Dracula Readthrough 2025, 19 September
Dracula Readthrough 2025, 19 September
CHAPTER XII
DR. SEWARD’S DIARY
19 September.---All last night she slept fitfully, being always afraid to sleep, and something weaker when she woke from it. The Professor and I took it in turns to watch, and we never left her for a moment unattended. Quincey Morris said nothing about his intention, but I knew that all night long he patrolled round and round the house.
When the day came, its searching light showed the ravages in poor Lucy's strength. She was hardly able to turn her head, and the little nourishment which she could take seemed to do her no good. At times she slept, and both Van Helsing and I noticed the difference in her, between sleeping and waking. Whilst asleep she looked stronger, although more haggard, and her breathing was softer; her open mouth showed the pale gums drawn back from the teeth, which thus looked positively longer and sharper than usual; when she woke the softness of her eyes evidently changed the expression, for she looked her own self, although a dying one. In the afternoon she asked for Arthur, and we telegraphed for him. Quincey went off to meet him at the station.
When he arrived it was nearly six o'clock, and the sun was setting full and warm, and the red light streamed in through the window and gave more colour to the pale cheeks. When he saw her, Arthur was simply choking with emotion, and none of us could speak. In the hours that had passed, the fits of sleep, or the comatose condition that passed for it, had grown more frequent, so that the pauses when conversation was possible were shortened. Arthur's presence, however, seemed to act as a stimulant; she rallied a little, and spoke to him more brightly than she had done since we arrived. He too pulled himself together, and spoke as cheerily as he could, so that the best was made of everything.
It was now nearly one o'clock, and he and Van Helsing are sitting with her. I am to relieve them in a quarter of an hour, and I am entering this on Lucy's phonograph. Until six o'clock they are to try to rest. I fear that to-morrow will end our watching, for the shock has been too great; the poor child cannot rally. God help us all.
dunno if we already covered this, but I figure this means he's recording his voice by sound. I think Lucy said something about "cylinders" which were like ancient storage devices.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonograph
Yeah, way back at his first diary entry, we're told it's "Kept in phonograph". I believe we're supposed to infer that all his diary entries are phonographic. His very short diary entry yesterday ended with:
It's just another part of the way the power of modern technology helps to fight the dangers of ancient superstition, an important theme of the novel. Wax cylinder phonographs were cutting-edge technology in the 1890s. The earliest wax cylinder musical recording dates to 1888.
oooh... I wonder what his workflow was like? was he just gonna listen to it again? or would he get his secretary to transcribe it all? kinda makes you wonder if this was a really effective application of technology... kind of reminds me of "Prince of Darkness" film in which they set up all these computers and video cameras to measure the supernatural phenomena, tho they don't help in defense... maybe THE DRACULA POLYCULE should have a character who is always trying to apply blockchain and NFTs and Generative AI to problems even tho they never really help... or in DRACULA MEETS THE SPARTANS, the Spartans apply the SOTA in 1890s military technology to help defeat the supernatural creatures they meet... iirc fully-automatic weapons were just being introduced tho they were large and it wasn't clear how they should be deployed (the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 being the most notorious example - the French had very high-quality machine guns but deployed them very poorly, as if they were artillery...) Repeating rifles were starting to replace single-shot longarms, e.g. in the US civil war of 1960s tho not completely in that conflict iirc because they were concerned the munitions supply chain would not keep up (?) ... dunno about explosives and mortars and RPGs and things like that, would take a bit of research... Also it's not clear how much of this would be available in Whitby at that time... would be hilarious if the Spartans could whip together a " technical " made up of a Gatling Gun on a horse-drawn carriage, tho! (kek apparently this was done during WW1 !)