Deeply disturbing Morgoth when I listen to this deep dive and combine it with my own burgeoning fears for our future. It has always struck me when watching films like Gladiator or Braveheart, how every man ran courageously towards an almost certain brutal agonising death. I rationalised it by believing that these men had 100% conviction that they would live on with their loved ones in an afterlife. Compare that today with a typical US military engagement, where a very small percentage will be killed, or lose a limb.
What concerns me, is that in Western Europe, we have two factions heading for medieval war and barbarism. One that contains a large proportion certain of the above mentioned paradise - they display this by suicide bombing. The other, the descendants of those violent men of whom Dracula speaks, who for the most part now have nothing, no belief, no courage, no brotherhood and no real sense of honour, history and pride. It's not their fault, it has been deliberately stripped away from Western man, certainly at increasing pace since WW2 by our masters, leaving us, the white race at the mercy of the imported Barbarians now in the city walls. The spirit of Vlad Tepes needs to emerge again in the white man - and quickly!
I don't find the possibility of a rebarbarization so much frightening as heartening. Extremes, in general, are dangerous things. We've become entirely too civilized, with everything that comes along with that - soft, tractable, lacking in confidence. We've lost even the higher advantages of civilization, for the most part: no longer able to produce or appreciate great art, for example. Our spirits have become jaded and exhausted.
Perhaps the only way out of to embrace the Jungian shadow represented by Vlad Dracul - that savage spirit of a more heroic age that, try as we might to extirpate it, haunts our nightmares. But to whatever degree we are no longer in alignment with whatever this civilization has degenerated into, perhaps its nightmares should be our dreams.
And on that note, is it accidental that a society that has lost the will to live, and indeed pursues death, has for decades now been depicting Dracula's narrative descendents not as figures of horror, but of erotic fascination?
I loved the novel. If anyone reading gets the opportunity, please visit the Abbey at Whitby, which sits above the little fishing town. Bram Stoker was inspired to write his masterpiece, viewing the Abbey at twilight shrouded in mist. In the novel of course, Dracula’s ship is run aground at Whitby, and he takes the form of a large dog to bound ashore and disappear into the countryside. The crew all dead, the only cargo on the strange Russian vessel is a set of 50 boxes of earth from Castle Dracula. There’s a Gothic festival held in Whitby annually in the week running up to Halloween, I’ve attended it and it’s great fun for enthusiasts of all things Gothic.
It’s been a long time since I read Dracula, that monologue is a gem, all the better for being read by you. Eastern Europe still has a grip on the imagination, Orban has made it seem like a refuge for European Christians in the coming hard times. If I didn’t have ties of affection holding me here on the liberal US east coast I would move, though the peace is likely only temporary.
I read Dracula in the late 1990s, and I came away with a completely different take. While Dracula was ruthless and cruel, the mortal men surrounding and trying to protect Mina and Lucy from Dracula were brave and unselfish. Also, their Christian faith was important to them (as it is to me).
'Oh, it did me good to see the way that these brave men worked. How can women help loving men when they are so earnest, and so true, and so brave!'-Mina Harker
I don't think it is necessary (or even desirable) to become barbaric to fight barbarism. One need not become a monster in order to fight monsters. I think we should keep this in mind as we move towards the battles to come. I am not saying being soft--not at all--after all, 'Those who spare the bad injure the good.' What I am saying is not to lose one's humanity no matter how hard things become. Manliness is not the same as barbarism.
Professor Van Helsing's despairing 'God's Will be done" after discovery the maid had removed all of the garlic from Lucy's room highlights Van Helsing's deep Christian faith.
And, unlike most of the movies, in the novel, Dracula is killed by a polite, well-educated, and good hearted American cowboy named Quincey Morris in an act of unselfish sacrifice, "Forward, forward, let us be brave!"
'Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow, holding his hand pressed to his side. The blood still gushed through his fingers. I flew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me back; so did the two doctors. Jonathan knelt behind him and the wounded man laid back his head on his shoulder. With a sigh he took, with a feeble effort, my hand in that of his own which was unstained.
He must have seen the anguish of my heart in my face, for he smiled at me and said, "I am only too happy to have been of service! Oh, God!" he cried suddenly, struggling to a sitting posture and pointing to me. "It was worth for this to die! Look! Look!"
The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleams fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light. With one impulse the men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest "Amen" broke from all as their eyes followed the pointing of his finger.
The dying man spoke, "Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! The snow is not more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!"
And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, a gallant gentleman.'
This is the part of Dracula that i found to be the most moving and inspiring. Yes, Dracula was a tough and powerful warrior, but he was defeated by good and decent Christian men. Western men do not need to look towards Eastern Europe for inspiration, they could look into their own pasts for examples of courage and inspiration.
"It was worth for this to die! Look! Look!"
Some of us will not make it, but let us be worthy and make our sacrifices worthwhile.
The interesting mechanic of Stoker's storytelling via Jonathan Harker's Journal springs to mind,
"I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting. (Mem., I must ask the Count all about them.)"
Watched it on youtube 45 min after the upload. It left a sour taste in me for hours so thanks for the halloween mood. Sometimes you make it seem like the world is hopeless. Now now, i'm not a fan of copium, but jesus publish something uplifting for once.
Whilst I agree, it also left me feeling the same sense of dread, I wish every person of European ancestry could hear this and be bloody shaken out of their paralysing indifference to what is coming. They will all claim they love and would do anything for their children and loved ones, yet most are stupefied zombies to me.
Deeply disturbing Morgoth when I listen to this deep dive and combine it with my own burgeoning fears for our future. It has always struck me when watching films like Gladiator or Braveheart, how every man ran courageously towards an almost certain brutal agonising death. I rationalised it by believing that these men had 100% conviction that they would live on with their loved ones in an afterlife. Compare that today with a typical US military engagement, where a very small percentage will be killed, or lose a limb.
What concerns me, is that in Western Europe, we have two factions heading for medieval war and barbarism. One that contains a large proportion certain of the above mentioned paradise - they display this by suicide bombing. The other, the descendants of those violent men of whom Dracula speaks, who for the most part now have nothing, no belief, no courage, no brotherhood and no real sense of honour, history and pride. It's not their fault, it has been deliberately stripped away from Western man, certainly at increasing pace since WW2 by our masters, leaving us, the white race at the mercy of the imported Barbarians now in the city walls. The spirit of Vlad Tepes needs to emerge again in the white man - and quickly!
I don't find the possibility of a rebarbarization so much frightening as heartening. Extremes, in general, are dangerous things. We've become entirely too civilized, with everything that comes along with that - soft, tractable, lacking in confidence. We've lost even the higher advantages of civilization, for the most part: no longer able to produce or appreciate great art, for example. Our spirits have become jaded and exhausted.
Perhaps the only way out of to embrace the Jungian shadow represented by Vlad Dracul - that savage spirit of a more heroic age that, try as we might to extirpate it, haunts our nightmares. But to whatever degree we are no longer in alignment with whatever this civilization has degenerated into, perhaps its nightmares should be our dreams.
And on that note, is it accidental that a society that has lost the will to live, and indeed pursues death, has for decades now been depicting Dracula's narrative descendents not as figures of horror, but of erotic fascination?
I loved the novel. If anyone reading gets the opportunity, please visit the Abbey at Whitby, which sits above the little fishing town. Bram Stoker was inspired to write his masterpiece, viewing the Abbey at twilight shrouded in mist. In the novel of course, Dracula’s ship is run aground at Whitby, and he takes the form of a large dog to bound ashore and disappear into the countryside. The crew all dead, the only cargo on the strange Russian vessel is a set of 50 boxes of earth from Castle Dracula. There’s a Gothic festival held in Whitby annually in the week running up to Halloween, I’ve attended it and it’s great fun for enthusiasts of all things Gothic.
It’s been a long time since I read Dracula, that monologue is a gem, all the better for being read by you. Eastern Europe still has a grip on the imagination, Orban has made it seem like a refuge for European Christians in the coming hard times. If I didn’t have ties of affection holding me here on the liberal US east coast I would move, though the peace is likely only temporary.
Seasonal and thoughtful, thank you!
I read Dracula in the late 1990s, and I came away with a completely different take. While Dracula was ruthless and cruel, the mortal men surrounding and trying to protect Mina and Lucy from Dracula were brave and unselfish. Also, their Christian faith was important to them (as it is to me).
'Oh, it did me good to see the way that these brave men worked. How can women help loving men when they are so earnest, and so true, and so brave!'-Mina Harker
I don't think it is necessary (or even desirable) to become barbaric to fight barbarism. One need not become a monster in order to fight monsters. I think we should keep this in mind as we move towards the battles to come. I am not saying being soft--not at all--after all, 'Those who spare the bad injure the good.' What I am saying is not to lose one's humanity no matter how hard things become. Manliness is not the same as barbarism.
Professor Van Helsing's despairing 'God's Will be done" after discovery the maid had removed all of the garlic from Lucy's room highlights Van Helsing's deep Christian faith.
And, unlike most of the movies, in the novel, Dracula is killed by a polite, well-educated, and good hearted American cowboy named Quincey Morris in an act of unselfish sacrifice, "Forward, forward, let us be brave!"
'Mr. Morris, who had sunk to the ground, leaned on his elbow, holding his hand pressed to his side. The blood still gushed through his fingers. I flew to him, for the Holy circle did not now keep me back; so did the two doctors. Jonathan knelt behind him and the wounded man laid back his head on his shoulder. With a sigh he took, with a feeble effort, my hand in that of his own which was unstained.
He must have seen the anguish of my heart in my face, for he smiled at me and said, "I am only too happy to have been of service! Oh, God!" he cried suddenly, struggling to a sitting posture and pointing to me. "It was worth for this to die! Look! Look!"
The sun was now right down upon the mountain top, and the red gleams fell upon my face, so that it was bathed in rosy light. With one impulse the men sank on their knees and a deep and earnest "Amen" broke from all as their eyes followed the pointing of his finger.
The dying man spoke, "Now God be thanked that all has not been in vain! See! The snow is not more stainless than her forehead! The curse has passed away!"
And, to our bitter grief, with a smile and in silence, he died, a gallant gentleman.'
This is the part of Dracula that i found to be the most moving and inspiring. Yes, Dracula was a tough and powerful warrior, but he was defeated by good and decent Christian men. Western men do not need to look towards Eastern Europe for inspiration, they could look into their own pasts for examples of courage and inspiration.
"It was worth for this to die! Look! Look!"
Some of us will not make it, but let us be worthy and make our sacrifices worthwhile.
The interesting mechanic of Stoker's storytelling via Jonathan Harker's Journal springs to mind,
"I read that every known superstition in the world is gathered into the horseshoe of the Carpathians, as if it were the centre of some sort of imaginative whirlpool; if so my stay may be very interesting. (Mem., I must ask the Count all about them.)"
Watched it on youtube 45 min after the upload. It left a sour taste in me for hours so thanks for the halloween mood. Sometimes you make it seem like the world is hopeless. Now now, i'm not a fan of copium, but jesus publish something uplifting for once.
Haha I posted a comfy gardening piece back in July. I might do a little update.
https://morgoth.substack.com/p/ruminations-by-a-vegetable-patch
Whilst I agree, it also left me feeling the same sense of dread, I wish every person of European ancestry could hear this and be bloody shaken out of their paralysing indifference to what is coming. They will all claim they love and would do anything for their children and loved ones, yet most are stupefied zombies to me.
There's nothing wrong with a bit of escapist nostalgic comedy once in a while.
https://britishcomedyradio.org/
Bit hit and miss, but that's life.
Please, make the video you mentioned you were considering making about Dracula entering England.