About this title: Bram Stoker's classic novel of suspense and horror was a bestseller in Britain when it was published in 1897. A late 20th-century biographer of Stoker has suggested that famed Victorian actor Henry Irving, for whom Stoker worked for many years, was an inspiration for some of Count Dracula's characteristics.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Dell Publishing Company
Date Published: 1965
ISBN-13:9780440921486ISBN:0440921481
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Very Very Minor Page Tan, Pages & Binding Tight, Pages Clean! ! ! Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: Young adult. Same Day Shipping! ! ! Ship from CA. (B12) read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: 1989
ISBN-13:9780553212716ISBN:0553212710
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. Slight rip and turning of cover pages, along spine. Slight stain bottom pages. Very usable. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 432 p. Bantam Classics. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780553212716ISBN:0553212710
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. F-very minor cover wear. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 432 p. Bantam Classics. Audience: Young adult. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Airmont Publishing Company
Date Published: 1965
ISBN-13:9780451511294ISBN:0451511298
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Heavy seam and corner wear. Light edge wear. Tight binding. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass-market paperback
Publisher: Tor Classics
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780812523010ISBN:0812523016
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Very light edge and corner wear. Short cover crease. Previous owner's name stamped on 3 sides. no marks. inside. Tight, square book. Tanning pages. Mass market (rack) paperback. Glued binding. 368 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Bantam Classics
ISBN-13:9780553211481ISBN:055321148X
Description: Good. Spine is smooth. Covers show some wear at the edges and corners. Good reading copy. Binding is Mass Market Paperback. Pages tanning. Used books may have price stickers. Most orders ship on the next business day. read more
Description: Good. Spine is smooth. Covers show some wear at the edges and corners. Good reading copy. Binding is Mass Market Paperback. Pages tanning. Used books may have price stickers. Most orders ship on the next business day. read more
"Admire it, certainly, but I can muster up precious little affection for Stoker's famous novel, for despite its reputation as the central progenitor of an enduring mythology I can't but help but find it more as a closing off point than anything else. It discards a lot of the more fascinating elements of vampire mythology that had been developing (I'm thinking specifically of Sheridan le Fanu's Carmilla, read just before), instead establishing precedents that are comparatively dull in their clean, unambiguous delineations (undead=evil, strict heterosexuality, etc). Nina Auerbach, whose Our Vampires, Ourselves I was reading concurrently, states many of my basic objections much more eloquently than I could: "Dracula is less in love with death or sexuality than with hierarchies, erecting barriers hitherto foreign to vampire literature; the gulf between male and female, class and class, England and non-England, vampire and mortal, homoerotic and heterosexual love, infuses the genre with a new fear: fear of the hated unknown." But there were things I did like: the structure and form, with its attempt at a kind of "scientific objectivity" that instead forms a chorus of shifting, perhaps even unreliable narrators; also, in retrospect, I've become more and more impressed with the character of Mina, who kind of inadvertently becomes this kind of omnipotent, mystical fusion of domestic goddess and "the modern woman" by the end of the novel (what couldn't she do? Unexpected talents and skills unveiled with each new plot development!).
An important text, without a doubt, but also, if I'm honest, disappointing.
"You do not let your eyes see or your ears hear, and that which is outside your daily life is not of account to you. Do you not think there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see thing that others cannont?""
"Okay, up front I will admit that most of this book I did not "read", but listened to in audio version (hey, what else do I have to do on buses that are too crowded for me to move my arms?). By reputation I wasn't expecting much, but wanted to get to the bedrock of the vampire fiction genre.
It's a gripping story, well told. Not great literature, but really good story-telling. The standard interpretation of the book (vampire as a metaphor for sexuality) seems right to me, but part of the appeal of this book to me is that it seems that there is an unreal-ness to the facts as perceived by the protagonists. It seems to me that you can read this book with considerable skepticism about whether or not the Count is really a supernatural being. What if he is just an especially creepy sort of criminal and murderer? Is the "vampire" really a collective delusion brought on by social mores, the highly formalized requirements of propriety between men and women in Victorian England, and the influence of Van Helsing's superstitions?
If that were the case, then the book is terrifying beyond the simple terror of the Count on the loose. If the Count is not really a vampire, then the protagonists commit atrocities and murder in the name of protecting their Victorian morality."
"I decided to read Dracula inspired by the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and with the hope that it wouldn't be boring or irrelevant. Luckily, it turned out to be a compelling read, with a solid story and some likable characters (who double as narrators). Dracula also sets in stone much of what we still see in novels, movies, and tv today regarding the vampire myth. And though some things about the novel definitely belonged to another era, it didn't hinder the experience. In fact is was a bit of an escape to read a story where the good guys are good, the bad guys are bad, and there's basically no irony or sarcasm to be found.
I also enjoyed comparing the character of Mina here to her portrayal in the League stories. While her personality is constant -- intelligence, strength, and superhuman powers of organization -- the League books do take some liberties with the original narrative to give the character a more modern edge. Both make for good, though very different, stories."
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