Dracula (1897) is a Gothic novel by Bram Stoker. Told through diaries, letters and newspaper cuttings, it follows Count Dracula's journey from Transylvania to England and the band of men and women who hunt him down. It fixed the modern image of the vampire.
The story
Jonathan Harker, a young English solicitor, travels to Transylvania to arrange the purchase of a house in England for Count Dracula, and discovers that he is a prisoner of a creature that drinks human blood.
Dracula lands in Whitby, preys on Lucy Westenra and then on Mina, Jonathan's wife. Professor Abraham Van Helsing, Dr John Seward, Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris and the Harkers pursue him to London and back to his castle.
Writing Dracula
Stoker worked on the novel for about seven years, reading books on Transylvania, on folklore and on the Wallachian prince Vlad III Dracula. A holiday in Whitby in 1890, where he consulted the public library, gave him the name and the setting of the count's arrival.
The novel is made of documents: diaries kept in shorthand, phonograph recordings, telegrams. This modern technology contrasts with the ancient evil of the count.
Afterlife
Published in May 1897, Dracula received good reviews but was not a best-seller. Stage versions in the 1920s and above all the films Nosferatu (1922) and Dracula (1931), with Bela Lugosi, made it world famous.
The count has since appeared in hundreds of films, plays and novels, and the book has never been out of print.
Anecdotes
Whitby's 199 steps
In the novel Dracula comes ashore at Whitby in the shape of a large dog and runs up the 199 steps to the churchyard of St Mary's. Whitby still holds a Goth weekend twice a year in honour of the novel.
The original title
Stoker's notes show that the novel was long called The Un-Dead. The title Dracula was chosen shortly before publication.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Van Helsing?
A Dutch doctor and scholar, Professor Abraham Van Helsing, who recognises the vampire and leads the hunt against him.
How is Dracula killed?
At the end of the novel, Jonathan Harker cuts his throat with a kukri knife and Quincey Morris stabs him in the heart with a Bowie knife, just before sunset.
Was Dracula the first vampire novel?
No. John Polidori's The Vampyre (1819) and Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla (1872) came before, but Dracula became the model for later vampires.