The Bedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companion to Dracula [Paperback]

Published in 1897, Bram Stoker'sDraculawas the last of the nineteenth century's three major horror stories. It followed Mary Shelley'sFrankensteinand Robert Louis Stevenson'sThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but Stoker's novel had the greater impact on our culture and our nightmares. Count Dracula has been called the king of the vampires, but, in truth, he is the king of all the monsters, and his influence can be seen everywhere today: in everything from the number-obsessed count on sesame street to the vast fandom for Anne Rice's vampire chronicles. He is arguably the most recognized of characters, not the least of which is the iconic performance of Bella Lugosi. With Stoker's novel serving as the backbone, thisBedside, Bathtub & Armchair Companionto the world's most famous vampire considers all aspects of the Dracula phenomenon in often entertaining and unexpected ways-in theBedsidetradition: the book, its author, its psychological and sociological implications, the stage plays, the movies, television versions, the actors, and, of course, the historical Dracula, Vlad the Impaler.

Introduction: Dracula Among Us

Bram Stoker: The Man Behind the Vampire

Dracula Rises: the 1897 publication

The Pre-History, Vampire Style: Myths and Legends Around the World

The Pre-History, Vampire Lit 101: (Polidori, Varney, Carmilla)

The Pre-History, Horror Ancestry: (Shelley, Poe, Stevenson, Le Fanu)

The Victorian Era: Influence on Stoker & his book

The Novel: Chapter by Chapter breakdown

The Characters: Harker, Mina, Van Helsing, Seward, Arthur, Lucy, Quincey Morris, Renfield, Dracula, etc.

Dracula in the Book: Hell of an entrance, then.

Dracula's Powers

Dracula's Weaknesses

10 Ways to Destroy a Vampire

The Thrill of the Hunt: Dracula as an adventure book

Map of 1897 London, showing locations of boxes

Metaphors and Monsters: What does Dracula reprelƒ*