book review: The Historian by Elizabeth Kosovo (spoilers when needed)

i've always been curious about the life of dracula so as much as i could, i would read about the myth. (sadly, twilight ruined the myth of vampires) so, in one of my trips to the same booksale (2nd hand books or discarded from the us libraries store), july 21 2011, i found the historian.

the historian is the work of a creative writing student, elizabeth kosovo.

the plot is simple. it lives by its title. so, expect a lot of characters whose lives are interwoven until the very end. it's written from the point of view of the unnamed narrator. she retells the events of her 16th year that led to the unraveling of the lives of her parents, his father's mentor, and vlad tepes. the difference is that she's already 52 now and an accomplished professor herself.



it begins with her finding a letter written to the unfortunate successor. this turns out to be a letter written by rossi, the father's mentor. from the letters, we glimpse into the life of rossi, an accomplished historian. he is positioned into the maze of the search of dracula by finding a book on his desk.

any scholar loves a mystery. any serious reader loves a mystery. i'm a pseudo-scholar and i love reading so if i were rossi, i would've done the same thing. i would've ignored the warnings and just continue putting all the clues together.

so, some chapters of the book are letters of rossi where he chronicles his life in his search for the truth behind dracula. however, rossi disappears one night. it was 1954.


out of his love for his mentor, paul embarks on a journey to find rossi, for he himself found a book similar to rossi's. paul meets helen, a student from eastern europe, whose interest in rossi is that she suspects him to be her father. together, they move in europe tracing the trail left by rossi. from turkey to hungary to bulgaria, they traveled in search of sveti georgi (saint george, the dragon slayer), thinking of dracula and bringing back rossi.

dracula has taken the dragon to be his symbol so references to st. george are relevant. the european myth of the dragon does equate with the reign of terror of vlad.



eventually, they manage to find rossi but he is already bitten and has his own sarcophagus. yes, he was kidnapped by dracula. he was taken for a purpose that made the other librarian-vampire so jealous.

SPOILER >>> dracula offered him eternal life and power if only he'd catalogue his library. despite the offer, rossi would rather see the sunlight and die the human way. sadly, it is with paul and helen that a stake is driven into his heart.

after this event, paul and helen get married. within less than a year since elsie's birth, helen can't seem to stay still so she disappears while on vacation in france. she had to give in to her thirst to search for dracula though she claims she fears her daughter might inherit her dracula lineage. earlier, helen was bitten twice.

years later, it is paul's turn to disappear from his daughter. comfortably settled in amsterdam, he embarks on a trip to france without leaving any explanation to his daughter. now, it is her turn to search for her father. along with barley (who didn't appear anymore in the present narrative so he's an underdeveloped character), she takes the train and traces her father's footsteps.

eventually, she and barley discover paul in the Saint-Matthieu-des-Pyrénées-Orientales, waiting for the arrival of dracula (he visits every so number of years). prompt as he is, dracula comes and so do helen and master james (barley's mentor). helen shoots a silver bullet into dracula's heart and he's reduced to ashes.




the thick novel is interspersed with letters written by rossi, paul, helen, and of course, the whole narrative is written by the narrator. this technique can be tricky as one has to get into the persona of the writer. however, i wasn't much on that style as i was reading more for the details and the historical aspect of the novel. i did my supplementary readings on the historical life of vlad tepes and i even recalled my reading of bram stoker's dracula.

so, the novel ends with the family reuniting. eventually, helen dies and paul, a day after disappears with the dagger. as readers, we are to assume that he plunged it into helen's heart so she won't become undead. fast forward to the epilogue: the narrator is now in her early 50s and as she leaves the special archives after looking at the notes of bram stoker, a librarian rushes to give her belongings, a book with the dragon imprint, similar to what her father and rossi found.

something is still alive, after all.

so, what can i say about this novel? the length is overwhelming but it gets to be justified because of the title. however, towards the end, the pacing just gives me the feeling that it had to end someway. it no longer had that drive as the beginning. nonetheless, it deserves to be a best seller.

on hindsight, portraying dracula as an historian, much more a lover of books, is witty but logical but lacks soul. i mean, despite all his deeds, he'll maim people to work for him as librarians. pun pun pun - he'll suck blood for a book! he'll offer immortality for cataloging books. at any rate, the obvious symbolism here is that evil lives forever in books. the most evil reads, too. (it is implied in the book that vlad learned to be undead because of what he about vampirism at the Perpignan monastery)