Dracula Annotated!

I had some concerns how I was going to handle this website. I don't like a scatter-shot approach to anything and yet that seems to be how I think.

Finally, I hit upon an idea: I spend a few months writing about one classic and maybe stirring up some conversation here. The first book I want to take an in-depth look at is Bram Stoker's Dracula.

To that end I have a few books that might be helpful to readers -- including me. One is a handbook but the rest contain the story combined with annotations or critical essays.

Remember, if you are interested in this book, click the mouse on the book cover to order it from an online bookseller.

	Dracula: Authoritative Text Contexts Reviews and Reactions Dramatic and Film Variations Criticism Series: Norton Critical Editions Author: Stoker, Bram Editor: Auerbach, Nina and David J. Skal Format: Trade Paperback Type: Non-Fiction Page Count: 512pp. Pub. Date: December 17, 1996 Publisher: W.W. Norton and Co.
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 reviews of the novel. "Dramatic and Film Variations" focuses on theater and film adaptations of Dracula, two indications of the novel's unwavering appeal. David J. Skal, Gregory A. Waller, and Nina Auerbach offer their varied perspectives. Checklists of both dramatic and film adaptations are included. Criticism collects seven theoretical interpretations of Dracula by Phyllis A. Roth, Carol A. Senf, Franco Moretti, Christopher Craft, Bram Dijsktra, Stephen D. Arata, and Talia Schaffer. A Chronology and a Selected Bibliography are included.
	A Dracula Handbook Author: Miller, Elizabeth Format: Trade Paperback Type: Non-Fiction Page Count: 200pp. Pub. Date: March 23, 2005 Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
A Dracula Handbook provides succinct and accurate information about Dracula. Written for a general readership, the book should appeal to aficionados, students and the just-plain-curious. Using question/answer format, the book covers a range of topics: the origins of the vampire myth; the life of Bram Stoker, author of Dracula (1897); the novel, its genesis and sources; the historical figure (Vlad the Impaler) whose nickname Stoker borrowed for his Count; an examination of the connection between Vlad and Count Dracula; the phenomenal impact the novel has had since its publication; and an overview of interpretations of the book. Also included is a comprehensive reading list. Here are some of the many questions that are directly answered in the book: What are the roots of vampire lore? How did vampires move from folklore to literature? What do we know about the actual writing of Dracula? Where did Bram Stoker find his information about vampires? Are there any autobiographical elements in Dracula? Did Dracula originate in a nightmare? What do we know of the relationship between Stoker and his wife? Did Stoker die of syphilis? How did Count Dracula become a vampire? Does Count Dracula have any redeeming qualities? How was the novel Dracula received when published in 1897? What did Stoker himself say about the novel? Why did Stoker name his vampire "Dracula"? Why did he select Transylvania as the vampire's homeland? How much did Stoker really know about Vlad the Impaler? Was Vlad ever associated with vampire legends? What are our main sources of information about Vlad? Why do many Romanians consider Vlad to be a national hero? Which of the Dracula movies is the best adaptation of Stoker's novel? What impact has Dracula had on subsequent vampire fiction? Why does Count Dracula have such enduring appeal? How do Romanians feel about Dracula tourism in their country? Is there a real Castle Dracula? What are some of the interpretations of Dracula? Is Dracula a classic? And many, many more! Depending on the complexity of the questions, the answers range from 5-6 lines to several pages. At the end of each chapter there is a shortlist for further reading. At the end of the book there is a comprehensive Bibliography.
	The Essential Dracula: The Definitive Annotated Edition of Bran Stoker's Classic Novel Author: Stoker, Bram Annotator: Wolf, Leonard Format: Trade Paperback Type: Non-Fiction Page Count: 512pp. Pub. Date: October 26, 2004 Publisher: I Books
Count Dracula is everywhere these days -- but here is the stunning original, annotated and illustrated as never before. Containing the complete text of Bram Stoker's classic tale, prominent horror literature expert Leonard Wolf has collected thousands of facts and legends to explore beyond. His annotations illuminate the Dracula myth in all its meanings and guises. 100 photos, maps, and drawings.
	The New Annotated Dracula Author: Stoker, Bram Annotator: Klinger, Leslie S. Format: Hardcover Type: Non-Fiction Page Count: 672pp. Pub. Date: October 17, 2008 Publisher: W.W. Norton and Co.
In his first work since his best-selling The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Leslie S. Klinger returns with this spectacular, lavishly illustrated homage to Bram Stoker's Dracula. With a daring conceit, Klinger accepts Stoker's contention that the Dracula tale is based on historical fact. Traveling through two hundred years of popular culture and myth as well as graveyards and the wilds of Transylvania, Klinger's notes illuminate every aspect of this haunting narrative (including a detailed examination of the original typescript of Dracula, with its shockingly different ending, previously unavailable to scholars). Klinger investigates the many subtexts of the original narrative-from masochistic, necrophilic, homoerotic, "dentophilic," and even heterosexual implications of the story to its political, economic, feminist, psychological, and historical threads. Employing the superb literary detective skills for which he has become famous, Klinger mines this 1897 classic for nuggets that will surprise even the most die-hard Dracula fans and introduce the vampire-prince to a new generation of readers.

Introducing Classic Horror Fiction Books

Hello. My name is Gregory Fisher but most people know me better as the Undead Rat. I have a website dedicated to giving you the best selection of horror fiction books anywhere.

How Classic Horror Fiction Books Began

Recently I began working on a speech I'll be giving at an Ohio librarian conference next month on readers' advisory in the horror genre. The title is "Twilight, Vampires and the Horror Beyond". To be honest, I'm really excited about this presentation.

In researching the book twilight, I ran across an interview, Stephenie Meyer, gave Time Online where she said she did no research on vampires before she began to write her novel. When I'd heard that many months ago, I was appalled. How could you write a vampire novel and have read Dracula? How could you write about a creature you've never researched?

Think about it for a minute. Most of you have read Stephen King's Salem's Lot, about a small town in Maine that becomes overrun, with terrifying quickness, by vampires. He'd read Dracula as well as many other vampire stories and wondered, what if -- unlike all those other stories -- the vampire plague could not be contained? What if one vampire went to work on a small isolated town unhampered by townsfolk superstition or belief in the supernatural?

Do you think Salem's Lot would have come about without Dracula, Carmilla and so many others showing the way? And, having read those stories, did they not enrich your reading of Salem's Lot?

Then I began to wonder how can I be The Undead Rat and manage a website dedicated to helping you find wonderful new Horror Fiction Books, if I hadn't read all of the classics myself? I've read a fair amount but not all and many books, like Frankenstein and The Invisible Man I read 20 years ago or more when I was in middle school and high school.

The Solution:

Well, that started a spark of an idea that has grown into this project: Classic Horror Fiction Books.

It's a project for me and for you.

It will give me impetus to go back and reread all the classics I'd read a long time ago and pick up new stories I missed.

I plan to look at sources for classics including Project Gutenberg, audio books and eBooks as well as others.

Classic Horror Fiction Books will also give me a place to set down any thoughts I've had about how the past influences the present. I want to explore how the classics enrich reading the horror novels of today. And i want your comments. I want to know your thoughts as well.

C'mon, lets start reading a good classic.