book in her introductory note. She was writing it during her transition from man to woman, "as [she was] discovering and attempting to find her own womanhood." And the poet's search is saturated in the entirety of the book. In its expressive arc following a young woman from assault to vengeance. In my reading I think especially on the woman's view of herself at the opening of the book. She is she. She has these ways of understanding a woman's roles that dwell on "distress and duty." But the woman in the book also establishes the "queer force" present within her. And I don't know the experience of transitioning from man to woman, but I see in Berggrun's poems how someone could conceptualize being a woman before the transition started, why this is who they are. And then how that concept would continually develop over time. Meaning, the reality of a woman's life, especially how it involves threat, as well as actual violence, could be aspects of womanhood that were realized only after the poet had begun her transition. And, like the conceptualist layer, I am fascinated by how this layer would ghost the text.
However, it's Berggrun's use of conceptualism, along with the book's very brief introductory note that I find one of the most fascinating frames for my reading. As with Reddy's Voyager (which Berggrun's nods to in her Acknowledgments) and Lewis's Voyage of the Sable Venus, the book encourages a reader to ghost the original text with the reading. In both Reddy and Lewis, I had not read the original texts, and it's strange to me how the slightest suggestion that I should hear those texts makes them available while I'm reading. Simultaneously, I hear the poems as though they themselves were the original, if that makes sense. Yes, R E D carries the voice of a Victorian writer, but more like a 21st Century writer who's fluent in writing like a Victorian. It really is hard to explain the sensation of successful conceptualist writing.
But Berggrun proposes an additional layer to the book in her introductory note. She was writing it during her transition from man to woman, "as [she was] discovering and attempting to find her own womanhood." And the poet's search is saturated in the entirety of the book. In its expressive arc following a young woman from assault to vengeance. In my reading I think especially on the woman's view of herself at the opening of the book. She is she. She has these ways of understanding a woman's roles that dwell on "distress and duty." But the woman in the book also establishes the "queer force" present within her. And I don't know the experience of transitioning from man to woman, but I see in Berggrun's poems how someone could conceptualize being a woman before the transition started, why this is who they are. And then how that concept would continually develop over time. Meaning, the reality of a woman's life, especially how it involves threat, as well as actual violence, could be aspects of womanhood that were realized only after the poet had begun her transition. And, like the conceptualist layer, I am fascinated by how this layer would ghost the text.
Read
November 22, 2020OOF this was excellent
April 30, 2021
I loved this so much ❤️
July 5, 2021
I can’t recommend this enough!!! So fucking beautiful
March 12, 2025
This is prob my fav erasure collection ive read!
October 10, 2024
Incredibly powerful and raw. The author makes the ultimate description of female rage along a true representation of the horrors of girlhood. Women are truly represented this time, our feelings, anger and fears. No sugarcoating nor censorship. I loved it.
March 7, 2023
after re-reading it with a copy of Dracula next to it, I liked it more. finding what passages the poems were made out of was fun and added so much to the reading of each poem, especially 5 and 21. "This is my pollution story” is created from the scene describing Dracula focusing Mina to drink blood from his chest. very good once you dive into the text, otherwise its just alright
December 24, 2023
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this- I've never really delved into erasure poetry before and, if I'm being honest, I didn't really see it as much of an art form. After reading Olivia Laing's Funny Weather (includes artists who engage in collage art) and reading this, I have definitely changed my mind. I loved the poems for their red-hot vigor and gore, and the confrontation of specific language and whqt that means.
Got this from my local library (as I do literally single book I read) so also FUND THE NEW YORK LIBRARY! SYSTEM!!!!
Got this from my local library (as I do literally single book I read) so also FUND THE NEW YORK LIBRARY! SYSTEM!!!!
May 5, 2018
Berggrun cuts through Brom Stoker’s Dracula with a rare lyricism to create a new tale of inner conflict. Violent self-doubt transforms into brillant confidence. With gendered trauma at its core, the conflict is universally feminine. “ Red “ claws its way through a whirlwind of mist and fog to disrupt , rearrange, and redefine the power dynamics that have long since silenced us.
“ My thesis is this // I want to believe to believe // to believe in // a universe willing // to understand “
“ My thesis is this // I want to believe to believe // to believe in // a universe willing // to understand “
February 1, 2021
This book is searing and sharp and demands rereading. Its parts are moving on so many layers. It feels like a work born of obsession like all the best works are. There is such energy and ferocity to it. At times the text works through ambient energy, creating a mood through an accumulation of language, at others it coalesces into tight packages of meaning and narrative, stabbing into the torso. A glorious achievement.
June 10, 2018
An erasure of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Berggrun's work articulates the violence, erasure, and sexuality of femininity and the trans community. I love the considerations of form and titling as the works arise from each chapter. It's a powerful debut.
April 21, 2019
Absolutely stunning.
September 13, 2018
The lyrical, stark, chilling, empowering artifact of reclaimed narrative and agency is a gift to this world. Thank you for writing this, Chase Berggrun.
October 16, 2018
BE STILL MY HEART.
May 20, 2024
I really liked the different layers, and that one can read the text in a lot of different ways. It, however, is always possible to read Bram Stokers Dracula through the newly created text.
July 12, 2022
Berggrun reviewed the last chapbook I read so I decided to finally read their collection. First, I want to note that the book design is superb. I am really picky and judgmental about book designs and so many indie/smaller presses fail. So good on you Birds LLC.
These poems are executed almost perfectly. They are so good it's easy to underestimate how much labor likely went into them. I really appreciated the visual erasure that is presented at the end of the collection, which highlights how much work Berggrun put into this collection. Seriously, I can't begin to grapple with how much went into an erasure project of this size. It's really admirable and the product is great. I don't think many lengthy erasure projects could stand up to this.
I expected the piece to be more narrative, because, well, it comes from a novel. But I appreciated that this work has a dreamy/surreal quality at times--imagery includes the fog, sunset, and a wolf that haunts all of this. This really echoes what living in an abusive relationship can feel like: it is surreal when someone who you believed loved you turns into a monster. For me, my abusive relationship was surreal because I romanticized my abuser and pushed away red flags, creating a sort of fantasy of denial that I am still working to banish. We follow our protagonist as she seems to spiral, gaining energy to free herself but sometimes losing herself in doubt. Again, I really appreciated how I saw myself and my own abuse in this work. The conclusion of the work is almost underwhelming because of how much time and energy the protagonist takes to free herself. And that felt really real too. As a survivor of abuse, as someone who is still uncomfortable writing the word abuse, some of this really resonated with my experience (and the rest rang true in a different way.)
I think it is really hard to balance this kind of topic. Often writers rely too much on sending a message than on poetics. I think it is clear Berggrun is a superb poet and am excited to see where their career goes. My only partial criticism was for the line breaks, which sometimes felt too terse--but one's thoughts can feel that way when moving through a fog, can't they? So much denial, so much pushing away of things to survive. Berggrun's protagonist is shattered. Until she decides to put herself back together again.
Good stuff!
These poems are executed almost perfectly. They are so good it's easy to underestimate how much labor likely went into them. I really appreciated the visual erasure that is presented at the end of the collection, which highlights how much work Berggrun put into this collection. Seriously, I can't begin to grapple with how much went into an erasure project of this size. It's really admirable and the product is great. I don't think many lengthy erasure projects could stand up to this.
I expected the piece to be more narrative, because, well, it comes from a novel. But I appreciated that this work has a dreamy/surreal quality at times--imagery includes the fog, sunset, and a wolf that haunts all of this. This really echoes what living in an abusive relationship can feel like: it is surreal when someone who you believed loved you turns into a monster. For me, my abusive relationship was surreal because I romanticized my abuser and pushed away red flags, creating a sort of fantasy of denial that I am still working to banish. We follow our protagonist as she seems to spiral, gaining energy to free herself but sometimes losing herself in doubt. Again, I really appreciated how I saw myself and my own abuse in this work. The conclusion of the work is almost underwhelming because of how much time and energy the protagonist takes to free herself. And that felt really real too. As a survivor of abuse, as someone who is still uncomfortable writing the word abuse, some of this really resonated with my experience (and the rest rang true in a different way.)
I think it is really hard to balance this kind of topic. Often writers rely too much on sending a message than on poetics. I think it is clear Berggrun is a superb poet and am excited to see where their career goes. My only partial criticism was for the line breaks, which sometimes felt too terse--but one's thoughts can feel that way when moving through a fog, can't they? So much denial, so much pushing away of things to survive. Berggrun's protagonist is shattered. Until she decides to put herself back together again.
Good stuff!
December 22, 2019
Modern poetry typically isn't my cup of tea, but a poet friend recommended R E D to me. Blackout/erasure poetry is fascinating, and while I've never read Dracula, this sounded absolutely bewitching. Some of the earlier poems I didn't like as much, but around Chapter XI is where I really got invested in the narrative. And that cover? Berggrun has been blessed my the publishing gods.
I was a storm of a woman
---
I must obey
and silence is a part of obedience
Obedience is grotesque to me
It keeps me fixed to weakness
---
I have a good memory for details
it is not always so with young ladies or so it had been said to me
I cannot comprehend this husband
Women all their lives are interrupted considered hysterical
summoned to make children for the strong and manly
and for his sake must smile and not speak
I was a storm of a woman
---
I must obey
and silence is a part of obedience
Obedience is grotesque to me
It keeps me fixed to weakness
---
I have a good memory for details
it is not always so with young ladies or so it had been said to me
I cannot comprehend this husband
Women all their lives are interrupted considered hysterical
summoned to make children for the strong and manly
and for his sake must smile and not speak
March 1, 2022
An astonishing accomplishment, Berggrun manages to not only find a gripping story of self-discovery and liberation, but also for philosophical meditations on life and the text itself that flow effortlessly.
While I think the text reads best on its surface of a woman escaping an abusive relationship, there are subtle interweavings of trans narratives that add some depth, and the female personification of the powerful forces of nature adds to this female empowerment.
Though the highlights are absolutely the clever phrases Berggrun uncovers: "I am fighting to bring on the collapse of / quiet well-bred justice." Indeed.
While I think the text reads best on its surface of a woman escaping an abusive relationship, there are subtle interweavings of trans narratives that add some depth, and the female personification of the powerful forces of nature adds to this female empowerment.
Though the highlights are absolutely the clever phrases Berggrun uncovers: "I am fighting to bring on the collapse of / quiet well-bred justice." Indeed.
July 25, 2019
This. Was. Amazing. I definitely feel like I'll need a few rereads to truly grasp everything, but WOW am I just blown away by this work of art. Berggrun pulls and molds Dracula like molten sugar; the original novel is putty in their hands, twisted into something entirely theirs. Maybe the coolest thing about this book is the ways that it necessarily mirrors Dracula because of the nature of the erasure form - as the blood begins to pool in Dracula, so too does it in RED. Definitely a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary poetry.
Read
November 14, 2023This was fascinating and I'm still processing it. When talking about this in my Queer Lit class, someone brought up the idea that this work relates a lot to a quote from Tony Kushner's ANGELS IN AMERICA, "We won't die secret lives". All the words in these pages have always been there, people were just not able to see them. Through erasure poetry, Berggrun exposes these words and brings them into focus, just as we do when looking at the past and focusing on the queerness of history that has always been there but we may have not been able to see it.
February 6, 2025
bRam stokEr’s Dracula, RED.
Erasure poetry of Dracula, seeing through it into a story of queerness, womanhood, gender, and sexual violence.
Honestly, amazing piece of art. It took me a second to get through it but once I was in it, oh girl was I in it.
The pain, the power, the hurt and the fight. Erasure poetry is art/writing in conversation, its creation, and this was just a powerful example of that. In moments you can’t forget it’s Dracula but in others you can’t seem to remember it either.
I have my own manuscript of vampire media related erasure poetry that will see the world one day so this felt very touching to my creative brain.
Erasure poetry of Dracula, seeing through it into a story of queerness, womanhood, gender, and sexual violence.
Honestly, amazing piece of art. It took me a second to get through it but once I was in it, oh girl was I in it.
The pain, the power, the hurt and the fight. Erasure poetry is art/writing in conversation, its creation, and this was just a powerful example of that. In moments you can’t forget it’s Dracula but in others you can’t seem to remember it either.
I have my own manuscript of vampire media related erasure poetry that will see the world one day so this felt very touching to my creative brain.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews