Dracula
January 14, 2007
"Dracula" by Bram Stoker
Dorset Press 1994 paperback edition
Not the first, but certainly the best vampire novel in English. How such a mild, dull concept could descend so quickly into a pedantic cultural obsession is beyond me. But aside from the incredible mass of baggage this book has obtained over the years, this is a solid piece of work. Once one adapts to the slightly overblown Victorian language, the novel is quick to dispense its pleasures. Told through diary entries, newspaper clippings and other literary detritus, it tells the story of a mysterious European aristocrat who comes to London, bringing decay, rot and mysterious deaths with him. Creepy, occasionally moving into high gothic yet with a plot that doesn't thicken more than necessary, the book is still a good slab of entertaining horror. While its subtext vis Victorian sexuality has been debated, they don't really matter much and don't add to the infectious sense of dread the book maintains throughout.
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