Stockers use of versimilitude: suspending disbelief
The note at the beginning of the novel claims the text is 'simple fact'. The technical language claims the proceeding work is a collection of non-fiction texts that has been put into order; initially leading the reader to believe it is true and suspend belief.
Chapter 1 begins as any normal journal would, with normal, bland entries; complaining about train punctuality and meals, all of which could be real. The mention of familiar, real places such as 'London', 'The British Museum' and the 'Carpathian Mountains' sets the story firmly in reality; there is no course for disbelief. Even the mention of the only fictional place, 'Castle Dracula, is defended by claiming it isn't on any 'Ordinance Survey maps'- which it isn't- again smoothly turning fiction into having the appearance of reality.
Our narrators sceptism of anything partially supernatural is also addressed, by refering superstition to an 'imaginative whirlpool', disregarding the supernatural and creating a normal, believable (or not unbelievable) character.
The stress of reality is reinforced, as when Stoker subtly drips hints of the supernatural and fear; women crossing themselves and the supersitions surrounding St Georges Day, Harker considers it all 'ridiculous'. This undermines any sense of the supernatural, and so calling still for no disbelief.
Even when describing the very supernatural events in the coach driven by a wolf controlling vampire, Stolker still insists on claiming reality, as Harker stresses how he was not drunk and in a fit state of mind, warning the reader although it may sound odd, your disbelief is still suspended.
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