Vampire

I just finished Dracula.

The late 1800s must have been pretty depressing for women. Male posturing has probably never reached such heights... I'm mildly disgusted:

"Ah, that wonderful Madam Mina! She has man's brains—a brain that a man should have were he much gifted—and a woman's heart." And same paragraph: "We men are determined—nay, are we not pledged?—to destroy this monster; but it is no place for a woman. Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer—..." After a few horrors, by the woman in question: "I shall put a bold face on, and if I do feel weepy, he shall never see it. I suppose it is one of the lessons we poor women have to learn."

I got kind of tired of the weak woman/strong man imagery after a while. If the author had been a woman and it had been a little more absurd (nay! is that possible) I might have taken some passages as sarcastic, but I think it's actually just degrading.

Actually there were several things I didn't like about it. "Treatment" of mental illnesses, Victorian propriety, the English hereditary title system (I think I liked the American guy the most), assumed superiority of technological advancements (mingled with reliance on religion and superstition), the aforementioned female-belittling attitude (the woman later fulfills her societal duties and pops out some babies), the alluded-to male posturing--a major tension point with three men after the same girl, and probably other things. But I'm apparently a picky (and feminist) reader.