Haven’t read Dracula? No problem – there’s an immersive audio experience

Venice. “Welcome to the Carpathians. I look forward to seeing you. Sleep well tonight,” writes Count Dracula in a letter to Jonathan Harker, the man who introduces us to a character who would go on to become one of the most famous, transcending the realm of literature. From legend, through the pen of Bram Stoker, he then became a meme – a character that can be reproduced and adapted to any universe or product. There is Count Chocula, the cereal mascot; there is Mel Brooks’s zany Dracula, played by Leslie Nielsen; there is the entire explosion of vampirism as a post-Gothic pop genre, from Twilight to The Vampire Diaries; and there are the sharp plastic fangs for Halloween. Few, like Stoker, have managed to craft such a doubly timeless character from a figure with such an elusive existence. And today, even though everyone knows the Count of Transylvania, few—if any—have read the book, a grim fate that befalls figures such as Don Quixote or the white whale pursued by Ahab. In an era marked by alarmist talk about the death of the book, an alternative way to delve into Stoker’s pages has emerged: at the Venice Cinema Exhibition—do not say “Festival” or President Buttafuoco will get angry! – Audible presented Dracula, an audio adaptation described as an ‘immersive audio experience with an ensemble cast’, including Riccardo Scamarcio and Benedetta Porcaroli (the English version features Maggie Gyllenhaal, whilst the French version features Omar Sy…). “Our adaptation amplifies the psychological duel between Dracula and Mina, allowing listeners to experience the story just as it was, after all, always intended: in an intimate, claustrophobic and unsettling way,” Aurélie de Troyer, Head of International Content at Audible, tells Il Foglio, emphasising the psychological aspect of the 1897 novel. “When Dracula whispers directly into your ear, when you hear his footsteps in the dark without ever being able to see his reflection, that’s when you truly understand what only the audio format can achieve. We’re not reinventing this story: we’re bringing its original power back to life.” It is reminiscent of stories told around the campfire and of the radio dramas Camilleri produced for Rai in the 1960s, based on scripts by Giuseppe Berto or Bontempelli.

Little narrative and plenty of dialogue; each character has their own voice. Some critics might argue that this ‘immersive sound design’ signals the decline of the book, as reading is being replaced by the seductive voice of a vampiric Scamarcio. However, de Troyer tells us, ‘our experience tells a very different story’, because listening to audiobooks or audio series ‘does not replace reading, but enhances it’. According to research from last year, ‘the vast majority of audiobook listeners also read printed books or e-books. Many tell us that, thanks to audio, they have rediscovered the pleasure of reading and now read more than before, and listeners who discover a story through audio go on to buy the printed edition in bookshops. People do not choose between one format and another: they choose the experience best suited to the moment they are experiencing. The role of our content is to enable an ever-increasing number of people to discover great stories and make them accessible at times when reading is simply not possible”. Like in the car, or queuing at the post office, or all together at home as our grandparents used to do with the radio, or as we do with TV series. And who knows – perhaps after the Year of the Odyssey, the trend will take off and 2027 will be the Year of Dracula.

Audiobooks have now been the norm in the United States for thirty years, and here for just a decade, but, as Troyer points out – an interesting fact – “Italy is the only European country where literary fiction ranks on a par with crime and thrillers in listeners’ preferences. Classics also perform particularly well: The Count of Monte Cristo, for example, features in our top 10 most-listened-to titles every year.’ Conservative, in short, even when it comes to new technologies.