Dracula (Bantam Classics) - Softcover

Stoker, Bram

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553212710 ISBN 13: 9780553212716

Publisher: Bantam Classics, 1983

Synopsis

One of the most popular stories ever told, Dracula (1897) has been re-created for the stage and screen hundreds of times in the last century. Yet it is essentially a Victorian saga, an awesome tale of thrillingly bloodthirsty vampire whose nocturnal atrocities reflect the dark underside of a supremely moralistic age. Above all, Dracula is a quintessential story of suspense and horror, boasting one of the most terrifying characters in literature: centuries-old Count Dracula, whose diabolical passions prey upon the innocent, the helpless, the beautiful. Bram Stoker, who was also the manager of the famous actor Sir Henry Irving, wrote seventeen novels. Dracula remains his most celebrated and enduring work -- even today this Gothic masterpiece has lost none of the spine-tingling impact that makes it a classic of the genre.

About this title

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.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bantam Classics
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0553212710
• ISBN 13: 9780553212716
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 448