By Laura W
As it’s fall time and Halloween is here, I think it’s the perfect time to have a look at another famous, and classic, horror novel. Of course, there are numerous classic books and the focus won’t be just on horror novels, but I felt this was the perfect time to have a look at Dracula. The famed vampire is the second most portrayed fictional character of all time, after the famed detective Sherlock Holmes.
As it’s fall time and Halloween is here, I think it’s the perfect time to have a look at another famous, and classic, horror novel. Of course, there are numerous classic books and the focus won’t be just on horror novels, but I felt this was the perfect time to have a look at Dracula. The famed vampire is the second most portrayed fictional character of all time, after the famed detective Sherlock Holmes.
The story, originally published in May, 1897, tells the story of the famed vampire Dracula. In the late nineteenth century, a young English lawyer, Jonathan Harker, travels from England to the Carpathian Mountains. Here, he encounters Count Dracula, a pale, strange man. Harker is providing legal support for a real estate transaction. As time passes and strange events occur, Harker realizes that he has become a prisoner in Dracula’s castle. Dracula begins to track Mina, Harker’s fiancée, and her friend, Lucy. Lucy mysteriously becomes quite ill and is attended to by famed doctor Abraham Van Helsing. She eventually dies. Harker and Van Helsing are joined by several others and defeat Dracula.
When the novel was originally first published, it wasn’t an immediate hit, despite the unanimous high praise. The Daily Mail ranked the writing of Bram Stoker above Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe, two other legendary and very famous horror literary authors. Dracula didn’t earn much money for Stoker, unfortunately. He was so poor in the final year of his life, he went to the Royal Literary Fund and requested a compassionate fund. In 1913, Stoker’s widow was left with no choice but to sell his original notes and outlines at an auction, where they were purchased for just over two pounds. It wasn’t until an unauthorized adaptation of the novel, better known as Nosferatu, came out in theatres that Mrs. Stoker took action and the original novel began to rise in popularity. Since being published in other countries, Dracula has become one of the most famous classic, and horror, novels of all time.
Numerous adaptations have been made of the novel, including stage, radio, television, and film adaptations. Stoker wrote the original stage adaptation of Dracula. Famous adaptations include Dracula starring Bela Lugosi; Bram Stoker’s Dracula, starring Gary Oldman; and Dracula: Dead and Loving It, starring Leslie Nielsen. Another film adaptation, Dracula Untold, was recently released.
Please let us know what your favourite horror classics are in the comments below!
When the novel was originally first published, it wasn’t an immediate hit, despite the unanimous high praise. The Daily Mail ranked the writing of Bram Stoker above Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe, two other legendary and very famous horror literary authors. Dracula didn’t earn much money for Stoker, unfortunately. He was so poor in the final year of his life, he went to the Royal Literary Fund and requested a compassionate fund. In 1913, Stoker’s widow was left with no choice but to sell his original notes and outlines at an auction, where they were purchased for just over two pounds. It wasn’t until an unauthorized adaptation of the novel, better known as Nosferatu, came out in theatres that Mrs. Stoker took action and the original novel began to rise in popularity. Since being published in other countries, Dracula has become one of the most famous classic, and horror, novels of all time.
Numerous adaptations have been made of the novel, including stage, radio, television, and film adaptations. Stoker wrote the original stage adaptation of Dracula. Famous adaptations include Dracula starring Bela Lugosi; Bram Stoker’s Dracula, starring Gary Oldman; and Dracula: Dead and Loving It, starring Leslie Nielsen. Another film adaptation, Dracula Untold, was recently released.
Please let us know what your favourite horror classics are in the comments below!
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