Jonathan Harker may be my favorite dumbass in English literature. His finest moment comes early in his sojourn in Dracula’s castle. The count visits him in his room while he’s shaving. Wolves are howling right outside (“Children of the night, what music they make!”), there is a blue mist creeping everywhere, and when Dracula notices that Jonathan sees that he casts no reflection in the shaving mirror, he shatters it with his mind.
Jonathan’s reaction: oh no! Now I can’t shave.
I felt a bit like that when I woke up this morning and noticed that there was an uptick in the number of visitors to my blog. Where did they come from? The link in my stats read “The New Yorker.” Surely that couldn’t be right. I clicked.
My reaction: huh. Well, this explains the increased traffic to my blog.
Followed by an intense surge of nausea, which is how I react to all strong emotions, especially the positive ones. So–wow. That was amazing. So–this is what it feels like to be caught in the gaze of an animal much bigger than me. (Hello! You are a stunning entity. Please don’t bite.)
Inadvertently brilliant casting, or just brilliant? Discuss.
Elena Mauli Shapiro 