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In 1897, Bram Stoker's "Dracula" was published in Great Britain. It was one of many Gothic horror novels of the day and, although popular, wasn't considered to be meaningful or timeless in any way. Yet, over a century later, the book has never gone out of print. Its title character, Count Dracula, is the quintessential vampire of Western literature and has inspired more movies than any novel. "Dracula" is sufficiently multi-faceted that writers and directors of film have been able to adapt it for their constantly changing times and purposes. In 1922, F. W.
Murray found in "Dracula" his Freudian-expressionist masterpiece "Nosferatu." Nearly a decade later, Dracula was transformed into Bela Lugosi's suave predatory aristocrat in Tod Browning's 1931 film. In John Badham's 1979 film "Dracula", the predator is a liberator of sexually oppressed women. In Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film, "Bram Stoker's Dracula", he is a romantic hero. There have been at least 10 major films based directly on Bram Stoker's novel, and about the same number of plays. "Dracula" is a literary masterpiece by virtue of its influence and perhaps its ideas, many of which are only half-formed in the novel itself.
The prose is not masterful. Bram Stoker wrote "Dracula" as a series of diaries and correspondence which, taken together, tell a remarkable tale of an evil that invades the characters' lives and threatens to prey upon the citizenry of London. Jonathan Harker is a solicitor from Exeter who travels to Transylvania, in Romania, to present a mysterious Count named Dracula with the paperwork involved in his purchase of a home in London. While visiting the Count, Jonathan learns that his host is not quite human and very dangerous, but is left in such an agitated state that he is unsure what was real and what was a nightmare.
Hoping to put the ordeal behind him, Jonathan marries his devoted fiance, Mina, as soon as possible and returns to England and normalcy. Meanwhile, a former pupil of Mina's in London, Lucy Western, has just accepted a marriage proposal herself. But a strange illness has overtaken Lucy. She inexplicably loses large amounts of blood, her countenance is gradually changing. It will take her aristocratic fiance Arthur, her former suitors, psychiatrist Dr. Seward and wealthy Texan Quincey Morris, as well as an esteemed scientist from Amsterdam, Dr.
Van Helsing, to save her from an unnatural fate. Destroying the source of Lucy's transfiguration will take an even greater effort. The use of letters and diaries to tell this story recalls the great 18 th century French novel "Dangerous Liaisons" by Choderlos de Laclos. But where de Laclos' novel is one of its century's finest examples of French prose, Bram Stoker's "Dracula" does not do the same for the English language. "Dracula" isn't very literate. Of course, it is essentially pulp fiction and had no need to be. "Dracula"s letters are unnaturally detailed, often recounting long conversations verbatim and in heavily accented English.
Not only is that unrealistic, it is unnecessary. "Dracula" needed a good editor to correct numerous inconsistencies in the text and to eliminate a lot of extraneous material. The novel alternates between sections of tedium and suspense, but the middle section of the book, situated in London, is the most effective page-turner, and Jonathan's experiences in Transylvania are the best at creating suspense. The last third of the book is generally poor. Dracula, himself, is cunning and erudite when we first meet him but little more a primal monster by the end of the story. "Dracula" is a triumph of substance over style. That "Dracula", a novel that probably aspired only to entertain middle-class Victorians, is entertaining a century after it was written is a great credit to its author. "Dracula" is certainly not a polished book. But it continues to enthrall readers, writers and directors, and there is no reason to expect that it will stop.
It pits good against evil. It has a fascinating villain. It's infused with psychosexual overtones. Technology and mysticism battle for supremacy, as do Eastern and Western mores. "Dracula" is food for thought and a lot of fun. And Bram Stoker's concept of the Vampire is so ingrained in popular culture that "Dracula", the novel that started it all, is essential reading.
Some of the Different Editions: All of the editions of "Dracula" that I mention reproduce the First Edition, published in 1897 by Archibald Constable and Company, London. The first American edition was published in 1899 by Doubleday and McClure and included some minor, but not inconsequential, changes. I have never encountered a reproduction of that edition, however. The Signet Classic mass market paperback is pretty spare (ISBN 0451523377). It offers no notes on the text at all, but includes an introduction by Leonard Wolf, in which he discusses the history of Gothic horror, the context in which "Dracula" was written, and some of the films based on the novel. The Oxford World's Classics trade paperback (ISBN 0192833863) includes an excellent Introduction by Maud Ellmann, selected bibliography, short chronology of Bram Stoker's life, and endnotes.
The endnotes are limited to explaining terms found in the text. The Introduction discusses "Dracula"'s themes and many interpretations, and explains why the novel's clumsy style is its strength. The Courage Classics by Running Press hardback edition (ISBN 1561385158) includes an essay by Leonard Wolf at the back of the book, which is excerpted from the introduction to his book "The Annotated Dracula" (later published as "The Essential Dracula"). Wolf's essay in the Signet edition is better. The Norton Critical Edition (ISBN 0393970124) of "Dracula" contains more supplementary material. It includes extensive footnotes, 19 th Century reviews of the novel, 20 th century criticism in every imaginable vein, "Dracula's Guest", which was to be the book's opening chapter until Stoker changed the novel's style and location, an essay by David Skal on theatrical adaptations, and a list of important "Dracula" movies, among other extras.
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