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- Course name
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Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) with Eleanor Nicholson (Victorian Classics)
- Summary
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Study Dracula, a Gothic masterpiece, with the editor of the Ignatius Critical Edition and popular author of several Gothic-style novels. In this course, you’ll discover the moral & spiritual battle that takes place within the pages of Dracula. (If you have younger students, this course fits with the Homeschool Connections Grade School Unit Study Program for grades 3-6 so that your whole family can study the same era at the same time.)
Instructor Access (Optional grading support) is available for this course. Please note: this is ONLY recommended if you wish to write the optional paper. All quizzes are internally graded in this course. Optional papers will be completed via this page (click here) for an Instructor Access fee of $75.


Instructor: Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
Course Description: Often vacillating wildly between the terrible and the comic, Bram Stoker's 1897 novel of blood and passion stands as one of the greatest and most baffling masterpieces of Gothic fiction. The work brings together a host of disparate but compelling themes: tensions between antiquity and modernity, the powers and limitations of technology, the critical importance of feminine virtue, the difference between superstition and religion, the nature of evil, and the complex relationship between ancient faith and scientific enlightenment. In addition, the work opens up the door to consideration of the vast and fascinating traditions of folklore, literature, and the preternatural. Our studies will also address its biographical and historical context, providing insight into the late Victorian Period. In this course, we will unpack the strange monster that is Dracula, and study it together over six classes.
Contact the Instructor early to discuss possible topics and your proposed timeline for composition and completion.
As you read, mark or otherwise identify passages that might be useful in developing your paper.
Be prompt with your deadlines.
Brainstorming
Draft 1
Draft 2
Draft 3
Final draft
- Course name
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Dracula by Bram Stoker (1897) with Eleanor Nicholson (Victorian Classics)
- Instructor
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Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
- Semester
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Recorded
- Category
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Literature ➤ Early Modern/Victorian Literature
- Grade levels
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High School
- Start time
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March 30th, 2022 at 12:00 AM ET
- Course type
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Recorded, free with subscription
- Relative due dates
- Enhanced quiz security
- Enhanced assignment security
The Nineteenth-Century Novel (Mansfield Park, Oliver Twist, & North and South)
Literary-Critical Paper: Independent Study (available for all of Mrs. Nicholson's courses, live or recorded)
Introduction to the Nineteenth-Century (Emma, David Copperfield, The Warden, & Barchester Towers) (Victorian Classics)
Christmas with Dickens (Victorian Classics)
Gothic Book Club
Jane Austen, Part One
Jane Austen, Part Two
The Brontë Sisters (Victorian Classics)
Sensation Genre Novels (Victorian Classics)
Middlemarch (Victorian Classics)
Our Mutual Friend (Victorian Classics)
Nicholas Nickleby (Victorian Classics)
Dracula: Ignatius Critical Editions (editor)
A Bloody Habit (Ignatius Press, 2017)
The Letters of Magdalen Montague (Chrism Press, 2021)
Brother Wolf (Chrism Press, 2021)
The Hound of the Lord (children’s biography of St. Dominic, Ignatius 2023)
Wake of Malice (Chrism Press, 2024)
- This material is only to be used for its intended purpose by active subscribers of Homeschool Connections or purchasers of the course. Any other use without explicit permission is in violation of the seventh commandment, and in violation of US and International copyright laws.
- You may print or download to your own storage extracts for your personal homeschool and non-commercial use only. This is not to be used for homeschool co-ops without express written permission from Homeschool Connections.
- Upon completion of the course, you must delete all copies of course materials from any storage on which you saved permissible extracts.
Special notes
IF planning on the optional literary-critical writing assignment:
Total classes
Duration
Prerequisites
Reading of Chapters 1-12 of Dracula before the first day of class
Suggested grade level
Suggested credit
Outline
Course Outline:
Class one: Chapters 1-5.
Class two: Chapters 6-10.
Class three: Chapters 11-15.
Class four: Chapters 16-20.
Class five: Chapters 21-24.
Class six: Chapters 25-27 (Plus Final Note).
Materials
Bram Stoker, Dracula (Any edition permitted, but the Ignatius Critical Edition is highly recommended, ISBN 978-1586174941 (https://amzn.to/3kt7337). The novel is also available for free via Project Gutenberg.
Homework
Completing the assigned reading for each class; taking quizzes. There are 6 identification quizzes in this course (each worth 10 points), a mid-course quiz (worth 100 points), a “practical planning for the end” assignment, and 1 “concluding thoughts” quiz (worth 100 points).
OPTIONAL PAPER PROJECT: There is an optional paper project associated with this class. The project involves several stages of development and editing, including:
For each stage, I will provide feedback, suggestions, and edits. At the project’s completion, I will provide a recommended grade.
Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
ebnicholson@protonmail.com
Mrs. Nicholson, our resident Victorian literature instructor, occasionally strays into fiction, including her epistolary novella, The Letters of Magdalen Montague (Kauffmann Publishing, 2011; Chrism Press, 2021), and her Gothic novels, A Bloody Habit (Ignatius Press, 2018) and Brother Wolf (Chrism Press, 2021). A former assistant executive editor for Dappled Things, she is an assistant editor for the Saint Austin Review (StAR), as well as the editor of several Ignatius Critical Editions of the classics and has collaborated with other editors to provide footnotes for numerous other works. Her work has appeared in the National Catholic Register and Touchstone, as well as with First Things and The Catholic Thing. By day, she and her husband, Dr. Sam Nicholson (Logic/Philosophy instructor), homeschool their six children. By night, Mrs. Nicholson reads the Victorians, writes Gothic novels, and cares for small children. Fun facts: Mrs. Nicholson has an extremely low tolerance for scary books and movies. She's still petrified of "The Speckled Band", and won't sleep in a room where the bed is under a vent. Also, one of Mrs. Nicholson's numerous sisters-in-law is middle school writing instructor Mrs. Bonnie Donlon. For more information, visit: eleanorbourgnicholson.com.
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