A Level Eng Lit CW-what would you compare to Dracula?

[cherrypez]

Having a brain blank and can't think of post 2000 texts which would be good to compare to Dracula- other than those already having been picked of course! Any ideas welcome!

Tttb - none of the texts you suggest are post-2000, though

And your advice is more than a bit patronising - I thinkcherrypez knows what she's doing as an English teacher! She's just looking for suggestions of texts that actually fit the exam board's criteria...

Not a teacher and no clue about the curriculum, but what op said about '...he wants to write about societal expectations and conventions' made me think of The Power by Naomi Alderman (I think). Course, I'm probably way off on a tangent.

The Girl with All the Gifts by M R Carey.

It's post apocalyptic fiction about scientists monitoring children who are other, but eternal survivors in a decaying world.

Can't say much more without giving the whole lot away. There is a half decent film too.

Fascinating perspective on what life and consciousness is. Perhaps more comparable to Frankenstein, but I think the Dracula/vampire elements could be considered too.

I've just skimmed the WJEC/Eduqas principal examiner's reports (they're nearly identical) for last year and a couple of texts are specifically mentioned as pairing for Dracula or gothic texts: The Little Stranger and McCabe's The Dead school - they are mentioned with a warning not to focus too narrowly on generic features, but it doesn't sound like that would be a problem.

Fingersmith is also mentioned with Dracula, and in a positive light! Texts which some of my pupils chose last year which might work for the broader focus on societal expectations include A Thousand Splendid Suns and Rules of Civility. Teachers at my marking conference this year were discussing a really broad range of texts, including Never Let me go, which might work.

Finally, I'm sure you've thought of it, but I have found the subject officer v helpful, it might be worth an email or phone call to see if they can suggest texts other students have done.

A few other ideas which might seem a bit random, but I think would fit with the society's expectations/conventions theme - Atwood's Alias Grace, Sebastian Barry's The Secret Scripture.

You could compare the original with new treatments

Anno Dracula - Kim Newman - 2011
Dracula lived and marries Queen Victoria

Dracula vs. Hitler - Patrick Sheane Duncan - 2016

Dracula Rising - Jackson Stein - 2013

Fat White Vampire Blues - Andrew Fox - 2003

Depictions of Dracula / Vampires in modern media TV/Comics/Films

Gothic horror vampires compared to Twilight cute and cuddly

Our eduqas "approved list" includes:-

Never Let Me Go
the Road - could work?
The Lady and the Unicorn (Tracy Chevalier) - multiple narrators - could fit
Sense of an Ending
The Snow Child - myth themes
Brooklyn - women/freedoms/Bildungsroman
A Spool of Blue Thread - saga/settings

They did say they don't want the coursework to feel taught so we teach the older text then expose the students to some of the new stuff and they choose which one they like.

They won't allow Twilight - too lightweight.

The historian is just fab-and has the whole unreliable narrator thing going on, and flipping between past and present etc etc. It's also nicely scary and the ending is brilliant. One of my favourite books. I always feel like it has the same atmosphere as the original Dracula book.

Have you thought about 'The Knife of Never Letting Go' by Patrick Ness?

I know it is YA, but has won awards/carnegie shortlisted so hopefully wouldn't be seen as too lightweight. There are (off the top of my head!) loads of things to discuss in common with Dracula re Gender roles/societal expectations/fear of 'other'.

Also might be some mileage in the way it responds to society's current fears/issues: there is something called The Noise in The Knife (like a feed of other people's thoughts in your head) which people have read as a response to/inspired by constant social media contact. Might be able to tie that in with the way Dracula reflected in a different way the fears/developments of society at that time?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Knife_of_Never_Letting_Go