Dracula (Penguin Classics)
Bram Stoker's peerless tale of desperate battle against a powerful, ancient vampire
When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries in his client's castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in England: a ship runs aground on the shores of Whitby, its crew vanished; beautiful Lucy Westenra slowly succumbs to a mysterious, wasting illness, her blood drained away; and the lunatic Renfield raves about the imminent arrival of his 'master'. In the ensuing battle of wills between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries - led by the intrepid vampire hunter Abraham van Helsing - Bram Stoker created a masterpiece of the horror genre, probing into questions of identity, sanity and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.
For this completely updated edition, Maurice Hindle has revised his introduction, list of further reading and notes, and added two appendices: Stoker's essay on censorship and his interview with Winston Churchill, both published in 1908. Christopher Frayling's preface discusses the significance and the influences that contributed to his creation of the Dracula myth.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries in his client's castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in England: a ship runs aground on the shores of Whitby, its crew vanished; beautiful Lucy Westenra slowly succumbs to a mysterious, wasting illness, her blood drained away; and the lunatic Renfield raves about the imminent arrival of his 'master'. In the ensuing battle of wills between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries - led by the intrepid vampire hunter Abraham van Helsing - Bram Stoker created a masterpiece of the horror genre, probing into questions of identity, sanity and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire.
For this completely updated edition, Maurice Hindle has revised his introduction, list of further reading and notes, and added two appendices: Stoker's essay on censorship and his interview with Winston Churchill, both published in 1908. Christopher Frayling's preface discusses the significance and the influences that contributed to his creation of the Dracula myth.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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Community Reviews
I love how this book was called: “the rankings of a mad (drunk) Irishman!” - thank you, Anne Rice. Loved the depictions of vampires in his novel that hold fast to this day, even in current vampiric lore.
My review.
I enjoyed Dracula, though more for the lore behind it than the story itself. While I wouldn’t necessarily rush to read it again, I found the characters fascinating so much so that many of them could have had their own books. The novel surprised me in places, especially with how well developed some of the characters were.
One of my favourite aspects was how Dracula himself was portrayed. Unlike the brute force vampire villains I’ve come to expect, he was intelligent, cunning, and manipulative. He felt more like a master strategist than just a monster, which made him a more intriguing antagonist. Honestly, I think he would make a fantastic villain in a Batman story!
As for characters, Van Helsing was my favourite. He was resourceful, determined, and had such a commanding presence that I could easily see him carrying his own spin off series. On the other hand, I felt like Dracula’s three vampire brides were underdeveloped. they had potential but were more of a background threat than fully realised characters and thought it be more interesting to utilise these.
The pacing was a mixed experience some parts were gripping, while others dragged. The novel did a great job building suspense, but certain sections felt overly drawn out. Still, Dracula delivers a classic gothic horror atmosphere, and its influence on the vampire genre is undeniable.
Overall, I’d rate Dracula a 6.9 out of 10. It’s a book I appreciate more for what it represents than for pure enjoyment, but I’d still recommend it to fans of gothic horror or those interested in the origins of vampire lore. Overall I enjoyed it.
4.5/5 stars
I read this by subscribing to the Dracula Daily substack, which means that I got real time chronologically emails with the content corresponding to each day. I read this book all the way from May to today, November 7th. It was a great experience, I loved every bit of it. I think that with how many times the original story has been told what made it scary to the original intended audience does not hit the same to someone from the 21st century that is aware of Dracula. By adding the chronological aspect to it I felt more connected to the characters and worried for their well being so every plot point got to me.
One of the best things about reading this was realizing that all the modern versions of this book don't really do justice to its characters. I thought I knew what the story was all about so I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. We need a live action adaptation of this book that honors the source material! Having said that I won't round this up to 5 because of Stoker's insistence in writing down dialogue with accents that made my C1 English cry trying to descipher what the hell they were saying. That and Van Helsing's gigantic long winded paragraphs. Everything else slapped!
I read this by subscribing to the Dracula Daily substack, which means that I got real time chronologically emails with the content corresponding to each day. I read this book all the way from May to today, November 7th. It was a great experience, I loved every bit of it. I think that with how many times the original story has been told what made it scary to the original intended audience does not hit the same to someone from the 21st century that is aware of Dracula. By adding the chronological aspect to it I felt more connected to the characters and worried for their well being so every plot point got to me.
One of the best things about reading this was realizing that all the modern versions of this book don't really do justice to its characters. I thought I knew what the story was all about so I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. We need a live action adaptation of this book that honors the source material! Having said that I won't round this up to 5 because of Stoker's insistence in writing down dialogue with accents that made my C1 English cry trying to descipher what the hell they were saying. That and Van Helsing's gigantic long winded paragraphs. Everything else slapped!
3.5
The gothic atmosphere is perfect and itâs a great especially for fall but it could probably be like 150 pages shorter.
After Johnathan leaves Transylvania it gets a bit boring then picks back up. I definitely found myself skimming through some of the letters.
The gothic atmosphere is perfect and itâs a great especially for fall but it could probably be like 150 pages shorter.
After Johnathan leaves Transylvania it gets a bit boring then picks back up. I definitely found myself skimming through some of the letters.
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