Dracula (Norton Critical Editions)
Draculais one of the few horror books to be honored by inclusion in the Norton Critical Edition series. (The others areFrankenstein,The Turn of the Screw,Heart of Darkness,The Picture of Dorian Gray,andThe Metamorphosis.) This 100th-anniversary edition includes not only the complete authoritative text of the novel with illuminating footnotes, but also four contextual essays, five reviews from the time of publication, five articles on dramatic and film variations, and seven selections from literary and academic criticism. Nina Auerbach of the University of Pennsylvania (author ofOur Vampires, Ourselves) and horror scholar David J. Skal (author ofHollywood Gothic,The Monster Show, andScreams of Reason) are the editors of the volume. Especially fascinating are excerpts from materials that Bram Stoker consulted in his research for the book, and his working papers over the several years he was composing it. The selection of criticism includes essays on howDraculadeals with female sexuality, gender inversion, homoerotic elements, and Victorian fears of "reverse colonization" by politically turbulent Transylvania.