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Dracula (Dracula of Stoker Family #1)

by Bram Stoker

3.97 · Rating Details · 634,238 Ratings · 16,226 Reviews

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 ...more

Paperback, Norton Critical Edition, 488 pages

Published May 12th 1986 by W.W. Norton & Company (first published May 26th 1897)

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Community Reviews

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Apr 27, 2015 Catriona (LittleBookOwl) rated it liked it

Shelves: owned, school

Managed to finish this :) Second time studying, but first successful read-through.
I enjoyed it more this time around, mainly because I actually read the last quarter or so of the book, which was the most enjoyable in my opinion.

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Oct 30, 2014 Jonathan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: personal-favourites, want, classic-literature, university, 1001-books-to-read-before-you-die, fantasy, re-read, thriller, fantasy-sci-fi-challenge, classic-challenge, gothic, books-with-films

This review can now be seen in a video form here for anyone wondering what I sound or look a little like . Enjoy!

Dracula: the very name instantly brings to mind visions of vampires, stakes, garlic and crucifixes. But when I bothered to read the novel I realised, sadly, how twisted modern vampire fiction has become.

Vampires are not meant to exist as heroes. Go back a few hundred years and men believed truly that the vampire was a real immortal, cursed to quench his undying thirst with a living ...more

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Feb 13, 2016 Bookworm Sean rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics, horror-gothic, 5-star-reads

Dracula is, of course, one of the most renowned horror stories, and the most well-known vampire novel. Bram Stoker set the ground rules for what a vampire should be, and set the benchmark for all other writers of the vampire afterwards. Indeed, if tyrannical villains are a necessity of Gothic fiction then Count Dracula is the father of all gothic villains, in spite of it being one of the last Gothic fiction novels to be written. It’s a work of genius that his presence is felt so strongly in the ...more

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Dec 04, 2013 Martine rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: film, british, nineteenth-century, gothic

'Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely. And leave something of the happiness you bring!'

These are pretty much the first words spoken to Jonathan Harker, one of the heroes of Bram Stoker's Dracula, upon his arrival at Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania, just minutes after a nightmare journey through the landscape of gothic horror: darkness, howling wolves, flames erupting out of the blue, frightened horses. Within a few days of his arrival, Harker will find himself talking of the Count' 'Welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely. And leave something of the happiness you bring!'

These are pretty much the first words spoken to Jonathan Harker, one of the heroes of Bram Stoker's Dracula, upon his arrival at Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania, just minutes after a nightmare journey through the landscape of gothic horror: darkness, howling wolves, flames erupting out of the blue, frightened horses. Within a few days of his arrival, Harker will find himself talking of the Count's 'wickedly blazing eyes' and 'new schemes of villainy' and have some hair-raising encounters with the man who is now the world's most famous vampire: 'The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand to me, with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that Judas in hell might be proud of.' Several adventures involving sharp teeth, mirrors, garlic, crucifixes, bloody-mouthed corpses and big stakes will ensue.

The above quotations should make it abundantly clear what kind of book Dracula is. It's sensation fiction, written nearly half a century after the heyday of that genre. It's a cross between an epistolary novel, a detective novel and a save-my-wife story, and it's full of scares, horror and disgust, all described in a lurid tone that befits the subject: the living dead. Or the Un-Dead, as the book's other hero, my countryman Van Helsing, calls them.

Sadly, Van Helsing is one of my main problems with the book. While I love his heroism, his 'Let's-do-it' attitude and his unceasing struggle for Mina's soul, I find him entirely unconvincing as a Dutchman. I wish to God (with a crucifix and everything!) that I could switch off my inner linguist and appreciate the story for its narrative qualities rather than its linguistic aspects, but Stoker has Van Helsing indulge in so many linguistic improbabilities ('Are you of belief now, friend John?') that it quite took me out of the story, again and again and again. I'm aware this is not a problem that will bother many readers, but I for one dearly wish Stoker had listened to some actual Dutchmen before making the hero of his story one. Then perhaps he also would have refrained from making the poor man mutter German whenever he is supposed to speak his mother tongue. ('Mein Gott' is German, Mr Stoker. I mean, really.)

Linguistic inaccuracies aside (there are many in the book), Dracula has a few more problems. For one thing, the bad guy doesn't make enough appearances. Whenever Stoker focuses on Dracula, the story comes alive -- menace drips off the pages, and the reader finds himself alternately shivering with excitement and recoiling in horror. However, when Dracula is not around (which is most of the second half of the book), the story loses power, to the point where the second half of the book is actually quite dull. In addition, the story seems a little random and unfocused. Remember the 1992 film, in which Dracula obsesses about Mina Harker (Jonathan's wife) because she is his long-lost wife reincarnated? That conceit had grandeur, romance, passion, tragedy. And what was more, it made sense. It explained why Dracula comes all the way from Transylvania to England to find Mina, and why he wants to make her his bride despite the fact that she is being protected by people who clearly want him dead. In the book, however, Mina is merely Jonathan's wife (no reincarnation involved), a random lady Dracula has sunk his teeth into, and while this entitles her to some sympathy, it lacks the grand romantic quality the film had. I guess it's unfair to blame an author for not thinking of an improvement film-makers later made to his story, but I think Stoker rather missed an opportunity there.

And then there's the fact that Stoker seems to be an early proponent of the Robert Jordan School of Writing, meaning he takes an awful lot of time setting the scene, only to end the book on a whimper. The ending to Dracula is so anticlimactic it's rather baffling. Did Stoker run out of paper and ink? Did he want to finish the story before Dracula's brides came and got him? I guess we'll never know.

Still, despite its many flaws Dracula is an exciting read (well, the first half is, anyway), and Stoker undeniably left a legacy that will last for centuries to come. In that respect, Dracula deserves all the praise that has been heaped on it. I still think it could have been better, though. Much better. ...more

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May 27, 2015 Mike (the Paladin) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, fantasy, horror, classics, classic-horror

I believe this isn't the edition I read "first" but I did have it. (and now I've actually changed that picture as apparently Goodreads lost the right to use that particular cover. I wanted a cover picture there so I went with this one...oh well.)This is an amazing book. I've read reviews by those who disagree and reviews by those who hated the format. But I was swept up in it the first time I read it as a teen and have been every time since.

My advice is don't worry about all the psychological b I believe this isn't the edition I read "first" but I did have it. (and now I've actually changed that picture as apparently Goodreads lost the right to use that particular cover. I wanted a cover picture there so I went with this one...oh well.)This is an amazing book. I've read reviews by those who disagree and reviews by those who hated the format. But I was swept up in it the first time I read it as a teen and have been every time since.

My advice is don't worry about all the psychological baggage that has been tacked on over the years...and please don't confuse the movie "Bram Stoker's Dracula" with the actual plot, story, and characters in the book. It doesn't remotely resemble the book and the title has galled me since that movie came out. The book is far, far better.
I believe it's worth noting that a lot of the psychological baggage that has been attached to this volume probably tells you more about the ones attaching it than the book.

This book creates a horror atmosphere that has been copied constantly over the years but never quite captured again. You'll be experiencing with Harker the castle and what he faces there. Battling the Count in England...and the terror of the ship's crew that carried his earth boxes across the sea, all will stay with you. Again let me urge you no matter how well any movie has been done, if the movie Dracula is the only one you know, you haven't met the proto-vampire who resides in this book. He/it still walks through literature and even more in the dark fears that lurk in the back of our minds when we're alone on a stormy night or we have to walk alone past that old rundown graveyard (not cemetery) where the city has never gotten around to installing those street lights.

This isn't Twilight, nor is it Buffy the vampire Slayer, there aren't any friendly, helpful, romantic vampires here. (None sparkle either) There is quite probably a reason (or maybe more than one) why we wish so badly to laugh at this book. It does what it does very, very well...and that's be frightening.

This book is a classic that has been around for over a hundred years..there's a reason for that.

"We" just read this in the Supernatural Readers group...and I still like it. LOL ...more

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Mar 18, 2010 Danielle The Book Huntress (Self-Proclaimed Book Ninja) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Vampire fans

Shelves: favorites, hero-to-die-for, vampire, occult-detective, classic-horror, heroine-i-adore, owned-copy, started-but-put-down, epistolary-narrative

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I highly recommend reading this to any fans of the vampire genre. It is a commitment and investment for the reader, but it is worthwhile. While Dracula is not the 1st vampire novel/story, it has firmly established many of the conventions of the vampire genre. I must say that no movie version I have watched does this justice. Bram Stoker's Dracula might have been a somewhat faithful rendition, but it took unforgivable liberties with the relationship between Mina and Dracula, and downplayed the ...more

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Jun 05, 2015 Sarah Actually rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobooks, read-classics, read-in-2015

Here are some thoughts on this book.
1. I would have been all OVER this in 1897.
2. Van Helsing needs to be quiet.
3. I can suspend disbelief for the vampires but not for the blood transfusions
4. I know it was 1897 and blood types weren't discovered until 1901 (according to wikipedia) but I still cannot get past it
5. The Texan would go outside and just randomly shoot things for fun, including things sitting on windowsills of windows in rooms where live people are hanging out, so he was clearly the ...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Paquita Maria Sanchez rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

This was neither as bad as I assumed it would be or (nor?) as good as I eventually started thinking it could be. Much as I love receiving real mail, whether it's a letter, present, post card, or even just a book I ordered (Shucks, for me? Thanks, me!), the epistolary form just doesn't generally jiggle my jolly parts. This is especially true when a lot of what you're reading is the journals of a bunch of people you'd never even want to have passing conversations with, Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. This was neither as bad as I assumed it would be or (nor?) as good as I eventually started thinking it could be. Much as I love receiving real mail, whether it's a letter, present, post card, or even just a book I ordered (Shucks, for me? Thanks, me!), the epistolary form just doesn't generally jiggle my jolly parts. This is especially true when a lot of what you're reading is the journals of a bunch of people you'd never even want to have passing conversations with, Dr. Van Helsing and Dr. Seward being obvious exceptions. Regardless, this is one of those books that fall under my largely arbitrary and completely self-imposed "Must Read Before I'm Dead" list. In the midst of being asphyxiated by Proustian self-reckoning, I decided to take a break from being challenged and read something light. You know, like a Gothic novel about an immortal Vlad Tepes and his baby-eating whore-beasts.

It's funny what pop culture'll do to ya. I'd heard over and over again that this was like the Book of Genesis for the whole Twilight romancing the undead thing that weirds me out anew with each internet-drenched day. I took this "Bram Stoker's Hawt Vampires Makin' Tender Love" idea at face-value because I've seen the Coppola flick. Remember? A lovelorn Oldman, a sexually-repressed and reincarnated Ryder, absinth, slow-dancing in a castle with candles and string-music and shit, vampire nipple-sucking, orgasm-inducing illnesses, etc.

Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. Turns out, the movie's entire romantic twist on the story was really just artistic license on roids, and all Mina is to Dracula is a leisurely Sunday brunch. There is straight-up NUUUUTHING saucy here, unless you count Mina and Jonathan Harker's relationship which is about as sexy as a box of Quaker Oats. I don't mean to insinuate that I was disappointed by this difference between book and screen as, needless to say, I have yet find myself reaching for the 19th-century literary fiction shelf when I feeeeeel like maaakin' lurrrrve. Still, I think it's a distinction which inquiring minds may appreciate knowing before committing to this occasionally exciting but largely sloggy story. The good parts were great, but the last 60-ish pages-- appropriately set on a bunch of fucking boats just inching their way along the river--moved so slowly, became so tedious that I just felt like screaming "Christ Almighty, Dracula, would you just eat these fuckers already?" If you want to know whether he does or not, you'll have to suffer through the end like I did. The first half is fun, though! (Twss!!)

Oh, and how dare you keep Tom Waits locked up in a cage. That's it, I'm calling your mother. ...more

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Oct 13, 2015 Carmen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: Everyone on Earth

Shelves: fiction, horror, classics, favorites, traditionally-published

No man knows till he experiences it, what it is to feel his own life-blood drawn away into the veins of the woman he loves.

This seems to be my first time reading Dracula, and I LOVED IT. I say "seems" because I swear I've read it before. However, that would have been ages ago. Or a byproduct of seeing 10 million different Dracula interpretations before the age of 20. o.O So it was fresh and relatively new to me. I was surprised by the twists and turns. I thought I would be able to reasonably pre ...more

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Aug 13, 2007 S.A. Parham rated it did not like it

Shelves: horror

I was rather disappointed by this classic. It started out with promise, especially the Jonathan Harker bits. Then all the male characters descended into blubbering worshippers of the two female characters, and by the end of the novel, I was wishing Dracula could snack on all of them and be done with it. I kept having to put it aside and read chapters in between other books, but I managed to finish it at last.

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Nov 06, 2015 ♕Miss A♕ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-could-read-over-and-over, dark-reads

4.5 Bloodsucking Stars!

"Once again... welcome to my house. Come freely. Go safely; and leave something of the happiness you bring."

photo tumblr_static_tumblr_mkwmc37trt1s9jh7do2_250_zpsjln7e70z.gif

"I want you to believe... to believe in things that you cannot."

I’m not a big scary book fan, but I have been known to read some spooky stuff. Two books that I found most terrifying were Peter Straub's 'Ghost Story,' which is also one of my all-time favorites, and Stephen King's 'Different Seasons.' Ok the last one isn't that scary but it's my favorite Stephen K ...more

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Apr 19, 2008 Jason Pettus rated it really liked it

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

The CCLaP 100: In which I read a hundred so-called "classic" books for the first time, then write reports on whether or not I think they deserve the label

Book #13: Dracula, by Bram Stoker (1897)

The story in a nutshell:
To best understand the storyline of Dracula, it's important to imagine yourself as a ...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Emma rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, books-from-my-yoof, i-like-you-a-normal-amount, ace

I first read Dracula as a teenager and it had a big effect on me. Stoker's suave monster fascinated me and sparked an interest in all things gothic and supernatural. After finishing the book for the first time I promptly ditched CS Lewis, bought some kohl eyeliner, decided to dress in black for the foreseeable future and devoted myself to studying Dracula. I don't think this book left my side for the following year.

Good-times.

Looking through my annotated notes in my copy from the 90s, the enth ...more

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Apr 25, 2016 Lola Reviewer rated it liked it

Shelves: classics, vampires, read-for-school, adult, 1st-person-pov, gothic, slow-kill-me-now-paced, read-in-french

I turned the first page of this universally loved classic thinking that I was going to plunge into one of the world’s best love stories ever written, between Dracula and a lovely lady.

Say what? Love story? BOUAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Right. I blame modern TV shows and movies for growing that thought into my mind over the years. Oh and this, too: (view spoiler). You're one deceiving cover. Dracula is such a romanticized character nowadays that being exposed to his true – Bram Stoker style – ...more

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Aug 23, 2016 J.G. Keely rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, novel, reviewed, gothic, uk-and-ireland

Almost every author will fall into one of two camps: the active, and the reactive. The active author looks at the world around them and decides to write about what they see. They sit down and think: "I'm going to write a story, the subtext of which will provide my analysis of Victorian sexual mores". They then construct the story around this theme, creating characters to show different aspects and constructing a plot which moves from general observations to specific insights.

Then there are the r ...more

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Dec 04, 2013 Paul Bryant rated it it was amazing

Shelves: spooky-ookums, novels

If I was Bram Stoker I’d remake the old Melanie hit – remember this one?

Look what they done to my song, ma
look what they done to my song
well it's the only thing that I could do half right
and it's turning out all wrong ma
look what they done to my song

Which the Count would have sung as

Uite ce au facut sa ma cantec, mama
Uite ce au facut cintecul meu e singurul
lucru care i s-ar putea face jumatate
dreptate si e intorcandu-se in toate regula mama
uite ce au facut sa ma cintec

Reviewing Dracula in If I was Bram Stoker I’d remake the old Melanie hit – remember this one?

Look what they done to my song, ma
look what they done to my song
well it's the only thing that I could do half right
and it's turning out all wrong ma
look what they done to my song

Which the Count would have sung as

Uite ce au facut sa ma cantec, mama
Uite ce au facut cintecul meu e singurul
lucru care i s-ar putea face jumatate
dreptate si e intorcandu-se in toate regula mama
uite ce au facut sa ma cintec

Reviewing Dracula in this twilight age of loin-thrustingly pert young vampettes and vamparistas is like extolling the sexual allure of Clara Bow and Jean Harlow.

Dracula was the first “grown up” book I ever read. Hey, 12 year old PB, good choice! It made my pulse pound and my skin horripilated madly. But I do not think this would happen to a modern reader. Poor old recycled Dracula, rewritten, cartooned, parodied, Buffyfied, sliced, diced, crimped, carved, and ripped off in every one of a million ways, undead you were and undead you still are, if only as a Halloween costume and a footnote to an essay about Stephanie Meyer.

Given all of that, and given the high Victorian never use one word where a bucketful will do style of Mr Stoker, I still think it's worth five of my stars. It seethes with that wonderful sexual hysteria the Victorians loved writing about, from Wuthering Heights to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. They couldn't mention anything directly so they did their best with linguistic nodding and winking, and much mention of purity, and chasteness and its opposite unchasteness. Bosoms were okay, anything beneath waist level was absolutely not, until you got to shapely ankles and well-turned feet. So you can see they were gagging for it, and the writers were ferociously finding metaphors for writing about sex; and Bram Stoker found vampires. The strong sick pall of sexual dread which suffuses Dracula like a London pea-souper is seduction. This is what Stoker wants to write about - seduction and sexual enslavement, or, why do good girls fall for such very bad men? The Count is the embodiment of all seducers. He comes around at night and he gets into your fiance's bedchamber, so naturally you have to drive a big phallus right through his heart. I get that. Bram Stoker is practically frothing about all of this.
Bram Stoker invents most of the trappings of vampires right here and throws in a handful of the most outrageous scenes (three beautiful young female vampires in the dead of night overheard squabbling about who should get the baby they have got in the bag they're holding up; three men all giving one woman a blood transfusion using only a rubber hose; the Count scrabbling up a castle wall as fast as a man could run, all great stuff).

I say read Bram Stoker, read Let the Right One In, and step delicately around Twilight. ...more

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Jan 20, 2016 Apatt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror, classics

“Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make.”

This iconic quote illustrates the unfathomable depth of Dracula’s evil. Not only does he have terrible taste in music (wolf metal, anyone?), he is keen to inflict his awful taste on poor Jonathan Harker who is already regretting his visit to Dracula’s castle. If the novel was set in the present day the Count probably would have put on a “Yoko Ono’s Greatest Hits CD”. “Listen to her. Nice Japanese lady. What music she makes.”. At which ...more

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Mar 09, 2009 Madeline rated it liked it

Shelves: the-list

FINALLY finished it. Assigned reading, in addition to being painfully boring, takes away serious time from The List.

Anyway, on to the bit where I review the book: it wasn't exactly what I was expecting (for instance, the whole novel consists of diary entries and letters written by the main characters - not Dracula, though), and no one even says the word "vampire" until page 165. And they're talking about the bats.
It was genuinely creepy, but the towards the end of the book the pace suddenly ov FINALLY finished it. Assigned reading, in addition to being painfully boring, takes away serious time from The List.

Anyway, on to the bit where I review the book: it wasn't exactly what I was expecting (for instance, the whole novel consists of diary entries and letters written by the main characters - not Dracula, though), and no one even says the word "vampire" until page 165. And they're talking about the bats.
It was genuinely creepy, but the towards the end of the book the pace suddenly overdosed on NyQuil and started riding a sloth towards the climax. (why does that sound like a porno? Ahem, moving on) Seriously, our merry gang of vampire hunters have figured out that Count Dracula is, in fact, a bloodsucker (took them long enough; I spent the first half of the book mentally screaming at the pages "He's a fucking vampire! Vampire vampire vampire!"), and are traveling to Transylvania to go all Buffy on his undead ass. Great, but first we have to read pages and pages of "and then we made our travel arrangements", "and then we bought lots of fur coats because it is cold out", and "we were all super patronzing to Madam Mina, because in case you've forgotten she is a delicate flower and her weak lady-brain cannot handle the stress of this trip."
Let me talk about Mina for a minute here: after finishing the book, I'm very, very tempted to write a Dracula fan fic entitled "Mina Harker: Vampire Hunter". She will be super badass and wear lots of leather and kill tons of vampires (first on her list: Carlise Cullen), and I guess Jonathan can come too. I want to do this because, for the entire book, I kept waiting for Mina to unleash her inner awesome, because I knew it was there. She's super smart - she's the one who figures out how Dracula is getting back to his castle - is actually really brave, no matter how often she says she was scared shitless by the various undead goings-on; and since she has a psychic connection with Dracula towards the end of the book she's a hell of a lot more useful than Jonathan's whiny ass. She needed to leave him, and then run away with Van Helsing so they could fight vampires together.
It would look exactly like this
http://api.ning.com/files/RC0Zuusf3l-...

and it would be MADE OF AWESOME.

...more

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Dec 28, 2015 Char rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, classics-read, re-reading, audio-book, vampires, dark-fiction, psychological-horror, classic-horror

I believe this was my third read of this book, but the only time I've listened to it on audio. This was a full cast performance and it was excellent. I highly recommend it to horror fans that dislike reading in epistolary form, the voicing here really brings the diary entries and letters to life.

Highly recommended for fans of classic horror stories!

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Sep 11, 2016 Jonathan Dunne rated it it was amazing

Many people don't realise Bram Stoker was Irish. He seems to be overlooked when Ireland's 'Great' writers are mentioned: Wilde, Joyce etc. There is a famous picture titled 'Great' Irish Writers' with perhaps 9/10 notable Irish writers from Jonathan Swift to Samuel Beckett. Stoker isn't on there which is a travesty in my opinion.

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Apr 06, 2015 Denisse rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Read for the 2015 Reading Challenge: #23 A book more than 100 years old. And for my 2015 Reading Resolutions: 5 classics (2/5)

The vampire book par excellence. Most definitely, not for vampire lovers but historical fiction fans, or just history fans. Yes, you love vampires? Well, that does not mean you’ll love Dracula. Excellently well set with a great writing. A little low-paced but it’s always moving. Really liked the original vampire mythology.

Bueno, bueno, bueno, que lectura tan interesante. ...more

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Sep 29, 2010 Jasmin rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy, classic, 1001-books, fiction, four-stars, reviewed-by-me, vampire, 501-books, horror

What would happen if the most famous vampire, Count Dracula battled against the second most famous vampire, Edward Cullen?

Count Dracula VS Edward Cullen

1... 2... 3... Fight!

So we have a DRAW.

So I'll leave you with this question, since the victor if they battled to the death is hard to determine, so:

Who's the hotter vampire? instead?

Count Dracula VS Edward Cullen

1... 2... 3... Fight!

------
Lack of star is due to my answer to the last question. Totally Edward Cullen though he has zero horrifying ...more

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Jul 20, 2015 F.R. rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I’ll be honest, I’ve only actually read ‘Dracula’ once before – when I was twenty or so – and didn’t really think much of it. Jonathan Harker’s opening narrative seemed to me, then, slow and uninvolving and I believe I thought the rest of the book not much of an improvement. One of the joys of art – be it books, films or music – is that you can come back to something with fresh eyes at a later point in your life and appreciate it in a whole different way. ‘Dracula’, this time around, has been a I’ll be honest, I’ve only actually read ‘Dracula’ once before – when I was twenty or so – and didn’t really think much of it. Jonathan Harker’s opening narrative seemed to me, then, slow and uninvolving and I believe I thought the rest of the book not much of an improvement. One of the joys of art – be it books, films or music – is that you can come back to something with fresh eyes at a later point in your life and appreciate it in a whole different way. ‘Dracula’, this time around, has been a fantastically entertaining surprise. So much so that I wish I could go back to my twenty year old self, peel back his skull and try to work out what the Hell he was thinking.

Written in 1897, the book can be seen as very much part of an English ‘fin de siècle’; art created at the end of the glorious Victorian age which nevertheless reveals anxiety about the world around it. ‘Dracula’ actually sees the old and the new come together, with a member of the aristocracy working hand in hand with gentlemen of the professions (doctors, a lawyer), as well as an American gentleman, to stop a threat facing London. The Upper Classes and the new Middle Classes joining so harmoniously together without comment on their distinctions, is something quite modern for the Victorian novel. (The Working Classes also put in an appearance, although they are pretty much illiterate and drunk, however they do recognise their betters. Other writers would create books for them). There are also new fangled inventions like the phonograph, and the great wonders of transport created in the Victorian age are put to great use.

And yet, there is a constant threat of the unknown. A visitor from a country at the far edge of Europe reaches in and disrupts the harmony of this secure world. He is something beyond the great achievements of science, a creature who is old and bloody and threatens to take this civilised and ordered world back to the dark ages. He is also decadently sensual, having no respect for the morals of vulnerable young women. Evidently this is the type of monster who needs to be stopped, but can even the greatness of the Victorian age stamp him out?

Undoubtedly Stoker did his research into Victorian folklore, as his knowledge is smeared across the pages. Indeed there are numerous scenes of gore and violence which stand up even now (particularly the fate of Lucy in the graveyard) and it all builds to a genuinely exciting chase sequence. Like ‘Frankenstein’, it isn’t perfect: the character of Dracula himself vanishes to the background a little too much; some of the melding together of the differing narratives is extremely clunky; and, once Mina is chosen by Dracula for his prey, would these people really not suspect what was happening? However, I will write every one of those off as quibbles. My twenty year old self was wrong, ‘Dracula’ is a scary and thrilling read, which still deserves to stand as the Daddy of vampire fiction.
...more

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Jan 19, 2016 Nandakishore Varma rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror, classic

This book taught me what horror is. I read it first in translation (and it was such a beautiful translation!) at the tender age of eight - and learnt the meaning of "delicious nightmare". I read it again in the original English in my twenties, and found that the story had not lost any of its power, for me.

I know many people do not find the Count frightening nowadays: I daresay I wouldn't either, if I read it for the first time now. Our palate has been jaded by heavy dosages of horror since this ...more

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Oct 14, 2016 Poonam rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror, paranormal-or-fantasy, classics

This is my Book Of the Month- October 2016, with GR group- Nothing But Reading Challenges- Category: Sci-Fi/Fantasy BOM.

I can certainly understand now why this is known as a classic. This is one of those books that you read and remember throughout your life.

I had tried reading this once before but gave up after the first chapter as I was unable to peak up the interest to go any further. I decided to give this another try as this was selected as a Group read and what better time to read this cla ...more

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Feb 18, 2016 Fernando rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

“¡Sea bienvenido a mi morada! Entre por su propia voluntad, entre sin temor y deje aquí parte de la felicidad que lleva consigo.”
Pocos mensajes de bienvenida son tan geniales como este en la literatura. Considero que junto con la recepción que le hace el gato de Cheshire a Alicia en el país de las maravillas ("Estamos todos locos aquí. Y si tu estás aquí, es porque también estás loca") transforman en algo imborrable el recuerdo que uno tiene de libros estos tan clásicos, brillantes y queridos p “¡Sea bienvenido a mi morada! Entre por su propia voluntad, entre sin temor y deje aquí parte de la felicidad que lleva consigo.”
Pocos mensajes de bienvenida son tan geniales como este en la literatura. Considero que junto con la recepción que le hace el gato de Cheshire a Alicia en el país de las maravillas ("Estamos todos locos aquí. Y si tu estás aquí, es porque también estás loca") transforman en algo imborrable el recuerdo que uno tiene de libros estos tan clásicos, brillantes y queridos por los lectores de todo el mundo.
Luego de leer “Drácula”, debo reconocer la inmensa vigencia que posee este libro de Bram Stoker. Y no me refiero a esa vigencia que supo conseguir gracias a la infinidad de películas que aparecieron después de su publicación en 1897, desde “Nosferatu” de Murnau, allá por 1922, Bela Lugosi en 1931, que murió creyéndose que realmente era Drácula, las infinitas caracterizaciones de Christopher Lee en los ’70, hasta la que retrata más fielmente al libro, me refiero al film de Francis Ford Coppola de 1992, entre otras. Particularmente en mi caso, y luego de haber leído un poco tarde el libro a mi entender, y me refiero con esto, me fue casi imposible despegar de mi mente la imagen de Anthony Hopkins como Van Helsing, a Keanu Reeves como Jonathan Harper o a Winona Ryder al imaginar el semblante de Mina Murray. Pero no son las películas, sino este gran libro lo que me ocupa en esta reseña.
Le llevó siete años a Bram Stoker escribir Drácula y si bien podemos pensar que recaló parte de su inspiración en otras novelas y cuentos sobre el vampirismo, logró forjar la imagen de Drácula tal cual la tenía pensada cuando el título del libro originalmente era “El no-muerto”.
Los orígenes del vampirismo como tema en la literatura deben remontarnos primeramente al cuento “El Vampiro”, de John Polidori, el cual surgió luego de esa amable sugerencia de una competencia literaria que le propusiera a este autor el poeta Lord Byron (Polidori era su médico) y a dos emblemas del romanticismo como fueron el poeta Percy Bysshe Shelley y la que sería su esposa, Mary Goodwin, quien con el apellido de su esposo, daría a luz a otro monstruo célebre: Frankenstein.
Todo esto forma parte del libro Fantasmagoriana, corto libro que incluye esos cuentos y que recomiendo leer.
Otro propulsor del género fue uno de los iniciadores del Romanticismo en Alemania, me refiero a E.T.A. Hoffmann con su cuento “Vampirismo” y por último a un gran autor gótico de cuentos y novelas de fantasmas a quien yo admiro mucho: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. Su famosa novela “Carmilla” trata también del vampirismo, con el aliciente de que es una mujer la que ocupa el lugar del conde en esa historia, que roza ciertos peligrosos bordes lésbicos, sobre todo para el año en que se publicó: 1872.
Cabe destacar que si bien, Stoker puede haberse inspirado en estas historias, a la postre terminará diferenciándose claramente de todos ellos (aunque personalmente creo que no se despega mucho de Carmilla en cuanto a los atractivos de índole sexual que Drácula insinúa), dotándole al conde de todos los atributos sensuales atractivos que tiene a su alcance para atraer a las mujeres bajo su poder como así también de los demoníacos, que utiliza para infringir daño a todos aquellos que quiere dominar y vencer.
Es que Drácula encierra la la encarnación de todo lo maligno que hay en el hombre y a la vez desnuda todos esos miedos que nos han acompañado desde el origen de los tiempos, sobre todo el miedo a lo desconocido, algo que Mina transforma en atractivo, cuando en parte de su diario dice: “Omne ignotum pro magnifico. Todo lo desconocido parece maravilloso.”
El mismo Drácula supo ser un hombre que fue corrompiéndose moralmente para terminar siendo la abominación en la que se convirtió. Es que, es inevitable aceptar que uno teme a lo desconocido, hasta que comprueba que eso es tangible y nos afecta directamente de buena o mala manera. Como en toda novela con un villano bien definido tenemos en danza varios personajes alrededor del mismo y cuya trascendencia es tan importante como la del primero.
El libro cuenta con los personajes necesarios para que todo funcione correctamente, ya que además de los tres principales, encontramos otros que son clave a la hora de cerrar el círculo de la trama y me refiero a doctor John Seward, Lucy Westenra (quien será eje fundamental de la historia para entender por qué suceden tantas cosas), Arthur, su prometido, el americano Quincey Jones y por último Reinfeld, el loco encerrado en el manicomio de Seward, debido a su relación con el conde, quien lo tiene bajo su dominio.
Una característica interesante que saca a la novela de las tradicionales formas de escritura ya que está narrada en forma de diario personal, de cartas, a partir de artículos periodísticos e incluso telegramas y memorandums. Es atractivo encontrarnos con esta forma en la que Stoker escribió el libro, puesto que nos ayuda a "hilvanar" lo que sucede para entender la historia. No es el único ejemplo de libros escritos de esta manera, de hecho, me vienen a la mente otros dos, como por ejemplo "Pobres Gentes" de Fiódor Dostoievski y "Las penas del joven Werther ", de Johann von Goethe, aunque estos están relatados puntualmente en forma epistolar.
En estos tiempos que corren, me refiero a este siglo XXI y después de tantas películas de terror (y hago referencia nuevamente al cine como método de ejemplificar lo que genera el miedo visual, a través de la pantalla) es difícil que uno se asuste absolutamente con ninguno de estos libros que otrora causaban escozor y con ello puedo nombrar a autores que hicieron un culto del género como Poe o Lovecraft, pero debo confirmar que si bien no sentí "miedo", si pude compenetrarme totalmente con la historia a partir de lo que cuenta Jonathan Harker durante su estadía en el castillo de Drácula, a principios de la novela. Cuando relata el momento ve al conde reptando cabeza abajo las paredes del castillo, reconozco que es excelente la forma en que lo que Stoker ha escrito, ya que junto con la descripción del ataque a Lucy Westenra, ya convertida, me parecen momentos magníficamente narrados.
La elección de ciertas características del Romanticismo, sumado a ambientes góticos, personajes inolvidables y mujeres fatales y terroríficos sucesos extraordinarios contra los que batallan hombres ordinarios renuevan el brillo de un clásico tan único como inolvidable.
"Aprendemos de los fracasos. No del éxito", dice Stoker a través del personaje de Van Helsing. Puede que en su caso haya sido así, ya que como tantos otros escritores (Melville, Kafka, Poe), el éxito le resultó esquivo y podrá decirse que sólo fue reconocido por este libro. Pero al final, triunfó. El mismísimo conde Drácula, a partir de litros de sangre derramada a lo largo de los años, se encargó de ubicar a Bram Stoker en el sitial que se merece dentro de la literatura: entre los grandes. ...more

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May 13, 2013 Kim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook

I want to make a confession. This is the first vampire book I've ever read. I've never been interested in vampires, ghosts, werewolves and other manifestations of superstition and the supernatural. Indeed, for as long as I can remember, I've avoided horror - gothic and otherwise - in both literature and film, basically because I hate being scared. So I've not read Dracula before. I've never seen a Dracula film. The closest I've come to watching anything featuring vampires on television was an ep
I want to make a confession. This is the first vampire book I've ever read. I've never been interested in vampires, ghosts, werewolves and other manifestations of superstition and the supernatural. Indeed, for as long as I can remember, I've avoided horror - gothic and otherwise - in both literature and film, basically because I hate being scared. So I've not read Dracula before. I've never seen a Dracula film. The closest I've come to watching anything featuring vampires on television was an episode of Doctor Who a couple of years ago.

Given that I've consciously avoided all things vampire-related, it was a surprise to realise, as I listened to this audiobook, just how much I knew about the species. If I and not Jonathan Harker had been sent on legal business to Transylvania, I would have known that peasants making the sign of the cross and giving me garlic when they became aware of my destination was not a good sign. I also would have known that if a man dressed in black with a pale face and sharp canine teeth protruding over blood red lips opens the door of his isolated castle and invites me to come inside, it would probably be wise to turn tail and run. That I know this without having voluntarily exposed myself to vampire lore is a testament to the pervasiveness of Dracula as an icon of popular culture.

This makes me wonder how the average reader reacted to Stoker's tale when it was first published in 1897, given that the characters and the story came to them freshly minted, as it were.* My guess is that they must have been properly terrified. All the more so because they probably wouldn't have found the melodrama and verbosity of the Victorian sensationalist novel faintly amusing, as do so many contemporary readers.

Well, I wasn't properly terrifed by Dracula, although I did find the narrative quite suspenseful. At least, I did until towards the end, when the hunt for Dracula slowed down to the speed of Victorian-era public transport. And then the climax, when it finally came, was over in a flash. The over-the-top melodrama made me roll my eyes from time to time and I found the verbosity a little trying, even though as a general rule it's a feature of Victorian literature which doesn't particularly bother me. More than once I found myself wishing that they would stop talking and just get on with it.

Overall, though, I found a lot more to like than to dislike in this novel. I particularly like the expanded epistolary format, which uses not only letters, but diary entries, memoranda, a ship's log and newspaper articles. It provides an interesting way of telling the story from the perspective of multiple characters. Admittedly, the device has its weaknesses. For example, the newspaper articles are not particularly convincing and the explanation for why various characters record the minutiae of their lives - including conversations set out vebatim - in times of great danger and stress, feels rather forced.

I'm glad I listened to this particular audiobook edition. It's a full cast narration, which includes well-known narrators Simon Vance and Katherine Kellgren and actors Tim Curry and Allan Cumming. They're all very good, even though none of them make Dr Van Helsing sound Dutch. But then the syntax and grammar Stoker used in creating Van Helsing's character is not that of a Dutchman speaking English, so I don't suppose the vaguely Eastern European accent the various characters give him is that much of a problem.

Overall, this was lots of fun. It hasn't exactly converted me to vampire fandom, although I'm thinking about reading its predecessors, Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla and John Polidori's The Vampyre: A Tale. Not anytime soon, though. For now I'll happily go back to avoidng horror.

*I know that Dracula wasn't the first vampire novel, but it hadn't been preceded by that many. ...more

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Oct 08, 2015 Ɗắɳ 2.❄ rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: oh-how-i-loathe-thee, horror, classics

Edit: Holy comma splice, Batman! I just noticed this old, error ridden review, as some of our pantless brethren began reading Dracula for a Spooktober side read. I suppose that's what happens when you write a review off the cuff, three years late, and three sheets to the wind. In the immortal words of Steve Martin, "Some people have a way with words, and other people...oh, uh, not have way."

Slightly corrected original review:

I think Dracula was the absolute biggest disappointment out of all of ...more

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Nov 18, 2016 James Lafayette Tivendale rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, classics, vampire

Everyone knows Dracula and the vampire phenomenon in popular culture. Loving a lot of 19th-century literature I decided to read Bram Stoker's original gothic horror story. This is written via diary entries, telegrams, newspaper cut-outs, therefore, give a great perspective of all that is going on in this spooky, mysterious and macabre environment.

We start in Transylvania with Johnathan Harker as Count Dracula's guest in his castle. This part is dark and Dracula actually seems quite charming. Ver Everyone knows Dracula and the vampire phenomenon in popular culture. Loving a lot of 19th-century literature I decided to read Bram Stoker's original gothic horror story. This is written via diary entries, telegrams, newspaper cut-outs, therefore, give a great perspective of all that is going on in this spooky, mysterious and macabre environment.

We start in Transylvania with Johnathan Harker as Count Dracula's guest in his castle. This part is dark and Dracula actually seems quite charming. Very human and almost quite fond of his guest. He is using Johnathan in aid to prepare for purchasing a property in England. This was my favourite section of the book.

Dracula crawls down the castle walls, has no reflection, has to be invited into a room before he can enter, turns into a bat, can only prowl at night, has 'vampire bride' accomplishes, can only be killed with a stake and hates garlic. Pretty much everything we know about the vampire genre is prevalent here.

When Dracula arrives in England via a shadowy vessel - our friend and diary writer Dr. Seward messages his former teacher Van Helsing and they form a union of individuals, including Johnathan, his wife Mina et al to deal with the terror of the vampire unleashed, now polluting Whitby in England. This cues a lot of camaraderies, God-loving statements and bizarre plots to capture and kill the evil UnDead. Especially when he sucks the blood of one of our team and she needs the big Vampire to be killed or to remain as an UnDead also, never knowing the blessedness of Heaven etc...

I enjoyed this book a lot. I think the fact that the vampire genre has become watered down with so many clones may have hindered my final opinion of this book. I expected Van Helsing to be like Hugh Jackman from the Holywood adaption film sharing the name. Van Helsing was a cool intelligent Dutch professor, who was God-fearing and loved everyone in the crew.

Renfield - an inmate at Dr. Seward's insanity hospital was a cool character. I think that in the last 3/4 of the book, Dracula is barely seen and is just spoken about so it loses a bit of its power in the description of the evil being. I also believe the ending came on very fast and then was done. This is probably no fault of the writer or the book. My preconceptions because of the Holy Wood era expected a huge Lord of the Ring's-esque showdown which didn't transpire. I enjoyed a lot and this is a very important book in fiction. I do recommend it. Peace.
James x
www.youandibooks.wordpress.com

...more

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Feb 11, 2016 Franco Santos rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Bienvenido a mi casa. ¡Entre con libertad y por su propia voluntad!

No soy aficionado a los vampiros, de hecho no me gustan, pero este libro significa tanto para la literatura que me daba vergüenza no tenerlo en mi estantería.

El comienzo es oscuro, etéreo y Stoker nos esboza cómo será el relato: estremecedor y escalofriante. Desde la primera página ya me relacioné vehementemente con la historia. Imposible detenerme.

En la vida hay tinieblas, mi niña, pero también hay luces. Y tú eres la luz de ...more

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About Bram Stoker

He was born Abraham Stoker in 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent – then as now called "The Crescent" – in Fairview, a coastal suburb of Dublin, Ireland. His parents were Abraham Stoker and the feminist Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely. Stoker was the third of seven children. Abraham and Charlotte were members of the Clontarf Church of Ireland parish and attended the parish church (St. John the Baptist He was born Abraham Stoker in 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent – then as now called "The Crescent" – in Fairview, a coastal suburb of Dublin, Ireland. His parents were Abraham Stoker and the feminist Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely. Stoker was the third of seven children. Abraham and Charlotte were members of the Clontarf Church of Ireland parish and attended the parish church (St. John the Baptist located on Seafield Road West) with their children, who were both baptised there.

Stoker was an invalid until he started school at the age of seven — when he made a complete and astounding recovery. Of this time, Stoker wrote, "I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years."

After his recovery, he became a normal young man, even excelling as an athlete (he was named University Athlete) at Trinity College, Dublin (1864 – 70), from which he graduated with honours in mathematics. He was auditor of the College Historical Society and president of the University Philosophical Society, where his first paper was on "Sensationalism in Fiction and Society".

In 1876, while employed as a civil servant in Dublin, Stoker wrote a non-fiction book (The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, published 1879) and theatre reviews for The Dublin Mail, a newspaper partly owned by fellow horror writer J. Sheridan Le Fanu. His interest in theatre led to a lifelong friendship with the English actor Henry Irving. He also wrote stories, and in 1872 "The Crystal Cup" was published by the London Society, followed by "The Chain of Destiny" in four parts in The Shamrock.

In 1878 Stoker married Florence Balcombe, a celebrated beauty whose former suitor was Oscar Wilde. The couple moved to London, where Stoker became business manager (at first as acting-manager) of Irving's Lyceum Theatre, a post he held for 27 years. The collaboration with Irving was very important for Stoker and through him he became involved in London's high society, where he met, among other notables, James McNeil Whistler, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the course of Irving's tours, Stoker got the chance to travel around the world.

The Stokers had one son, Irving Noel, who was born on December 31, 1879.

Bram Stoker died in 1912, and was cremated and his ashes placed in a display urn at Golders Green Crematorium. After Irving Noel Stoker's death in 1961, his ashes were added to that urn. The original plan had been to keep his parents' ashes together, but after Florence Stoker's death her ashes were scattered at the Gardens of Rest.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bram_Stoker ...more

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“There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights.” — 3235 likes

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