The New Annotated Dracula

By Bram Stoker

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393064506
• ISBN13: 9780393064506
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 672 Pages
• Weight: 3.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.8" x 8.7" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

Just loved this book

After I read this book I had to go back and watch the movie from the '90s. It surprised me how much the two were close to each other.

Fake and falsely printed!! Do not buy.

I just got the book so I haven’t read it yet but on first glance there are clear issues with the text itself like random words in all caps and random symbols like this “m<\” The cover is also very pixelated and with a large black stripe over the cover image. Th book itself is also bigger than expected. The size is 8x10” and the book is thin. Lastly there are photocopied pictures of what should be the first pages of the book like the title page and context page! This is clearly a photo copied and likely unethically printed version! It looks like someone printed it on their computer and did a simple paperback cover. Very disappointing and surprising. If you’re wondering, I purchased the paperback version with the orange border and picture of an old house on the cover.

I like it.

I can't really complain much. When I got the book it was messed up but I'm not too picky. Other than that it is good. I love the book though it can get a bit confusing if you don't pay attention.

The book itself is great...but I am annoyed by the fake sticker on the back that can't be removed.

The hardcover edition is gorgeous with it's sprayed edges...but the sticker that's PRINTED into the artwork on the back is hideous. Normal stickers, guys. Normal stickers.

Be careful what you order

So I love Dracula. That’s not the problem. The problem is the used copy I was sent isn’t Dracula- it’s a kids book that’s a condensed retelling. It’s not even technically penned by stoker. It’s ’based off of’ the original work. 🙄 And of course I can’t get a refund. This is why computers shouldn’t be put in charge people.

"For the dead travel fast."

Surprisingly, "Denn die Toten reiten schnell" or "For the dead travel fast" is more than an opening line to this tale of love in the dangerous moonlight. After watching several Dracula movies and a few Nosferatu's, I pretty much thought I had a handle on the genre. Little did I know what a wonderful world of mystery and suspense Bram Stoker opened up for me. The story is told mostly by a third party through the papers, diaries, and phonograph recordings (on wax cylinders) of those people involved in a tale so bizarre that it almost defies belief. The general storyline is that of a Count who plans to move to a more urban setting (from Borgo Pass to London) where there is a richer diet. There he finds succulent women; something he can sink his teeth into. Unfortunately for him, a gang of ruffians (including a real estate agent, an asylum director, a Texas cowboy, and an Old Dutch abnormal psychologist) is out to detour his nocturnal munching. They think they have Drac on the run, but with a wing and a prayer, he is always one step ahead. Of more value to the reader is the rich prose chosen by Stoker as he describes the morals and technology of the time. We have to come to grips with or decide if we can perform the rituals that are required to eliminate vampires versus the impropriety of opening graves and staking loved ones. The vamp powers in the book differ from the movie versions in that they are more persuasive and capable of manipulating the local weather. At one point, the Dutch Dr. van Helsing is so overwhelmed by a beautiful vampire lying in the grave that he almost forgets why he is there and may become “vamp chow.” All in all, the story is more about the cunning chase. The question is whether they will succeed in dispatching Dracula, or will Dracula triumph? Remember, "For the dead travel fast."

It was okay.

It was okay. I appreciate that it was written well over 100 years ago.

Stunning book

I’m so excited to read this, though I’m desperately trying to wait until October season. There’s some bad reviews on quality, which made me nervous. I spent extra to get the stunning clothbound edition and it didn’t disappoint! It’s an absolutely gorgeous book and is brand new. I love the cover and I’m very happy I spent the extra to get the cloth edition.

Long, overly detailed, and with a deeply unsatisfying ending, I can’t recommend it

School reading with a classic concept but disappointments throughout

Refreshing twist on Dracula

I have read Dracula many times, so my old edition took some damage. I replaced it with this and was very satisfied. The classic story is augmented with Jae Lee's fantastic illustrations for an great overall package.

Boy! They were prolific journalers and diarists!

This book will make you throw rocks at ALL the 'Dracula' movies you have seen or had wanted to see. The words, the epistolary format, the story, the darkness, the horror, the sensuality are all there for you if you dare. I loved this book and recommend it. My Top 10 seems to be crowded and always changing but this book could be a candidate.

The vampire novel!

Actually Dracula does not need a lot of explanation. Everybody must have experienced at least once the myth of Count Dracula in any form: film, television or book. No character has ever ignited so much imagination than the Chief Vampire of Transylvania. It is absolutely no surprise that this book is still read by thousands of people worldwide.The narrative unfolds itself by combining letters, newspaper clippings, journal entries and even phonograph records. This certainly adds to the mysterious atmosphere that dominates the first half of the book, but turns a bit against the story when the action really starts. Simply by reading a letter written by Miss Mina Murray, you are already informed that Mina will survive the struggle described by her. Technically this method also puts extra constraints on the author. Knowing this, it is fun to see how many tricks Stoker needed to keep the flow of letters going. At one point in the story he has to send Doctor Van Helsing back home, just so he can respond with a letter. Of course, it would have been quite silly to have two people writing each other letters while they are living in the same house. The story itself is very powerful, but to modern readers it is often perceived as being dense and overcrowded with details. This is typical to Victorian novels, in which the women are always tender and caring and the men brave and intelligent. It seems that these conclusions have to be underlined on every page of the book. Still Bram Stoker succeeds in winning the attention of the reader by supplying an unprecedented richness to the story. The plot is filled with unexpected twists, remarkable action sequences and rather eerie -sometimes almost erotic- confrontations with evil entities. No situation is left unused to heighten the mystery. Even for the spoiled modern reader, some lugubrious scenes can still be experienced as hair-raising; a treat that most modern novels can't claim so easily.Keeping in mind that this is a typical Victorian extravaganza and that the story suffers a bit under its form, one can but only admit that Dracula must be `the' classic vampire novel. Although there is a lot of `derived' work on the market, no one can truly claim to know the legend of Dracula without having read Bram Stoker's novel.

An Open Door For The Curious Mind

This is far and away the best edition of the original novel you could read. In addition all it's footnotes and explanations provide a trail for any curious reader to explore for just about any particular aspect of the novel. From legends of Vampires, historical facts of Vlad Dracul III, all the way to obscure but curious details of the lendary Scholomance School Of Magic taught by the Devil himself!