Dracula

Dracula is a gothic novel written by Irish novelist Bram Stoker (1847-1912). It is also the name of one of the main characters in the novel, Count Dracula, who is a vampire. Stoker began writing Dracula in 1890 and published it in 1897. The novel is one of the most well-known and influential gothic novels in literary history. It is undoubtedly the most famous vampire story up to this day. Although Stoker did not invent the vampire, neither as a mythological being nor as a literary character, it was his Count Dracula who influenced the stereotype of the vampire in popular culture to such an extent, that the images of "Dracula" and "Vampire" are almost synonymous today.

Plot summary

The narrative is told in the form of letters and journal entries by the novel`s characters. It begins with Jonathan Harker, a young English solicitor, travelling from England to Count Dracula's castle in the Carpathian Mountains in order to help him with a real estate transaction in London. At first he is pleased by Dracula's aristocratic manners, but he soon is disturbed by some of Dracula's features (cold skin, sharp teeth, no image in mirrors, bloodlust) and his strange behaviour. He realizes that he is in fact trapped in the castle. He is almost killed by three female vampires, but finally manages to escape from the castle.