So in the last lesson we established that Bram Stoker purposefully made the novel appear dull during the first couple of pages. By using 'normal' things such as accurate train details, real dates, how late the trains are etc, he creates versimilitude. Then by sneaking in a couple of strange occurences such as "The women looked pretty, except when you got near them" it allows him to get the reader prepared for a full-blown wolf-howling, flame-burning vamp-fest.
What I noticed about the chapter that interested me was when Harker is describing the nationalities in Transylvania, he mentions the 'Wallachs', which are descendants from Wallachia, who was the Prince of Wallachia at some point? Vlad the Impaler. Perhaps I'm reading too much into it, but it's a nice little mention.
Another thing was the line from Burger's 'Lenore'. Ok well not the line, but the name Lenore. Although I didn't find any significant meaning of the name other than 'light', it is used in A LOT of Edgar Allen Poe's gothic poems, all of which included that name (Lenore/The Raven) or an alternative to the name -Elenore- all had major themes of the death of a beautiful woman. Again, it isn't hugely relevant to Dracula other than perhaps it's gothic link, but I still found it interesting.
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