Bram Stoker

Alissa Rindels

Paul-Thomas Ferguson

Since its publication in 1897, Bram Stoker's Dracula has been one of the most influential works of horror fiction in the Western canon, sharing a spot on the pedestal with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818). Dracula's broad appeal stems in part from its ability to fit within several different literary subgenres. In addition to horror, it works well as Gothic romance, melodrama, invasion literature and, of course, vampire fiction. Stoker did not originate the themes that individually qualify Dracula for these categories, but he did combine them in a unique way, creating a work that continues to resonate more than one hundred years later.

Dracula

The novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to move from Transylvania to England so that he may find new blood and spread the undead curse, and of the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and a woman led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

mia esme hsu

‘It is only when a man feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand their true import.’

With an essay by John Sutherland. 'Alone with the dead! I dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the broken window' A chilling masterpiece of the horror genre, Dracula also illuminated dark corners of Victorian sexuality. When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to advise Count Dracula on a London home, he makes a horrifying discovery. Soon afterwards, a number of disturbing incidents unfold in England: an unmanned ship is wrecked at Whitby; strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the arrival of his 'Master', while a determined group of adversaries prepares to face the terrifying Count. The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

Emily

'You are early tonight, my friend.' The man stammered in reply:-

'The English Herr was in a hurry,' to which the stranger replied:-

'That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift.' As he spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory. One of my companions whispered to another the line from Burger's 'Lenore:'–

Of the many admiring reviews Bram Stoker's Dracula received when it first appeared in 1897, the most astute praise came from the author's mother, who wrote her son: "It is splendid. No book since Mrs. Shelley's Frankenstein or indeed any other at all has come near yours in originality, or terror." A popular bestseller in Victorian England, Stoker's hypnotic tale of the bloodthirsty Count Dracula, whose nocturnal atrocities are symbolic of an evil ages old yet forever new, endures as the quintessential story of suspense and horror. The unbridled lusts and desires, the diabolical cravings that Stoker dramatized with such mythical force, render Dracula resonant and unsettling a century later.

(Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)

It makes me incredibly happy when I find my character in books. I relate to Dracula in this way.

Laura Cameron

“I love the shade and the shadow, and would be alone with my thoughts when I may."

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

Authoritative Text, Backgrounds, Reviews and Reactions, Dramatic and Film Variations, Criticism

Luca Stromann

Er, der des Todes spottet, wie wir wissen; er, der inmitten von Seuchen gedeiht, die ganze Menschengeschlechter dahinraffen!

Ich fürchtete mich vor den Worten, die Renfield sprechen würde. Ich wagte gar nicht daran zu denken, aber die Ahnung des Kommenden lag auf mir wie auf einem, der schon die Totenuhr hat ticken hören.

»Sie soll nur kommen; aber warten Sie noch einen Augenblick, bis ich etwas aufgeräumt habe.« Seine Aufräumungsweise war recht merkwürdig; er aß sämtliche Fliegen und Spinnen, die er in seinen Schachteln aufbewahrt hatte auf, ehe ich ihn daran hindern konnte.

»Sie sind ein heller Kopf, Sie denken richtig und Ihr Verstand ist scharf, aber Sie stecken zu tief in Vorurteilen. Sie lassen lhre Augen nicht sehen und Ihre Ohren nicht hören, und was außerhalb Ihres täglichen Lebens liegt, ist für Sie nicht von Bedeutung.

War diese Totenstille ein neues Glied in der Kette des Verderbens, die sich enger um uns zusammenzuziehen schien? War es wirklich ein Haus des Todes, zu dem ich gekommen war - zu spät?

Ich fühlte die Nähe des Grafen, der in einem Sturm von Erregung herangekommen zu sein schien. Meine Augen öffneten sich unwillkürlich, ich sah, wie seine Hand den weißen Nacken der schönen Frau ergriff und sie mit Riesenkraft zurückriß. Ihre blauen Augen waren wie verstört vor Wut, ihre Zähne knirschten und ihre feinen Wangen waren gerötet vor Leidenschaft. Und erst der Graf! Nie sah ich einen solchen Grimm, eine solche Wut. Der reine Dämon der Hölle! Seine Augen sprühten förmlich Flammen. Das rote Licht in ihnen brannte, als ob die ganze Glut des höllischen Feuers hinter ihnen lodere. Sein Gesicht war totenbleich, die Züge hart wie aus Stein gemeißelt; die dicken Augenbrauen, die sich über der Nase trafen, waren wie Barren weißglühenden Metalls. Mit einer stolzen Geste wies er das Mädchen von sich und ging dann auf die anderen zu, als wolle er sie zurücktreiben;

The Penguin English Library Edition of Dracula by Bram Stoker 'Alone with the dead! I dare not go out, for I can hear the low howl of the wolf through the broken window' A chilling masterpiece of the horror genre, Dracula also illuminated dark corners of Victorian sexuality. When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to advise Count Dracula on a London home, he makes a horrifying discovery. Soon afterwards, a number of disturbing incidents unfold in England: an unmanned ship is wrecked at Whitby; strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck; and the inmate of a lunatic asylum raves about the arrival of his 'Master', while a determined group of adversaries prepares to face the terrifying Count. The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

Panda Ä

All at once the wolves began to howl as though the moonlight had had some peculiar effect on them.

For myself, I felt a sort of paralysis of fear. It is only when a man feels himself face to face with such horrors that he can understand their true import.

Then a dog began to howl somewhere in a farmhouse far down the road—a long, agonised wailing, as if from fear. The sound was taken up by another dog, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which now sighed softly through the Pass, a wild howling began, which seemed to come from all over the country, as far as the imagination could grasp it through the gloom of the night.

Tija

The castle is a veritable prison, and I am a prisoner!

Avarni B

Do you mean to say that you would bring Mina right into the jaws of his death-trap? Not for the world! Not for Heaven or Hell!

Amalie Elisabeth

Devotion is so rare, and we are so grateful to those who show it unasked to those we love.

Tell me all about it, dear; tell me all about everything, for there is nothing which interests you which will not be dear to me.

How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads; to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams.

The letter that he has seen and touched must comfort me till we meet.

It was brilliant moonlight, and the soft effect of the light over the sea and sky - merged together in one great, silent mystery - was beautiful beyond words.

Though sympathy can't alter facts, it can help to make them more bearable. 

All is vastness; the clouds are piled up like giant rocks, and there is a 'brool' over the sea that sounds like some presage of doom.

my dear, if it is to be that I must meet death at any hand, let it be at the hand of him that loves me best.

In un tetro castello tra le nebbie della Transilvania il giovane avvocato inglese Jonathan Harker è ospite del misterioso conte Dracula, con cui tratta l’acquisto di alcune case a Londra. Ipnotizzato dai modi affascinanti e sottilmente minacciosi del conte, Jonathan non ne comprende la reale natura, finché un giorno si ritrova prigioniero tra quelle mura e teme di non rivedere mai più l’amata Mina, che lo attende a Londra. Nel frattempo, però, una nave senza equipaggio raggiunge le coste inglesi, trasportando una diabolica presenza... La morte, il sangue, l’amore, nel più celebre romanzo gotico di tutti i tempi. Una delle figure più inquietanti e sensuali della letteratura mondiale.

Versione integrale

Alex J Wolfgang

Sette anni fa tutti insieme abbiamo attraversato le fiamme: da allora, credo, la felicità di alcuni di noi è degna del dolore che abbiamo sofferto. Per me e per Mina è una gioia grandissima che il compleanno di nostro figlio ricorra lo stesso giorno in cui Quincey Morris è morto. Sua madre, ne sono certo, è segretamente convinta che lo spirito del nostro coraggioso amico sia passato in nostro figlio. Tutti i nomi che porta legano insieme il nostro piccolo gruppo di uomini, ma noi lo chiamiamo semplicemente Quincey. 

Quest'estate abbiamo fatto un viaggio in Transilvania e siamo tornati su quella vecchia terra che è stata ed è, per noi, cosi piena di ricordi ancora nitidi e terribili. È quasi impossibile credere che le cose che abbiamo visto con i nostri occhi e sentito con le nostre orecchie fossero vere. Ogni traccia di quanto è accaduto è stata cancellata. Il castello è sempre li, che si erge alto al di sopra di una tetra desolazione.

Quando siamo tornati a casa abbiamo parlato dei vecchi tempi... a cui tutti noi possiamo guardare senza alcuna tristezza, perché anche Godalming e Seward sono felicemente sposati. Ho tirato fuori tutte le nostre carte dalla cassaforte dov'erano rimaste son dal nostro ritorno, tanto tempo fa. Ci ha colpito il fatto che, in tutto il materiale di cui si compone il resoconto, non vi sia nemmeno un documento autentico! Nient'altro che un ammasso di fogli dattiloscritti, a eccezione degli ultimi diario di Mina, miei e di Seward e del memorandum di Van Helsing. Non potremo neppure chiedere a qualcuno, anche se volessimo, di accettare tutto questo come prova di una storia tanto incredibile. Van Helsing ha fatto il sunto di tutta la faccenda quando, con nostro figlio sulle ginocchia, ha detto: "Non abbiamo bisogno di prove, perché non chiederemo a nessuno di crederci! Questo bel bambino un giorno saprà che dona forte e coraggiosa sia a sua madre. Già da quanto sia dolce e amorevole e più avanti si renderà conto del perché tanto uomini le abbiano voluto così bene, al punto da parte tanto per la sua salvezza".

It bored me in the beginning (got a couple good nights rest out of it +1 star) but I enjoyed it overall. 

Jas 🐸

Would say one of my favourite books! Really long but so worth it. 

Selin bekkaya

definitely liked the first half more than the second half 

Essence

Dracula (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Barnes & Noble Classics)

Maureen

"He is finite, though he is powerful to do much harm and suffers not as we do. But we are strong, each in our purpose; and we are all more strong together."

***

Finally met Edward Cullen's great ancestor! But in all seriousness, I now understand why Dracula is the progenitor of all evils. Unlike modern-day villains that saturate mass media, this vampire has no gray area. Stoker never provides an instance wherein Dracula might merit respect because the distinction is clear—he definitely belongs to the dark side. Regarding his characterization, I find it interesting how despite his heartlessness and bloodlust, Dracula is somewhat humanized. Save for his sharp teeth and red eyes, he is depicted as an charismatic, genteel, and aristocratic man.

This book was SO long, though, and it was honestly draining to read. Some parts were overtly redundant, and I felt that the ending was quite anticlimactic. After all those pages of intense buildup, Stoker capped it off so quickly. Nevertheless, it was an entertaining and gruesome read; the author did not shy away from portraying bloodlust. I also found its epistolary rendering effective because we witnessed the story unfold through the perspectives of different characters. 

Dracula being a hallmark of Gothic fiction is well-deserved.

Rocío de la Hera

Amo fuerte, pero igual, si estuviéramos comparando, Frankenstein le pasa el trapo en todo sentido.

Paoovi

Drácula siempre será uno de los mejores títulos, el mítico vampiro de Transilvania (desde mi perspectiva) en cada lectura y aún con El Paso del tiempo se regenera.

Anna 

Greta Keller

I really liked the story, but found the form quite hard to get through

Lili

I understand that it’s iconic but the diary entries are sooooo tiring I mean just stick to one pov or two if you want but I got so confused in the end 

Ahsoka

Didn't know it was a series of journal entries going in, so that was a fun surprise. A lot of flowery diatribes, but tis the season. Good background for the other vampire books I will be reading soon.

Jenny Engel

When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries in his client's castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in England: an unmanned ship is wrecked; strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck; and a lunatic asylum inmate raves about the imminent arrival of his 'Master'. In the ensuing battle of wits between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries, Bram Stoker created a masterpiece of the horror genre, probing into questions of identity, sanity and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.

For this completely updated edition, Maurice Hindle has revised his introduction, list of further reading and notes, and added two appendices: Stoker's essay on censorship and his interview with Winston Churchill, both published in 1908. Christopher Frayling's preface discusses Stoker's significance and the influences that contributed to his creation of the Dracula myth.

mina harker deserves just as much attention in the modern dracula/vampire/monster zeitgest as van helsing.

Acadia

Molly M

i love this book so much
i think i will read it hundreds of times before i die

"if it is to be that I must meet death at any hand, let it be at the hand of him that loves me best"



yes i get a lil tired of The Perfect Woman but hehe i love the story sm

The classic tale of the bizarre Carpathian count, who drank human blood to stay alive, and the Englishman who knew his secret.

Kiersten

Dracula (The Classic Collection)

Village folk: don’t go there, you’ll die, the devil will take you

Jonathan: mmmh damn this chicken paprikash so goood

Eugene

Village folk: don’t go there, you’ll die, the devil will take you

Jonathan: mmmh damn this chicken paprikash so goood

If you read contemporary reviews of Dracula, you'll find it was critically panned by the average reader. Some of the other names of the day considered it a sleeper classic but otherwise the real cultural value of Dracula comes from its Hammer incarnations. Which is entirely understandable, as the weight of Stoker's laborious prose prevents any sort of impression to form in the reader's mind beyond the desire to sleep -- or strangle the heroines for their stupidity. 

In some sense I wish Dracula from the page had had more of an impact than the cinematic Dracula. The heavy mustache, the fierce Stygian features...they make for a much for evocative vampiric archetype than what we've in fact been left with.

The Essential Dracula

Rebecca C Wright

This is one I skip around in just to read the annotations. Wolf is one of my favorite Dracula writers.

Tobias V. Langhoff

I recently went on a week-long stay in different parts of Transylvania, and of course chose this classic as my travel companion. It was great to visit small villages in the foggy Carpathian mountains and other landmarks mentioned in the novel while reading it. It’s a beautiful country. Most English-speaking Romanians we met had read the novel or were at least intimately familiar with it and the folkloric legend of Vlad the Impaler on which it is based, which made for some interesting discussions. I also returned home with a fair amount of mosquito bites, which I guess are kind of miniature vampires in their own right. All in all I recommend reading the book in Transylvania for an authentic experience.

Not too long ago I also read 'Salem's Lot, which is more or less a modern retelling of this classic tale. Its nosferatu character seems to succeed a bit more easily than Count Dracula does here, however; for a centuries old supernatural noble man, Dracula sure didn’t lay down fool proof plans when intending to conquer England.

The story itself is at times very gripping and exciting. It has its lull moments, however, The epistolary format is interesting, but sometimes it results in info dumps where one narrator recounts another narrator’s explanation of some events, even though we’ve already heard them from that other narrator first hand, for example. Mostly it works well and gives us insight into characters who, because of Victorian culture and customs, are described by others in only superficial and positive tones.

While Professor Van Helsing and his pupil Dr. Seward take a 19th century scientific approach to the whole matter, to the extent possible when dealing with the supernatural, it’s funny how they still remark that Transylvanian people are so extremely superstitious when it comes to vampirism, even though vampires are totally real and all the classic folkloric means of repealing them actually provably works – all the while the main cast are all devoutly Christian. Another element that clearly dates this book is how none of the characters realize that their adversary is obviously a vampire! I mean, all the signs are there. Do they not follow popular culture at all? I jest, but it’s interesting how the concepts from this book are pretty much all still present in contemporary vampire fiction. Stoker pretty much created the lore of an entire horror sub-genre single-handedly.

After contracting an eye infection in Transylvania, however, I had to finish the book as an audiobook. I picked 22543648, which has a full cast. It was pretty good! Tim Curry does a great Abraham Van Helsing (which must have been one of his final performances before suffering his stroke?). His accent is believable and he comes across as a sage old man full of wisdom. Because of the epistolary format, however, Van Helsing has as many accents as there are narrators, as he features pretty heavily in all chapters, not just the ones he narrates himself. All the narrators do a fine job – I didn’t much care for Lucy Westenra as portrayed by Susan Duerden, but I think it’s more the ditzy and naive character I dislike, and Duerden gets that across well. Simon Vance (Jonathan Harker) and Katy Kellgren (Mina Murray) in particular impressed me when they lapsed into rural British accents when narrating conversations. I wish Marc Vietor had more narrating chapters as the American character Quincey Morris, though, as the British narrators didn’t really manage a believable American drawl.

Dracula (Classic Collection (Brilliance Audio))

Ah yes, two out of the three things the British are the most afraid of - the LGBT community and Eastern Europeans <3

There were bits of the novel I really enjoyed but overall it felt so very long; it nearly put me in a reading slump and this was an audiobook. It is clear why the novel is such a key text in British literature and has provoked such enduring interest and obsession. But at the same time I cannot help but feel it could have been more tightly plotted out and written. I know Stoker did a lot of research on it which makes me think he just got a little carried away writing it.

I am glad I picked this up as a full-cast audiobook as this made the novel that much easier and more interesting to follow.

For me, worth noting is also that the female characters often seem to be done a disservice in the discussion around the novel, I feel. I found both Lucy and Mina to be interesting characters and I believe I enjoyed their entries the most (alongside Jonathan's).

Ah yes, two out of the three things the British are the most afraid of - the LGBT community and Eastern Europeans <3

There were bits of the novel I really enjoyed but overall it felt so very long; it nearly put me in a reading slump and this was an audiobook. It is clear why the novel is such a key text in British literature and has provoked such enduring interest and obsession. But at the same time I cannot help but feel it could have been more tightly plotted out and written. I know Stoker did a lot of research on it which makes me think he just got a little carried away writing it.

I am glad I picked this up as a full-cast audiobook as this made the novel that much easier and more interesting to follow.

For me, worth noting is also that the female characters often seem to be done a disservice in the discussion around the novel, I feel. I found both Lucy and Mina to be interesting characters and I believe I enjoyed their entries the most (alongside Jonathan's).

I didn't finish it because it was so slow and perhaps it's my expectations that led me through the pages unsatisfied. Dracula wasn't even 

in most of the book. The suspense was dragging and thus, DNF'd. 

Lana Andrea

I didn't finish it because it was so slow and perhaps it's my expectations that led me through the pages unsatisfied. Dracula wasn't even really in most of the book. The suspense was dragging and thus, DNF'd. 

Ayla Hawthorne

goodbye to jonathan harker from my emails <3

reading this in chronological order was interesting. i'll never forget the solid six weeks of radio silence interspersed with ship logs as all the crew slowly disappeared.

i literally don't care about any of these people's diary entries

Virginia L

Brutto rapporto quello con Dracula. Molto più ridondante e solenne di quel credevo.

Kath

If you want to know more about Van Helsing and the other characters who were lost in the re-interpretations and adaptations of this novel into other forms of media, then give this a try. Surprisingly, this isn't a tale of the world's most infamous vampire - its focus is on the consequences of his existence: how his victims lived through life after coinciding paths with the titular creature.

Also, I really love Renfield. It's a shame Stoker did him like that.

Dracula

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