I thank Gothic Mom for suggesting the topic of this post -
What does it mean to live among the shadows of a legend, in Dracula's country?
I won't
bore you with economical, social and political details. I'll leave these for
another place and another time.
By the way, have you ever thought
that the blood of someone famous, whose name inspires even nowadays, a feeling
of admiration or unease or dread may be flowing through your veins? No? I must
admit that I haven’t either, till I wrote the novel Dracula's Mistress and,
come to think of it, Dracula’s blood may flow through my veins, too, as I am a
native of his country.
If you go
outside in the street, in the States, and ask at random, ordinary people
passing by "Have you heard about Romania
", you’ll be, most often, met by frowned eyebrows, confused looks or
shrugging. Or even answers like: "Well, I don't know... is it South
America... or maybe Africa...."
Ask the same
people "Have you heard about
Dracula's country?" A large grin will lighten the face of your interlocutor.
"Oh, Dracula. Yes, yes, I heard about it. Somewhere in Europe.
Transylvania. Vampires."
So, I’m glad to
live in a country known to everyone, be it only because it’s linked to a name
bearing negative connotations: creatures of the night, fangs, sucking the blood
of maidens, crimes and horrors. Dracula is said to have drunk his victims’
blood, terrified his enemies and turned into a bat at will. The border between
legend or history and figments of people's imagination is difficult to perceive
in his case.
Strong
connections between the British Royal Family and Vlad the Impaler, the 15th
century nobleman whose deeds inspired the vampire legend, are exploited now for
advertising reasons. Books, movies, restaurants, T-shirts, fan clubs, toys,
posters, wine.... So many products with this name Dracula. It's a powerful
brand and a source of inspiration for generations to come.
There are many
people in Romania bothered by this analogy, Romania - Dracula's country. I’m
not. I’m proud to be one of his country people. And I chose to think about
Dracula as a symbolic personality, a hero, a true leader, who used harsh yet
fair methods to reclaim the country from the corrupt and rich boyars. I wish
there lived another man like him in his present-day country!
Anyway,
words are never enough to describe the place. Beautiful landscapes with
gorgeous mountains and mysterious ancient forests, clear rills coming down grassy
slopes to meet the Danube.
Well, not
to mention that there are enough elements in the Romanian mythology - ghosts,
zombies, vampires - to be a real attraction for visitors. We have our
paranormal, haunted places, too. If you want to know more about them, I invite
you to visit my blog and the posts under the title: Mysterious Romania.
My best advice to you - come and
visit Romania and you'll see for yourselves how Dracula's country really looks
like. And to prevent getting bored while crossing the ocean, get a copy of Shadows
of the Past and read it. Otherwise you don't know what you are missing!
(The other novel I mentioned at the beginning of the post will be released by
the end of 2015, I hope)
Thank you, Tiffany,
for hosting me today!
Author bio:
Carmen Stefanescu resides in Romania, the native country of the infamous vampire Count Dracula, but where, for about 50 years of communist dictatorship, just speaking about God, faith, reincarnation or paranormal phenomena could have led someone to great trouble - the psychiatric hospital if not to prison.
Teacher of English and German in her native country and mother of two daughters, Carmen Stefanescu survived the grim years of oppression, by escaping in a parallel world, that of the books.
Carmen Stefanescu's Links:
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