Books

Average customer rating:

Most Elaborately Annotated Edition. Artwork by Sätty.
Great edition with blood-thirsty details
Best Dracula resource available
The original novel with copious marginal notes

The Annotated Dracula
Bram Stoker
Manufacturer: Crown Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Look Inside Horror Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires

ASIN: 0517520176

Customer Reviews:

Most Elaborately Annotated Edition. Artwork by Sätty........2004-11-09

Leonard Wolf may be the world's most revered "Dracula" scholar. A native of Transylvania who left "the land beyond the forest" as a child, Wolf has taught and written about Bram Stoker's immortal novel for decades. In 1975, Wolf published "The Annotated Dracula", which remains to this day the most elaborately annotated edition of the novel.

"The Annotated Dracula" is a large book whose many illustrations and interesting notes are a pleasure to peruse. The text of the novel, itself, is taken from the second printing of the first edition, with typos in tact. The annotations include over 100 illustrations -drawings and photographs. 15 full-page drawings by artist Sätty (Wilfried Podreich) are featured. These are captivating expressionist interpretations of scenes from "Dracula", not to be missed. All illustrations are black-and-white.

In his introduction to "The Annotated Dracula", Leonard Wolf takes the reader on a tour of the traditions and circumstances from which "Dracula" eventually emerged at the hand of Bram Stoker. He discusses Gothic Romance literature, the vampire literature that preceded "Dracula", Eastern European vampire folklore, Vlad "Dracula" Tepes -the 15th century Wallachian Prince from whom the Count Dracula takes his name, and, finally, the life of the novel's enigmatic author, Bram Stoker.

Annotations in the form of margin notes are found on most pages of the novel. Wolf has included explanations for every imaginable allusion in the text, as well as interesting personal comments. The reader gets quite a history lesson just reading the notes. Some of the most intriguing notes include: recipes for the Romanian dishes on which Jonathan Harker dines, population demographics for Transylvania in the late 19th century, translations of old Mr. Swales' dialect, explanations of Victorian figures of speech, and the particulars of Victorian typewriters that Mina employs so frequently. I find that reading straight through the abundant notes is a bit much. Reading them with the novel is distracting. They are ideal for fans and students concentrating on one chapter or passage at a time and add to the enjoyment of the novel when absorbed in small doses.

The Appendixes contain some useful information and interesting trivia, as well. Maps of Transylvania, Europe, England & Wales, Whitby, London, and the Zoological Gardens in London are provided, with places from the novel marked. A Calendar of Events charts the events of the novel from May to November 1887 (the supposed year "Dracula" takes place) in coherent form. Students and aficionados may appreciate "Dracula Onstage", a chart of Count Dracula's appearances in the novel, with page numbers. There is a Selected Filmography that includes notable Dracula films, 1922-1974, including films featuring the Dracula character, not necessarily based on Stoker's novel. British, American, and Foreign-language editions of "Dracula" from 1897 to 1973 are listed. There is an Index for the novel that is helpful but not comprehensive.

"The Annotated Dracula" has been out of print for some time. Its latest incarnation is "The Essential Dracula", a handsome softcover edition released in 2004. "The Essential Dracula" retains and, in some cases, augments the footnotes found in "The Annotated Dracula", but dispenses with most of its illustrations, all of the Sätty drawings, and the Appendixes. If you simply want the information contained in the notes, "The Essential Dracula" is excellent -although the notes border on microscopic and can be trying to read. "The Annotated Dracula", with its maps, charts, and abundant illustrations, is a more elaborate edition.

Great edition with blood-thirsty details.......1999-06-21

First read this when I was in college. Great illustrztions and liner notes. Even on page one, as Jonathan HRKER STOPS FOR DINNER IN THE HOTEL BEFORE GOING ON TO DRACULA'S CASTLE, HE DINES ON CHICKEN PAPRIKOSH. In the margin, they have THE RECIPE!!!! for this dish! Awesome. Hope it returns.

Best Dracula resource available.......1998-07-24

Excellent information. Background information details nearly line by line the orginal novel. Get your hands on a copy of this book if you can.

The original novel with copious marginal notes.......1998-01-18

Vampire stories have been told and retold with fascination. However, there are few that match the power of the novel by Bram Stoker. This book contains the original version with thick margins filled with footnotes, anecdotes, vampire lore, and insight into every aspect of this fascinating story.

Average customer rating:

"This night our feet must tread in thorny paths or later and forever the feet you love must walk in flame."
I loved it!!!!
Classic Tale of Horror Falls Short
A pretty good book but...
Not extremly scary but interesting

Dracula (Signet Classics)
Bram Stoker
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Horror Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Frankenstein (Bantam Classics)
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (Signet Classics)
Frankenstein (Enriched Classics)
The Time Machine (Signet Classics)
20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (Scholastic Classics)

ASIN: 0451523377

Book Description

Dracula is perhaps almost as interesting regarded historically as the product of a specific time as it is engaging to continuing generations of readers in a 'timeless' fashion. In her introduction Byron first discusses the famous novel as an expression not of universal fears and desires but of specifically late nineteenth-century concerns. At the same time she is entirely attuned to the ways in which, however much Dracula is a Victorian text, Dracula is a very twentieth-century character, a representative of modernity and of the future.

Download Description

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.

Customer Reviews:

"This night our feet must tread in thorny paths or later and forever the feet you love must walk in flame.".......2007-03-18

Written in 1897, Stoker's Dracula is a classic of British fiction, fascinating for its subject matter and still the subject of films a hundred years later. Count Dracula, the epitome of evil, is exotic enough to keep even the most jaded reader of his exploits interested in their outcome, and grounded enough in the reality of evil to make even doubters wonder whether evil can be transmitted from one person to another against one's will.

The novel begins with the arrival of Jonathan Harker, a lawyer representing a London real estate agency, at the Transylvanian castle of Count Dracula to clinch the deal by which the count will move to a British estate. Details about Harker's arrival by coach, his greeting at the castle, which has no doors except the front door, his reception by the count (who has hair on the palms of his hands), and his instructions regarding where he may go or not go within the castle set the tone and establish the mysterious background of the count and a sense of dread regarding the outcome for Harker.

By the time that Harker recovers from a long and mysterious illness and returns home, the count, already in London, has turned Lucy, a lovely ingenue, into a vampire. Dr. Van Helsing, a German expert on vampires hired by her family, saves her several times from what appears to be severe anemia and recommends ringing her room with garlic and making sure that she has crucifixes around her. When Dracula then turns his blood-thirsty attention to Mina, fiancée of Jonathan Harker and friend of the unfortunate Lucy, the scene is set for a showdown regarding Dracula's power vs. the power of goodness and traditional religion.

Stoker takes his story beyond sheer melodrama, eliciting sympathy for the afflicted victims of Dracula while also recreating the religious atmosphere of the period and the beliefs and doubts of average citizens. The novel is far more compelling than I expected, creating suspense at the same time that it develops the character of the count with his supernatural powers. The climax in which the forces of good are ranged against the forces of evil in the shape of the count, whose long history is detailed in the novel, is truly a conflict between traditional religion and evil in the form of Satan personified. Fun to read and surprisingly affecting. Mary Whipple

I loved it!!!!.......2007-03-15

This is now one of my favourite books! It was great. I liked how suspenseful it was, even if the story got a bit slow between the important parts. Bram Stoker does a great job at descriptions with lots of nice details. It was pretty creepy. It didn't think it would be, but it was.
Something else I liked was how the women in the book weren't all...flimsy. It's a nice change how Mina actually plays a big part in the story and she's a strong character.
Great book! Love it! I definately reccomend it!

Classic Tale of Horror Falls Short.......2007-02-19

There is no doubt that Dracula is one of the most popular horror stories to ever be written. It has been adapted into numerous movies and plays. The story is intriguing which is what caused me to pick up the book in the first place. However i feel that the book left more to be desired.

The book starts off with the fascinating and many times frightening experiences of Jonathan Harker in Dracula's castle. Afterwards, however, i feel that the novel loses focus. The story line slows and focus seems to be on Lucy instead of Mina, the herione. Overall the book was good although it seems to be slow at times it is still worth the read.

A pretty good book but..........2006-12-10

Dracula by Bram Stoker was a brilliant novel. It tells the story of a young lawyer named Jonathan Harker, who travels to Translyvania to work for a man named Dracula. Through Jonathan, Dracula travels to London and preys upon the people there--including several who are of importance to Jonathan and the people he loves. Dracula, in all honesty, was the scariest book I have ever read. I could never read it at night because of the intense desciptions and even during the day I found myself at the edge of my seat. It is a very captivating and is very thought provoking on the matters of goodness in man. But in all of that, there was something that was missing. I felt that the climax of the story could have been better and more dramatic--or maybe something believable could have happened. Dracula was just one of those books that you read where everything is so great in the beginning and middle, and you expect so much from the end, but you end up getting nothing. I still recommend it to classic horror fans, though. And I do warn people who tend to be on the sqeumish side. There are parts that can be quite graphic.

Not extremly scary but interesting.......2006-11-03

The complete story is not really scary because most people are aware of the vampire folklore. As it flows fast at major events but slows down between the major parts. The beginning catches your mind but in the middle you think "this is boring" but at the end somewhat satisfied. I would say it is a classic but not in the same sense as Jane Austen or Charles Dickens.

Most people want speed, excitement and gore in horror novels. You will not be that satisfied if you are looking for death and gore. It is more of a drama mystery but is slow in some parts. The speed is what gets annoying. In some parts its just a bunch of nonsense and long winded. It takes somewhat patience and devotion to complete the book.

I would not classify it as a true horror. Frankenstein is more of a horror and this doesn't have too much death but more of a tale. Also it is not a straight clear story it comprises of journal and diary entries. That is what makes it more of a drama because of the various perspectives.

If you get this book beware you must have some patience to keep pushing yourself to complete the book. But if you complete it you will be somewhat satisfied on how the whole vampire folklore came about.

Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula

Average customer rating:

Insight into Bram Stoker & His Life at the Lyceum.
Best Book I ever read!

Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula
Barbara Belford
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

British | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Bram Stoker and the Man Who Was Dracula

ASIN: 0679418326
Release Date: 1996-04-09

Amazon.com

"I am here to do Your bidding, Master. I am Your slave, and You will reward me, for I shall be faithful." These words spoken by Renfield to Dracula might have been said by Bram Stoker to his boss, the mesmerizing, domineering actor Henry Irving. Stoker was such a mild-mannered, secretive man that the real subject of this acclaimed biography turns out to be the genesis of his novel Dracula, and Irving--the man who, according to Barbara Belford, inspired its famous monster. Other fascinating characters who appear in Stoker's life are Florence Stoker (courted by Oscar Wilde before Bram married her), Ellen Terry (Irving's leading lady), Walt Whitman, the aging Lord Tennyson, W. S. Gilbert, William Gladstone, Lady Speranza Wilde, her son Oscar, Queen Victoria (who knights Irving, the first actor so honored), George Bernard Shaw, and Mark Twain. As Margot Peters writes in the New York Times Book Review, "Stoker himself is pretty much swamped in these heavy seas. But as Ms. Belford's intelligent, well-written and always interesting book makes clear, Stoker lived to serve. His revenge for lifelong self-effacement was Dracula."

Book Description

The first full-scale biography of the complex man known today as the author of Dracula, but who was famous in his own time as the innovative manager of London's Lyceum Theatre, home of the greatest English actors of the day, Henry Irving and Ellen Terry.

Barbara Belford tells the story of Stoker the hidden man. On the surface: the very model of Victorian modesty, reserve, and duty, the devoted husband and father. In actuality: a man whose emotional and working energies were in large part expended on the care and cultivation of the flamboyant, mesmerizing genius of the stage, Henry Irving.

We see Stoker the writer of novels and stories that were imbued with sexuality, violence, and the celebration of death -- works at opposite poles from the decorum he presented in society. And Barbara Belford shows us in Dracula a mirror of the undercurrents of Stoker's own life, as well as a masked exploration of subjects utterly forbidden in his time -- seduction, rape, necrophilia, incest, voyeurism -- universal taboos dramatized with such a myth-making edge that the novel remains resonant and unsettling almost one hundred years later.

We follow Stoker from his sickly childhood -entertained by his mother's twice-told tales of Irish hobgoblins and banshees -- to his years as a Dublin undergraduate and newspaperman, when he first wrote to his idol Wait Whitman, spilling out his innermost thoughts and beginning a lifelong correspondence that culminated in their meeting when Stoker traveled to America on tour with Irving and Ellen Terry. We see Stoker's childhood friendship with Oscar Wilde, and watch as the two young men compete for the hand of the beautiful Florence Balcombe, who became Stoker's wife. And we see Stoker in the literary and theatrical circles of Victorian London among such figures as Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, James Whistler, Lord Tennyson, and George Bernard Shaw.

Belford gives us a vivid picture of the man, his time, his London -- the domestic and theatrical worlds he lived in -- and the dark imaginary realms that were the wellspring of all his writings, especially of his enduring and enduringly fascinating Dracula.

Customer Reviews:

Insight into Bram Stoker & His Life at the Lyceum........2005-05-17

Barbara Belford's "Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula" is considered to be the most scholarly and thorough of the 3 Bram Stoker biographies that have been published. But Mr. Stoker was a reticent person about whose personal life, opinions, and character there is precious little known. Whether out of humility or caution, he usually took care not to reveal himself. So what we know of Stoker comes primarily from his public life, which was thankfully shared with several grander, more loquacious personalities. Perhaps due to the scarcity of information about her subject, Barbara Belford gives Stoker's friends, colleagues, and the London theater community a lot of attention, especially Henry Irving, the great actor whose fame was dwarfed only by his ego, and whom Bram Stoker dedicated 27 years of his life to serving. Indeed, this biography of Stoker would serve well as a history of Irving's famous Lyceum Theatre for the decades that Stoker served as its acting manager.

The book starts by describing Stoker's childhood in Dublin, the third child born to a middle class Anglo-Irish family in 1847 during the potato famine, and his apparent debilitation until the age of 7. He grew up to be a civil servant like his father, and pursued personal interests as an unpaid drama critic for the "Evening Mail", through which Stoker met Henry Irving. After marrying the lovely Florence Balcombe, whom Oscar Wilde also courted, the Stokers moved to London where Bram's efficient management would help make the 1500-seat Lyceum Theatre fashionable and profitable. Since the Lyceum dominated Stoker's life, it dominates his biography, but Belford also discusses his trips to America on tour with the Lyceum company, his effusive admiration for Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln, and his novels and stories.

The upshot of "Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Man Who Wrote Dracula" is that Bram Stoker was a modest, hardworking man, exceedingly courteous even by Victorian standards, whose tireless work for Henry Irving was acknowledged by many but unappreciated and unrewarded by Irving himself. Stoker's genial but reserved manner harbored passionate, worshipful emotions toward his heroes, invariably men of power with larger-than-life personalities. Belford draws an occasional parallel between persons in Bram Stoker's own life and characters in "Dracula". Most notably, she sees a "sinister caricature" of Henry Irving in the vampire Count. Actress Ellen Terry seems to be reflected in Mina, and Stoker's wife Florence may have lent some of her character to Lucy. None of this is a stretch as long as one recognizes that "Dracula"'s characters don't have a single source, but many.

This biography includes a lot of good information for fans of Bram Stoker's work, but a couple of stylistic problems nagged at me. One is Belford's confusing tendency to refer to people by first or last name only, at the beginning of a chapter, instead of starting off with a full name. Another is the repeated use of the phrase "Unholy Trinity" to describe the business partnership between Henry Irving, Bram Stoker, and stage manager H.J. Loveday, which I found melodramatic. But Belford's book succeeds in creating a picture of Bram Stoker's personality without reading too much into his actions or words.

Best Book I ever read!.......1998-04-16

The main caracters in the story are Jonathan Harker, Mina Murry/Harker, and Lucy Westenras. There are several different settings, so I won,t list them specifically. Most of the book, they are in Europe in the 1800's. The plot of the books is Jonathan is a solicitor and meets the "Count". Sopposably the Count is friendly and turns evil. My opinion of the book is it is great it has some diffficult words so I recommend it to 8th grade and above. It is very interesting and fun. I liked the way that the author set up the book and the way he used everybodys point of view.

Hollywood gothic: The tangled web of Dracula from novel to stage to screen

Average customer rating:

Hollywood gothic: The tangled web of Dracula from novel to stage to screen
David J Skal
Manufacturer: Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Adaptations | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Art Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror; Revised Edition with a New Afterword

ASIN: 0393029042

Average customer rating:

Good Book, Atrocious Editor
Great critical edition
Simply the Best
Still the best
Full-Featured Critical Edition for Fans and Students.

Dracula (Norton Critical Editions)
Bram Stoker
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adaptations | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Horror Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Qualifying Textbooks - Spring 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Frankenstein (Norton Critical Editions)
Wuthering Heights (Norton Critical Editions)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Norton Critical Editions)
In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires
Jane Eyre (Norton Critical Editions)

ASIN: 0393970124

Amazon.com

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.

Customer Reviews:

Good Book, Atrocious Editor.......2007-06-20

I love Norton Critical Editions, but the footnotes in this volume are maddening. I'm puzzled that no one seems to have mentioned this. Example, a passage where Dracula appears in disguise and Bram Stoker obviously doesn't mean for the reader to have this bit of information yet. The footnote? "Here we see Dracula in disguise speaking wonderful German." I'm exaggerating, but you get the point. Another example: a passage describing Dracula's map of England (footnote: Here we see that Dracula has circled the city of X, where later in the story he will....and....and....until later....). Finally, there are even footnotes that engage the reader in conversation. Something like: "What do you think Dracula meant by that, curious comment, don't you think?" As with all Norton editions, there are some wonderful footnotes, commentary, etc. included, but still I would choose a different version.

Great critical edition.......2006-11-17

If you want lots of in-depth footnotes and many critical essays, than this is your book.

Simply the Best.......2006-07-10

I've listened to Dracula from Audible.com. I downloaded it last month. It's the best of all the Dracula books I've read. Definitely worth the investment of time. It's incredibly suspenseful, full of well-drawn, unbelievably real characters. I wish the movies could capture the characters as well as the book.

I was surprised at the narrative style, which has no actual "scenes", because it's a collection of journals, letters, newspaper articles, etc. But Bram Stoker does an amazing job of pulling all of it together into one very scary, very exciting read. Don't miss this one.

Still the best.......2005-12-30

This is still the best vamp book around, bar none. I was always upset with Coppola's movie because he used Stoker's name, and made the count into this loving anti-hero. THIS is Dracula. Pure evil.

Full-Featured Critical Edition for Fans and Students........2004-10-17

I'll comment on the features of the Norton Critical Edition of "Dracula", as reviews of the novel can be found elsewhere. The novel, itself, is reproduced from the 1897 British edition that was published by Archbald Constable and Company and is preceded by a short but useful Preface that discusses the contexts in which "Dracula" was written and received over a century ago. The text of the novel is amply footnoted. Not only are terms defined, but allusions are explained, and passages of particular interest are treated with some commentary. The footnotes are worthwhile, but easy to ignore if you prefer. I had reservations about the footnotes in the early chapters of the book. Too many of them referred to points later in the story, acting as minor spoilers. I found this stopped after the action moved to England, so it only applies to a small portion of the book. Following the text of the novel are sections on Contexts, Reviews and Reactions, Dramatic and Film Variations, and Criticism.

"Contexts" includes some 19th century source material on vampires, Bram Stoker's working papers for the novel annotated by Christopher Frayling, and "Dracula's Guest", which was originally to be the novel's opening chapter, before Bram Stoker decided to situate the novel in Transylvania. The working papers are thoroughly uninteresting, and "Dracula's Guest" is not as chilling as the introduction that replaced it. "Reviews and Reactions" includes 5 reviews of the novel written shortly after it was published, in 1897 and in 1899, three of which are favorable.

"Dramatic and Film Variations" contains an essay about "Dracula"'s theatrical adaptations, including a list of major plays, by David J. Skal, who wrote "Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen" and is one of this edition's editors. An essay by Gregory Waller discusses Tod Browning's 1931 film "Dracula". Editor Nina Auerbach gives "Dracula" a feminist reading in her essay about the later film adaptations of the novel: the Hammer films of the 1950s and 1960s and John Badham's 1979 film. There is also a list of major film adaptations.

"Criticism" includes 7 essays that represent widely varying interpretations of Bram Stoker's novel, including Oedipal, Marxist, sexual, gender reversal, xenophobic, and homoerotic interpretations. These essays vary in quality a great deal. The best, in my view, are Christopher Craft's "Gender and Inversion" and Stephen D. Arata's "Reverse Colonization" essays. But, taken together, all of the essays give insight into "Dracula"s continuing -in fact, ever-growing- popularity. The novel can be interpreted through virtually any doctrine. There is a chronology of events in Bram Stoker's life at the end of the book.

If you plan to purchase a copy of "Dracula", this Norton Critical Edition provides the most material for your buck and the best footnotes that I've seen in any edition currently in print.

Average customer rating:

Amazing...
Not for the faint at heart
Victorian Tales
Erotica at its Best
you just gotta love it

Erotic Tales of the Victorian Age

Manufacturer: Prometheus Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Anthologies | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Adult Fiction | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Victorian | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Anthologies | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Romance Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Pearl
The Collector's Edition of Victorian Erotica
The Romance Of Lust
Best of the Erotic Reader (Blue Moon)
My Secret Life

ASIN: 1573922056

Customer Reviews:

Amazing..........2003-10-03

I am very interested in the history of sex. That is one course I'd like to teach after I get my PhD. This book just took me back a little further into sexual history. I was surprised at how old some sexual terms and parts of the body are. I was also surprised with certain actions the characters performed. Today, many of these sexual acts are fully accepted. However, I would have figured the Victorians would have been uptight even in sex. A major misconception.

Finally I'm finding out one poem is even older than I thought. "This is my pistol, this is my gun. This one's for fighting, this one's for fun." I'm trying to find erotica and sexual information even older now. It'll be funny to see just how old that poem might be.

Not for the faint at heart.......2003-08-15

I studied the true Victorian Era for 2+ years and am still intrigued with books relating to the ways of that time. Finally mustering enough nerve to read something provocative, I purchased this book. Lets just say it is exceptionally capable of "stirring" one.

Victorian Tales.......2002-03-07

Stories are well written by known authors. Many people might love this book. I am not one of them, however.

Erotica at its Best.......2001-06-13

If you want real erotica instead of the so-called erotica of today, then this is the book for you. Steamy, steamy, steamy!

you just gotta love it.......2001-05-22

I just couldn't stop reading this book, by the more I read I discovered more secret wishes in my soal, you just gotta love it.

Average customer rating:

Dracula Doesn't Make A Good Bite in my Novel List
blood,teeth,love
Great Beginning, Thereafter a Chore
Enduring Gothic
Read Freely and of Your Own Free Will!

Dracula (Penguin Popular Classics)
Bram Stoker
Manufacturer: Penguin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Frankenstein (Penguin Classics)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: And Other Tales of Terror (Penguin Classics)
The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story (Oxford World's Classics)
The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales (Oxford Books of Prose)
Gothic (The New Critical Idiom)

ASIN: 014062063X

Book Description

The vampire novel that started it all, Bram Stoker's Dracula probes deeply into human identity, sanity, and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire. When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries about his client. Soon afterward, disturbing incidents unfold in England-an unmanned ship is wrecked at Whitby, strange puncture marks appear on a young woman's neck, and a lunatic asylum inmate raves about the imminent arrival of his "Master"-culminating in a battle of wits between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries.

Customer Reviews:

Dracula Doesn't Make A Good Bite in my Novel List.......2007-05-31

Dracula is a suspenseful novel of blood, revenge and true love. Unlike a horror movie, Dracula doesn't need expensive equipment, computer technology and million dollar make-up to bring you into the novel.
We enter Jonathan Harker's journal with little knowledge of the true Dracula, other than the popular image of a man wearing a long collared coat, with an immensely thick accent and two vampire fangs. His journal does not go into detail of Dracula's lust of blood until far into the novel, and the beginning pages are distressingly slow., whether on purpose or unknowingly, Stoker makes Harker seem slightly ignorant and slow. When Harker realizes that Dracula has him in prison and intends to harm him, Stoker takes us to an entirely new journal of his wife Mina Harker, and her dear friend Lucy, leaving the reader in suspense as to what actually happens to Jonathan. Stoker continues writing about Mina for some long chapters until Mina gets a letter saying Jonathan is alive, but severely ill. Not until then do we find out that Jonathan has survived Dracula and his castle. At this point Dracula starts its steady and quickening descent from passable novel to irritating and irksome pile of notes. Stoker seems to note himself that his book is crashing before his eyes so he attempts to capture the reader's waning attention by focusing on Lucy's sudden illness, loss of blood and finally death. Before Lucy's demise, new characters are introduced into the novel, including Van Helsing, an expert on vampires, who reveals his suspicions about the cause of Lucy's death and what is needed to be done once she passes. The others agree to follow him on the long journey to rid England of all vampires and the leader, Dracula. Once all vampires other than Dracula, are heroically killed, the expedition continues to seek out Dracula by hypnotizing Mina Harker, who in her tranc, provides the group clues to Dracula's hiding place. These trances to everyone's surprise (except the readers) get shorter and shorter as the book gets closer to the end, thus making it more difficult to search for Dracula and increasing the suspense to the reader. Ultimately, they locate Dracula and stab him. Dracula turns to dust and his victims turn back into humans.
Dracula's mythology explores the legend of vampires. Immortality fascinates Stoker as his novel is based on man's desire for everlasting life. Ancient sagas told of vampires that were living replicas of a human body that had since died, a completely different soul, mind and mission, but the same looks and voice of the deceased. The mission of the vampire is to live forever. Blood is the sign of life, the sign of youth and energy. The vampire drinks the blood of the living to stay alive longer and postpone the day when the body no longer exists. No one really knows the source of the vampire legend, or even if they're real. From the beginning, vampires were made up so humans could blame the unexplainable on them since no one could refute the theory. This idea seemed to work for a while until science developed explanations for what humans had thought inexplicable. Science explained what phenomenon vampires and other superstitions had been taking the blame for and science had proof, unlike superstitions which had no proof besides some infrequent and random accounts of sightings. In Dracula, Stoker doesn't develop the mythology of vampires in much depth. His research is mainly confined to his own imagination and some rumors of what weakens a vampire. In short, the mythology of vampires in Dracula deal principally with the fear of death and the desire to remain alive and youthful.
Bram Stoker had no main protagonist or loyal sidekick in his novel. All characters share the same number of appearances in the chapters and no character is achieving more than the others. Some may have more knowledge than others, but those who have less knowledge about vampires make up for that with greater common sense and knowledge of and love for geography, helping track the next vampire on the list or help get the fastest transportation to another area. All characters are very smart, and help the novel progress through difficult challenges. Everyone deals with the main challenge of ridding England and the world of Dracula. Every character is linked in some way to each other character, each character knows and cares for the other characters and wants to help get rid of the vampire that is trying to infest and infect the world without hurting those they love or other innocents on the way. All the characters confront the hardships of the pursuit of Dracula with bravery and sometimes foolishness, which does result in injury and death. Mr. Morris, a friend to the principle characters, dies in the last few pages of the novel. Unfortunately you don't know much about him so you don't feel that much sympathy for him.
I am very surprised that Dracula is a classic in literature. This book was not thrilling at all after the first few pages. After we leave Jonathan's journey Transylvania, and the book shifts to his wife, the excitement and the suspense bubbles a small amount but then stops entirely. Overall, this book was an enormous disappointment. Dracula didn't inspire me as so many other books do to want to write a novel of my own. Stoker isn't a bad writer but he can't seem to put words into fluent and exciting sentences, and to maintain suspense through the entire novel.

blood,teeth,love.......2007-03-29

I've had mixed feelings about this book. Some the parts in this book keep you at the edge of your seat and you can't wait to know what is going to happen to the characters. Other times you need to put the book down and digest what's happening. Some parts at the end are horrifying and your not sure weather to keep reading or to stop. Over all I think it's a terrific book to read but you probably might need a strong stomach, but I will suggest this book to almost anyone!

Great Beginning, Thereafter a Chore.......2007-03-18

If you have any interest in horror fiction generally, or the vampire genre particularly, then naturally Stoker's classic is required reading. But you might as well be warned as to what you are in for. The early chapters, where Harker is trapped in Dracula's castle, are truly great! However, once the Count gets to London, things start to slow down, or even become downright annoying. I had a particular dislike for the obnoxious Van Helsing and his band of effete upper-class male heroes. I would have been much happier if Dracula had turned the bunch into vampires, and it had been left to Mina, Lucy and Renfield to stake the lot. Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN holds up much better as classic horror fiction.

I wish I could recommend a better vampire novel, but, sadly, vampire novels are mostly trash, and much of the genre is now devoted to sick pornography. Better, in some ways, are Steven King's 'SALEM'S LOT, Sheridan Le Fanu's CARMILLA, and and Anne Rice's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (avoid the sequels), but none of them have anything that can substitute for the opening chapters of DRACULA.

Enduring Gothic.......2007-01-23

Each generation finds something to enjoy in this ever-popular gothic novel, whether it's just thrills, a fascination with the Victorian mind, or its many sexual and psychological undercurrents. Whether in this enduring original or its myriad offspring, the mysterious Count lives on.

The compelling subject matter, the interesting characterizations, and the suspenseful plot account for whatever claim this novel makes on being a "classic." Certainly it isn't the style. There isn't a graceful sentence in the entire book. For this reason Dracula remains more an entertainment than a work of art, but that shouldn't prevent any prospective reader from experiencing this wonderful tale.

This edition is handsome and includes a number of interesting accompaniments, including Stoker's fan letter to Walt Whitman.

Read Freely and of Your Own Free Will! .......2007-01-02

This year is the 110th anniversary of the publication of Dracula. Dracula, or Count Dracula, is probably the most famous vampire of them all. After one hundred years, Dracula is so ingrained into vampire mythology that when we think vampires - we think Dracula.

You could argue that the reason for this began with F.W. Murnau's film Nosferatu. Although the main character, wonderfully portrayed by Max Schreck, is referred to as Count Orlok - the viewing public were not fooled! Thousands of fans knew Murnau was telling the Dracula story! And so began a phenomenon, Dracula is now the most portrayed character in the horror genre - beating the likes of Frankenstein - and notching up over 160 portrayals. Most notable of these, apart from the previously mentioned Max Schreck, include those by: Bela Lugosi, Christopher Lee and, more recently, Gary Oldman.

So, does this explain the unbelievable success of the Dracula novel? Are the scores of portrayals serving as huge advertising campaigns? Is this the reason why one hundred years on thousands of copies of Dracula are still being sold? Of course not!

Bram Stoker's Dracula completely captured the imagination of the reading public. One of the reasons for this is that it is not written like a novel - one unknown voice telling you a story. Stoker's Dracula is told to us by many voices all of which are characters within Dracula. The protagonists tell us the story through diary entries, newspaper clippings and letters. This style of story telling adds to our fear while reading, as it immerses us in the character's plight and gives us the impression that these events could be based on truth. You may think this last statement ludicrous and it probably is, but the fact that we have never found the burial place of Vlad Dracula (Vlad the Impaler), only adds to an air of uncertainty. When you are alone at night, a copy of Dracula on the bedside table, the wind and rain pelting against the windowpane, what seems ridiculous in cold light of day seems only the more real with the unexplained noises that occur during the night.

One of the most interesting reasons why Dracula has survived the test of time is quite simply; it is the ancestor of all vampire novels. All other vampire stories are descendants of it, even Anne Rice, who refers to Dracula in one of her novels as the, "vulgar fictions of a demented Irishman," cannot dispute that her novels are descended from it.
How do we know that every vampire novel is descended from Bram Stoker's? The reason is simple, Stoker set down a list of vampire rules, and every book that followed after has used these rules. These rules may have been reinterpreted but still today, most stay remarkably true to Stoker's original vampire laws. Stakes through the heart, fear of religious symbols, sleeping in coffins- these are all Bram Stoker's ideas. All modern portrayals of vampires and vampire slayers use Stoker's story as a benchmark, or something to aspire too. You could even argue that Buffy the Vampire Slayer's watcher is a modern interpretation of Van Helsing.

Stoker was also the first person to coin the term "Un-Dead," used to this day by fiction writers to refer to vampires or zombies. Not many writers have ever achieved the accolade of inventing a word that becomes automatically absorbed into the English language.

In conclusion, if you are a avid reader looking to read one of the classics, you can't go wrong with Bram Stoker's Dracula, and like wise if you are aspiring horror writer- make it first on your list of books to read and inspire you.

Average customer rating:

Dracula
Bram Stoker
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Literature & Fiction | Books on CD | Formats | Books

Classics | Literature & Fiction | Books on CD | Formats | Books

Unabridged | Literature & Fiction | Books on CD | Formats | Books

Horror | Books on CD | Formats | Books

General | Books on CD | Formats | Books

Look Inside Horror Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Ivanhoe (The Classic Collection)
The Last of the Mohicans (The Classic Collection)
Moby Dick (Naxos AudioBooks)
Lord of the Flies
The Odyssey by Homer

ASIN: 0786180404

Product Description

The Dracula mythology has inspired a vast subculture, but the story has never been better told than by Bram Stoker. His myth is powerful because it allows evil to remain mysterious. The high virtue of Lucy can simply be drained away, like her blood, and scientific skill cannot resist the dreadful potency of the undead. Only the old magic is effective against the Count's appalling power.

Average customer rating:

Dracula

Manufacturer: State Street Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Look Inside Horror Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Frankenstein

ASIN: 0681403403

Product Description

Against the dark backdrop of the Carpathian mountain range in old Transylvania, author Bram Stoker sets the opening atmosphere for this thrilling, blood-tingling novel. Stoker tells a classic tale of good versus evil that evokes a sense of apprehension and horror at the center of which lurks the centuries-old vampire Count Dracula

Average customer rating:

More than you ever wanted to know about Dracula...
"I want no souls. Life is all I want."
Fascinating History of Dracula's Path to the Silver Screen.
Nice Revision to an Already Great Book
Nifty little book about the granddaddy of vampires

Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen
David J. Skal
Manufacturer: Faber & Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Adaptations | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

History & Criticism | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

Genre Films | Movies | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Performing Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Art Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Horror Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
Similar Items:

The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror; Revised Edition with a New Afterword
Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality
Dracula (Norton Critical Editions)
In Search of Dracula: The History of Dracula and Vampires
Something in the Blood: The Underground World of Today's Vampires

ASIN: 0571211585
Release Date: 2004-10-07

Book Description

The primal image of the black-caped vampire Dracula has become an indelible fixture of the modern imagination. It's recognition factor rivals, in its own perverse way, the familiarity of Santa Claus. Most of us can recite without prompting the salient characteristics of the vampire: sleeping by day in its coffin, rising at dusk to feed on the blood of the living; the ability to shapeshift into a bat, wolf, or mist; a mortal vulnerability to a wooden stake through the heart or a shaft of sunlight. In this critically acclaimed excursion through the life of a cultural icon, David Skal maps out the archetypal vampire's relentless trajectory from Victorian literary oddity to movie idol to cultural commidity, digging through the populist veneer to reveal what the prince of darkness says about us all.

Customer Reviews:

More than you ever wanted to know about Dracula..........2005-09-16

I first heard of David Skal from the Universal Classic Monster series of DVD's. David was on the accompanying documentary and did the audio commentary for Tod Browning's 1931 classic, Dracula. If you own the set and have run the documentary and, particularly, the commentary, then you've already experienced about three chapters of this book. What remains is a rich mine of details about every aspect of Dracula, the book, movies, and culture. And what a lot there is.

David's writing, like his speech, is precise, educated, and loaded with literary allusions. While no dilettante, I consider myself well read and was still left with the occasional "what the hell is talking about?" moment. The language is rich and occasionally reminds me of the mental images drawn by Anne Rice at the height of her powers. However, David is no snob and is not merely parading his impressive intellect - it's just that he knows so darn much about the subject.

And if I had any criticism of the book that would be it - David seems driven to exhaustively document every possible aspect of Dracula's existence. The detailed (and seemingly never ending) battles between Florence Stoker and the makers of "Nosferatu" is described in such detail that I wanted to scream "OKAY!! We get it! Nosferatu was a Dracula rip off and Flo didn't like it!!" But eventually the tale moves on and sets the stage for intricate negotiations between the Stoker estate and Universal. In retrospect (and considering how handsomely the studio profited) it's interesting to see that Universal bought almost unlimited use of the vampire for the paltry sum of $25,000.00 and is still making oodles of money hand over fist today. David covers all aspects of vampire lore from Byron's "The Giaour" (1813) to Mel Brooks' "Dracula, Dead and Loving It" (1995). And everything in between. Trust me, if it can be construed to be in any way connected with Dracula, it's in this book.

If you have any interest in gothic culture, or the movies that spawned it, this is a must have. Reading it is like enjoying an evening of conversation with a much beloved, if slightly eccentric, old friend, preferably over brandy in front of a glowing fireplace on a cold, cold night.

"I want no souls. Life is all I want." .......2005-08-28

Down deep, we all agree with the fly-eating Renfield. That's why we can't get his Master out of our system. David J. Skal's book Hollywood Gothic explains a lot of the reasons why.

Hollywood Gothic is like David Skal's Screams of Reason: Mad Science and Modern Culture. Hollywood Gothic and Screams of Reason both take horror motifs we know mostly from movies and trace them back to literature, where they originated.

Screams of Reason looks at the mad scientist figure in fiction, from central European vivisectionists like Dr. Frankenstein to postwar American A-bomb scientists. Hollywood Gothic is more narrow - - it covers Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, the plays adapted from it, and then the movies inspired by it - - F.W. Murnau's silent film Nosferatu, then the Universal and Hammer horror films.

Skal goes into detail about Bela Lugosi's career as Dracula on stage and film. He also digs up a lot of interesting information about the Spanish-language Dracula made simultaneously with the Bela Lugosi movie by producer Paul Kohner and cinematographer George Robinson - - who was responsible for the look of later Universal horror films like Dracula's Daughter and House of Dracula.

Kohner fell in love with and married the real star of the Spanish-language Dracula, Lupita Tovar as Eva - - the Mina Harker character - - and who could blame him. Skal calls her a "truly ingenuous ingenue." In Mexico she could barely go out in public without being mobbed.

Except for Bela Lugosi himself, almost everything about Kohner's Spanish version is better than Browning's. (That's my opinion from watching the movies, not just reading Hollywood Gothic.) Skal quotes people who worked on Tod Browning's Dracula that Browning was barely paying attention to the movie he was making.

For instance, when Dracula welcomes Jonathan Harker to his castle from the top of the staircase, in the English version a huge spider web is off to the side behind Dracula, but in the Spanish version Dracula is framed in the center of the web. We see Dracula rise from his coffin in the Spanish version where Browning just shows him suddenly standing there. (Seeing Christopher Lee rise from his coffin, or be destroyed in it, was always a high point of the Hammer movies for me.) Every night Kohner's director George Melford looked at the film Browning's crew shot during the day and improved on it for their version.

But there was (and is) something in the idea of the vampire that makes readers and audiences forgive hack storytelling.

If you haven't seen them already, you should watch the films before reading Hollywood Gothic. The Universal Legacy Collection of Dracula contains the Lugosi film, the Spanish-language version, Dracula's Daughter, and Son of Dracula. (There's more, but those are the best. Universal's release of the Legacy Collections of Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man are the only good thing to come from the marketing of the movie Van Helsing.)

Hollywood Gothic has a lot of illustrations, many of which are theatrical and film ephemera from Skal's personal collection. (Yesterday I saw The Aristocrats - - Penn Gillette's documentary about the world's filthiest joke - - and one of the comedians was wearing a T-shirt with Dracula's face from the cover of the first Modern Library edition of the novel. SIDE NOTE: See The Aristocrats - - it's about how to tell a story and keep an audience hooked as much as it is about the history of blue humor.)

Reading Hollywood Gothic made me finally read Bram Stoker's novel. Because I've seen so many movies that tell the story I never read the book. While the writing style isn't great, at least it moves along, and you're introduced to Dracula right away.

I read over half of the 600-page novel The Historian - - apparently foredoomed to be a bestseller and a blockbuster movie - - and the character Dracula still hadn't made an appearance. I skimmed to the end and read the climax, but I was disappointed. When you build Dracula up as such a powerful being, it's hard to destroy him in a way that doesn't seem anticlimactic. (That's one of the reasons Kim Newman has given for why he started writing his Anno Dracula series - - if Dracula is such a terrible force, how could he be tracked down and killed so easily by an insane Dutch doctor and three upper-class twits who belong in the Drones Club with Bertie Wooster?)
And why do characters in The Historian struggle to find copies of Bram Stoker's novel at university libraries? It's been out in paperback all over the world since the early 1900s. Go to any W.H. Smith.

Filmmakers who've told the Dracula story understand something novelists sometimes don't - - Dracula shouldn't be just a menace offstage, he's the protagonist of the story. Dracula is the hero. He's the one we want to see - - and be. That's why our mothers were displeased when they caught us watching monster movies on TV when we were kids. Mom knew what we were thinking. The reason Stoker's novel works at all is because we're introduced to Dracula at the beginning, when Harker comes to Translyvania. What makes the novel disappointing is that we hardly see Dracula again after that.

But Skal reminds us that "La sangre es la vida." Dracula isn't going anywhere.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATION: Check out Vampires: Los Muertos (see my review), the sequel to John Carpenter's Vampires, and an underrated movie. To me, it's a vampire movie that shows the monster as a Third World victim of globalist Van Helsings. (A rich white American woman can get the medicine she needs to stay alive (un-undead), while the brown vampire, stolen from her peasant family by a rich landowner, has only one way to get the sangre she needs. (I also like vampire movies that show how vampires might experience time differently than mortals - - Queen of the Damned also does this in an interesting way.) There's a scene of slow-motion slaughter in Los Muertos that the monstrous child in me responded to. Los Muertos also has the most sexist line I've every heard in a vampire movie, but you still identify with the female master vampire.

Fascinating History of Dracula's Path to the Silver Screen........2005-05-06

In "Hollywood Gothic" David Skal tells the story of "Dracula" that came after the classic of gothic horror was published in 1897. It's a fascinating, fact-filled tale of colorful personalities, legal battles, Hollywood politics, and a culture still captivated by the King of Literary Vampires. The book's seven chapters begin with author Bram Stoker, end with the Count's recent incarnations on stage and screen, and include the most insightful analysis of "Dracula"'s origins that I have read in the course of my minor obsession with the novel.

Chapter 1 explores "Dracula"'s literary and theatrical predecessors before moving on to discussion of the intellectual and sexual climate into which the book was published in 1897, the life and elusive character of its author Bram Stoker, and how the novel was received in its own day. David Skal does an impressive job of pulling together the relevant details, from diverse perspectives, of the novel's birth.

Chapter 2 details the legal battle waged by the Bram Stoker's widow, Mrs. Florence Stoker, to suppress the first cinematic adaptation of her husband's novel, 1922's "Nosferatu", the unauthorized German production directed by F.W. Murnau, now recognized as a masterpiece of silent cinema. Chapter 3 sees Mrs, Stoker finally authorize an adaptation to British dramatist Hamilton Deane, whose wordy, plodding "Dracula" play nevertheless achieved great financial success, attracting the attention of American theatrical producer Horace Liveright. Liveright enlisted journalist John Balderston to rewrite the play for Broadway and make it a smash hit on this side of the Atlantic.

Chapter 4 moves to Hollywood for the protracted negotiations over "Dracula"'s film rights. "Dracula"'s path through the early 20th century was mined with legal battles, and it is a credit to author David Skal that he is able to make interminable and constantly mutating negotiations into absorbing drama. Chapter 5 follows the winding road to the production of the first Hollywood "Dracula", the 1931 film starring Bela Lugosi, which, although made cheaply and lazily, was the first horror talkie and a financial life preserver for Universal Studios. Happily, Skal has dedicated Chapter 6 to the superior Spanish language version of "Dracula" that was filmed simultaneously, on the same sets, as the English version of the 1931 film, but with a different producer, director, cinematographer, and cast.

Chapter 7 tells us what became of the principle person's associated with the two 1931 films. Then it follows the legacy of "Dracula" from the 1930s forward, through its incarnations in film, plays, musicals, ballets, and other performances. Appendix A is a list of notable stage performances of "Dracula", 1897-2003. Appendix B is a list of about 200 films, 1921-2004, which feature the "Dracula" character or name. Thankfully, there is an index.

In outlining the contents of "Hollywood Gothic", I may have made the book seem dry. But the story of "Dracula"'s continuing life in film and on stage is as lively as the novel that inspired it -and it is written a good deal better. David Skal's tireless research and engaging style never fail to impress. "Hollywood Gothic" is an absorbing literary and cinematic history that "Dracula" fans shouldn't miss.

Nice Revision to an Already Great Book.......2005-01-05

David J. Skal is as readable as ever is this newly revised edition of the definitive Hollywood Gothic as he covers the history of Dracula from his creation by Bram Stoker to the various and multiple version on screen and stage. The thrust of the story is, of course, on the novel and the iconic Bela Lugosi movie, with an additional nice, but smaller, chunk on Nosferatu. The author is particularly effective in combining, in an interesting fashion, the creative, financial, and legal elements. His analysis is always clear and interesting and will definitely send the reader on a viewing frenzy. Vampire movies seem always to be streaming forth from Hollywood and Dracula is and always will be the most tempting of the bunch. This book brings this fascination to life, as it were. A very good job.

Nifty little book about the granddaddy of vampires.......2004-10-08

I read this book years ago. It's good to see it's coming back into print.

Skal charts the history of Stoker's book, beginning with early drafts extant, following the tangled film history, including the legal battles over Murnau's "Nosferatu", Universal Studio's struggle to get the rights for the Lugosi pic, and everything that happened after.

It won't change your life, but its fascinating stuff. Skal's style is quick, clean, and to the point. This book is a lot of fun, giving insights into publishing, film, theater, and the audience reaction to and participation in all of those mediums. A must for all vampire buffs, film students, and those who are curious about the inner workings of popular culture.

Books:

Books