Trivia Quiz for Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897)
For West Seattle “Classic Novels (and Movies)” book club, 10/17/21
1. The authority as author. Published during the heyday of positivism, Dracula is composed of textual material taken from numerous sources that appear authoritative. The preface describes it as “simple fact”. Which is not a source?
a. personal diaries of eye-witnesses
b. business correspondence between shipping agents and lawyers
c. an omniscient narrator, uninvolved in the action
d. telegrams and newspaper articles
e. a ship captain’s log of a journey
2. Maxims. Like many nineteenth-century authors, Bram Stoker tucks numerous precepts or words of wisdom into the narration. Which of the following is not in the novel?
a. “A stranger in a strange land, he is no one.”
b. “As blood-suckers go, you can trust leeches and bats more than wimmin.”
c. “The old centuries had, and have, powers of their own which mere ‘modernity’ cannot kill.”
d. “For life be, after all, only a waitin’ for somethin’ else than what we’re doin, and death be all that we can rightly depend on.”
3. The weird place. Stoker underlines the strangeness of Transylvania in many ways. Which of the following is not in the novel?
a. The local people make a gesture by raising both arms in a cross, and put a lot of cumin in their food, to ward off what they call “the evil eye”.
b. This is where “the whirlpool of European races” fought for dominance.
c. The national dish, a chicken done up with paprika, is said to be “very good but thirsty”.
d. The land is inhabited by people described as “Czseks and Slovaks, all in picturesque attire, but … goitre was painfully prevalent.”
4. The strange host. Count Dracula is also described as possessing odd attributes, including all but one of the following. Which is not in the book?
a. He is seen to “crawl down the castle wall over the dreadful abyss, face down with his cloak spreading out around him like great wings… just as a lizard moves along a wall.”
b. One witness declares: “There was no reflection of him in the mirror!”
c. In telling the history of his family, Count Dracula speaks as if he had been present at all the battles, using the pronoun “we,” like a king.
d. Although old-fashioned in many respects, he promotes the idea, shared with the “New Women” writers, that “men and women should be allowed to see each other asleep before proposing or accepting marriage.”
5. Psychological tools. Inspired by the rise of psychology and psychopharmacology, Stoker makes use of numerous phenomena prized by Freud and his colleagues, to eke out meaning from the strange occurrences. Which of the following are not mentioned?
a. dreams
b. hypnosis
c. drugs such as morphia, given through hypodermic injection
d. electroshock therapy
e. the study of idées fixes or obsessions
6. High-Tech Potentials. Stoker’s characters marvel over the improved technology which makes their work possible. Which of the following inventions is not mentioned in the book?
a. the X-ray
b. the typewriter
c. the steam engine
d. the blood transfusion
7. Dracula and his quotable quotes. For the modern reader, Dracula seems to be full of clichés, but that may simply be because so many later authors, film-makers, and artists have borrowed from Stoker’s work. Which of the following quotes is not spoken by the Vampire?
a. [Upon hearing the howling of wolves]: “Listen to them, the children of the night!”
b. [After warning someone against opening locked doors]: “Sin is a thing that writes itself across a man’s face. It cannot be concealed.”
c. [On seeing a man shaving]: “Take care how you cut yourself. It is more dangerous than you think in this country.”
d. [After a brutal episode in his nation’s history]: “What good are peasants without a leader?”
8. Local color. Which of the following products are not discovered and discussed by the English characters in their exploration of Transylvanian culture?
a. licorice
b. garlic
c. “slivovitz” (plum brandy)
d. “impletata” (stuffed eggplant)
9. Female power: a warning? Women are a force to be reckoned with in this novel and a motivating element in the final climax. Which of the following is not in the book?
a. At one time, a white-clad woman known as the “bloofer lady” was abducting children from Hampstead Heath at night; they were found with wounds on their throats.
b. Upon opening a door in Dracula Castle, a visitor finds “three terrible women licking their lips.”
c. “Alas! I am unclean,” notes one character with bite marks on her throat. But she lives on…
d. The women characters, as demure as they appear, all have the “extraordinary habit” of playing with knives.
10. Dracula’s strength and weakness. Count Dracula has superhuman powers, but certain limitations contain him too. Which one of the following statements is untrue?
a. Despite his Satanic leanings, Dracula can be repulsed by people bearing Judeo-Christian ornaments, such as a crucifix or Star of David.
b. He can summon fog and storm and snow and wolves, but only at night.
c. He can travel abroad, but only in a box of earth and with the help of accomplices.
d. Despite his ability to crawl up the side of buildings and transform into a bat, Dracula can only do so after sunset and before dawn.
Answers
1. c.
2. b. (This one’s my own invention!–jdv)
3. a.
4. d.
5. d.
6. a.
7. b. (This is from Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray)
8. a.
9. d.
10. a.
Daily Joy with Honey Girl 