Dracula (Norton Critical Editions) - Softcover

Stoker, Bram

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393970124 ISBN 13: 9780393970128

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996

This Norton Critical Edition presents fully annotated the text of the 1897 First Edition.

A rich selection of background and source materials is provided in three areas: Contexts includes probable inspirations for Dracula in the earlier works of James Malcolm Rymer and Emily Gerard. Also included are a discussion of Stoker's working notes for the novel and "Dracula's Guest," the original opening chapter to Dracula. Reviews and Reactions reprints five early reviews of the novel. "Dramatic and Film Variations" focuses on theater and film adaptations of Dracula, two indications of the novel's unwavering appeal. David J. Skal, Gregory A. Waller, and Nina Auerbach offer their varied perspectives. Checklists of both dramatic and film adaptations are included.

Criticism collects seven theoretical interpretations of Dracula by Phyllis A. Roth, Carol A. Senf, Franco Moretti, Christopher Craft, Bram Dijsktra, Stephen D. Arata, and Talia Schaffer.

A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.

Review:

Dracula is one of the few horror books to be honored by inclusion in the Norton Critical Edition series. (The others are Frankenstein, The Turn of the Screw, Heart of Darkness, The Picture of Dorian Gray, and The Metamorphosis.) This 100th-anniversary edition includes not only the complete authoritative text of the novel with illuminating footnotes, but also four contextual essays, five reviews from the time of publication, five articles on dramatic and film variations, and seven selections from literary and academic criticism. Nina Auerbach of the University of Pennsylvania (author of Our Vampires, Ourselves) and horror scholar David J. Skal (author of Hollywood Gothic, The Monster Show, and Screams of Reason) are the editors of the volume. Especially fascinating are excerpts from materials that Bram Stoker consulted in his research for the book, and his working papers over the several years he was composing it. The selection of criticism includes essays on how Dracula deals with female sexuality, gender inversion, homoerotic elements, and Victorian fears of "reverse colonization" by politically turbulent Transylvania.

Book Description:

While serving as actor Henry Irving's business manager at the Lyceum Theatre in London, Bram Stoker (1847-1912) also pursued his literary interests. In this Gothic horror novel of 1897, which brought him international fame, he presents the chilling vampire Count Dracula, modelled in part on Irving's powerful personality.

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0393970124
• ISBN 13: 9780393970128
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512
• Editor: Auerbach Nina, Skal David J.