First read this when I was in college. Great illustrztions and liner notes. Even on page one, as Jonathan HRKER STOPS FOR DINNER IN THE HOTEL BEFORE GOING ON TO DRACULA'S CASTLE, HE DINES ON CHICKEN PAPRIKOSH. In the margin, they have THE RECIPE!!!! for this dish! Awesome. Hope it returns.

Excellent information. Background information details nearly line by line the orginal novel. Get your hands on a copy of this book if you can.

Vampire stories have been told and retold with fascination. However, there are few that match the power of the novel by Bram Stoker. This book contains the original version with thick margins filled with footnotes, anecdotes, vampire lore, and insight into every aspect of this fascinating story.

This is far and away the best edition of the original novel you could read. In addition all it's footnotes and explanations provide a trail for any curious reader to explore for just about any particular aspect of the novel. From legends of Vampires, historical facts of Vlad Dracul III, all the way to obscure but curious details of the lendary Scholomance School Of Magic taught by the Devil himself!

While this exhaustively (at times exhaustingly) annotated book may overwhelm the reader coming to Stoker's novel for the first time, those who are past reading for the plot alone will definitely appreciate Wolf's additions, which include detailed footnotes on everything from the train schedules to literary allusions to inconsistencies in continuity. Most chapters feature brief articles by modern fantasy writers, who comment on the novel's influence in their lives and writing. The filmography and introduction are excellent. Those who enjoy looking at the fine details will certainly appreciate this scrupulously researched book.

Few authors have ever been able to come close to this piece of absolute brilliance that surcomes even those with no foul thought on mind.A timeless concept of complete masterpiece.THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE HIGHEST STANDERD OF DARK INSPIRING LOVE.

This novel brings together works of so many amazing talented writers: Stephen King, Richard Matheson, Anne Rice, Tanith Lee, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Algernon Blackwood, Joyce Carol Oates...just to name a few! Be on the lookout for "Count Dracula" by Woody Allen; whether you love him or hate him, this short story is a hoot!

This one lets you sink your teeth into some quick, sometimes chilling, sometimes humorous, sometimes just plain weird vampire stories. It will also introduce you to some incredible authors, and I bet you'll race to buy more of their works. Wolf breaks down this collection into categories: The Classic Adventure Tale; The Psychological Vampire; The Science Fiction Vampire; The Non-Human Vampire; The Comic Vampire; and The Heroic Vampire. Horror and vampire fans will recognize some of these stories (King's is an excerpt of SALEM'S LOT) from other novels or collections. But this one is a tasty treat (yes, all puns intended) that I found delightful!

I great collection of modern vampire stories. Several of the stories are actually chapters from longer novels, which only entices the reader to read those novels too. Wonderful read, but with the lights on!

It's curious to note, however, that the movie-spawned error of calling Dracula's key London residence "Carfax Abbey" and not "Carfax" extends even to Wolf's canny writing.

I have just recently bought this book (from Amazon) and have found it very interesting. Wolf explains vampire lore, the importance of blood, the vampire bat, and find out about the real Dracula, Vlad the Impaler. Dracula; The Connoisseur's Guide also includes the history of horror in ficton and the precursors of Bram Stoker in vampire ficton. A brief biography of Bram Stoker is in this book, followed by another chapter with a over 30-page "summary" of the original Dracula story. The next part Wolf discusses the vampires tales of 1898-to the present. Leonard then has another chapter in his book about all the Dracula films, from Nosferatu, to Bram Stoker's Dracula.

This book is a wonderful addition to all the books on Dracula and vampires.

In addition to all the great writing, there are loads of pictures, including stunning illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. Also there are maps, film stills, photographs, and drawings.

This is a great book for vampire and Dracula fans everywhere.

Gilles de Rais is probably an unfamiliar name to most, but he was a lieutenant of Joan of Arc's. They fought closely together but after she was executed, well, he became one of history's first serial murderers. He killed up to 200 children in horrible ways--Dahmer and Bundy have nothing on Gilles de Rais. Wolf writes very well, and tries to understand the psychology of such a character. De Rais was contradictory--murder for him was a way to reach God, or the Devil, or something divine and not of this world. Wolf is an expert on horror & Gothic lit. Well-researched & more readable than others on de Rais. If you're one of those people who think movie & tv violence instigate horrible acts, just remember Gilles de Rais. He wasn't wasn't watching no Oliver Stone movie, that's for sure.

This book is great! A must have for all phantom phans.

The Street leads you into the life of a disillusioned and alone veteran. You experience the world as through the inner thoughts of a homeless, desparate veteran soldier. The narrator returns to lodz, poland after world war two, and is struck to find that he is not familiar with the world around him. He is broke and frightened upon re-entry into regular life. The Street follows the depth and despair of fantasy. Also, you see the ways that these darknesses might intwine with love and hope. Rabon explores the context of our emotions, and is able to illustrate how quick our mood may change. The characters are vulnerable and thoughtful. The street of the novel serves as a metaphor for being on the outside, for being poor and naive, in an industrial society. Rabon writes lyrically of the spare moments, as well as he writes clearly and plainly of the action. Yet the twists and turns of the yiddish language itself relate the story in a fundamentally non-traditional way. The book is a bridge between the stark realities of post-war life, and the magic of one's own journeys and fantasies.

For a sociological interpretation, we can compare the monster with a perpetual criminal, especially a fugitive. Frankenstein vows, "I resolved that I would sell my life dearly, and not shrink from the conflict, until my own life, or that of my adversary, was extinquished." Frankenstein will spend the rest of his life hunting down the criminal, in vain. We see the fugitive post a landmark here and there and dare Frankenstein to catch him if he can, taunting him till his death.

Timothy McVeigh serves as a contemporary symbol of the monster. Like the monster, McVeigh's mission in life became one of destruction, the Oklahoma City federal building bombing. The blast killed 168 people, none of which McVeigh even personally knew. Likewise, the monster slayed unknown innocents out of a learned hatred and resentment of society in general. The monster never made any direct attacks upon Victor, but rather destroyed all he loved and let him destroy himself in his pursuit of him. Once Victor perished, the monster promptly announced his suicide, proudly removing HIMSELF from a cruel world. With his upcoming execution, McVeigh was oddly relieved, "I'll be glad to leave..this world just doesn't hold anything for me." He has stated he was sorry that those people died but he felt they had to. Like the monster, McVeigh shows some sorrow for what he did, but feels obligated and justified in what he did. Victor's monster proved uncapturable and unpunishable, and although man has captured McVeigh, his single execution will not compensate for the 168 deaths he inflicted. So in a sense man hasn't captured him. One could compare this to the monster's reign of fulfilling his statement, "You are my creator but I am your master." His execution broadcasted on closed-circuit television as if the victims' families will find peace in witnessing his death. This fits well with the observation of Frankenstein's fiance, Elizabeth, "Men appear to me as monsters thirsting for each others blood." She said this when Justine was being executed for the monster's crime.

McVeigh has stated that he feels his bombing mission was noble. Critics have called the monster a "Noble Savage" who feels compelled to do evil for an unobtainable good. As he walked away from the bomb site, McVeigh wore a shirt with a quote on the front from John Wilkes Booth as he executed Lincoln, "thus ever to tyrants" on the back his shirt has a quote from Thomas Jefferson, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." McVeigh has stated that he believes the U.S. Federal Government "is the biggest bully in the world." McVeigh has used his press attention to express his belief that he was a striving underdog in a world in which he cannot gain acceptance or be understood, which sounds so much like the monster's pleas. We do have compassion for the monster despite his barbarous murders against the innocent, if we look back at his early history. We understand the monster's innocent beginnings and that man turned him evil despite his struggle for goodness. Society gives little compassion to criminals, in part because people don't understand the beginnings of these menaces. Frankenstein, telling Sir Walton's crew about the monster, warned them not to listen to the monster's pleas; he is evil but his words are convincing, he says. Likewise with criminals, society doesn't want to listen to them or consider that they have a case that deserves compassion.

Shelley presents the themes of oppression and rebellion in Frankenstein. The novel shows that oppression leads to rebellion, as the monster suffers continual oppression until he violently rebels and destroys his oppressor. The novel shows that like the Oklahoma City bombing, oppressor and rebel must meet sometime and they cannot do so as human beings. To characters such as Justine and Elizabeth, the tragic events of this story seem random and without sense or purpose. But as the reader you can listen to the viewpoints of the monster and Frankenstein and they will show you there are reasons behind all that happened. They will, however, each give you two opposing viewpoints. In this scenario, Justine and Elizabeth serve as symbols of innocent victims of crime, who often don't even know what hit them before they are dead. The monster symbolizes the perpetrator and Frankenstein could symbolize the authorities that try to apprehend the criminals.

I read the review by "an avid book reviewer" and thought it was a horrendously warped perception to the book. The way the book is written examines the creation of the monster and the creation of evil. The real question is who is evil? Frankenstein or his monster. I think one will find the information in the book very helpful guiding himself or herself through the text, but I find it impossible to believe that anyone could compare the monster to Timothy McVeigh. I just don't get that connection when analyzing the text as Shelly wrote it. The text is very sympathetic to the monster, but the monster is most assuredly consumed with a deep hatred. I do agree with "avid book reviewer" that the actions of the monster come from oppression, an oppression that is undeniable in the text. However, I still maintain that the question remains: Who is the monster? Who creates evil? I think the only way one could truly decide the issue of this debate is to purchase the book and find out for himself or herself. Let the text speak for itself.

This is one of my favorite novels of all time, and one worth looking into not only on the surface, but below the surface at the underlying message it may contain.

Although I'm not much of a horror fan, I decided to read Dracula since it was considered a classic and was hopefully pretty good. I'm glad I read it. It was a very interesting story. It wasn't what I was expecting. The whole novel is written as if you're reading someone's diary, telegram or news article. It starts with Jonathan Harker(a lawyer if I remember correctly) who is summoned to Count Dracula's castle to help Dracula obtain a home in London. He soon realizes Dracula is no ordinary man, but some kind of beast. This section takes about 1/4 of the book and then, after some deaths surrounded with unusual and frightening circumstances, Jonathan, along with some other interesting characters commit to not only prevent Dracula's move to London, but to kill him. This book was interesting in the fact that it was almost as if Dracula is not the main character of the novel, and I suppose in some ways, he's not. The book focuses much more on this group of people's attempts to hinder Dracula's actions and to cause his demise. Also, I liked reading the book and discovering the original story behind Dracula, not just all of the spoofs and parodies one sees today. I liked finding out that besides not liking garlic, crosses and sunlight, vampires also can't pass running water and can turn into wolves as well as bats. Although I can't say I was ever particularly scared reading this novel(probably because I don't really believe in vampires), I did find this novel to be very good, especially considering horror isn't one of the genres I'm particularly fond of. I definitely think it's worth picking up this book and reading it.

Everyone knows the name "Dracula," but the majority have only seen the legendary Transylvanian Count on the silver screen or through pop culture; few indeed have actually read the work that started it all.

One cannot claim to be a fan of vampire literature or of Dracula himself without having read Bram Stoker's tremendous work of gothic horror. Think that Dracula and other vampires can't be out in daylight? Wrong--they simply have no powers during the day, which you'd know if you read this extraordinary book.

Written in epistolary form (that is, as a series of letters and diary entries), the story is presented from the viewpoints of the main characters, from Jonathan Harker to his wife Mina to Dr. van Helsing. Rather than detracting from the story, this format breaks up what would otherwise be a rather long manuscript into manageable chunks and adds to the historical character of the novel.

Modern film interpretations have presented Stoker's story through the eyes of each producer, director, and screenwriter, with nearly all making wholesale changes--Mina Harker, for instance, is NOT the reborn lost love of Count Dracula as Francis Ford Coppola would have us believe. Many others who have "read" Dracula have done so through abridged texts that distort the story through omission. Pick up and read the story that started it all in its intended format... Bram Stoker's Dracula. You won't regret it.

One of the scariest books in history, DRACULA is nevertheless misunderstood. Our civilization is removed from the Victorian era. We think of it as somehow distant and quaint, and ourselves as modern. But when Bram Stoker published DRACULA in 1897, the Victorian era _was_ modern. Stoker meant to make the book more frightening than most books by bringing an ancient horror into a modern, anti-superstitious world. He uses typewriters and phonograph disks the way a modern writer would refer to the internet and e-mail. DRACULA's first readers might've looked out of their town or country houses and expected to see Dracula's gaunt figure emerging through the fog.

He tells the story through a series of diaries, letters, clippings. Normally this is an unweildy method of storytelling, but in this case it is most effective.

The novel is divided into three broad sections. In the first, young Jonathan Harker and Dracula have the stage almost alone. Though Harker's diary we learn details of his journey through eastern Europe to meet a Count who wants to travel to England, and Harker carries him certain important papers. Count Dracula's character comes across very strong and well-defined, and grows ever menacing as Harker slowly learns he is not going to be allowed back to England, but will become food for Dracula's vampiric harem.

The second part of the book, set in England, deals with Mina Murray, who is going to marry Jonathan; Mina's friend Lucy; three men who are in love with Lucy; and a good-hearted but mysterious Ductch doctor, Abraham van Helsing. The bulk of this part deals with Lucy's mysterious disease, her decline to death, and her transformation into a vampire that her suitors must destroy out of love. Dracula appears only fleetingly through the book, but the reader knows what happens, and suspects the cause of Lucy's decline.

In the last part, Jonathan, Mina, and Lucy's three lovers band with Dr. von Helsing in a pact to destroy Dracula before he can spread his contagion throughout England; and meanwhile, Dracula wreaks his vengeance on them for taking Lucy from him.

Stoker uses many ways of approaching his subject. Occasionally the horror is direct; but once it is established, he makes it subtle, working behind the scenes, in a way that may be even more frightening. Though he also uses different voices, his prose is invariably fine. And as each character has to overcome his aversion to ancient superstition and face Dracula with a mind open to the fact that there's more in the world than science and technology and late-Victorian materialism can contain, the book becomes eerily meaningful for the twenty-first century.

Modern purveyors of vampiric fiction dispense with the blatant Christian symbolism used to fight Dracula's ilk, such as a crucifix or sanctified host, or prayer. They also turn the evil of Dracula topsy-turvey and somehow invent sympathy for soulless monsters who view living humans as food. Stoker doesn't hesitate to show Dracula as an evil, totalitarian horror; as a contagion that must be eradicated; as an enslaver of women, like Lucy, and men, like poor Renfield. And Stoker has reason enough to realized that only Supernatural agencies could fight the supernatural. The saving Blood of Christ on the Cross, blood of which a soulless terror like Dracula cannot drink, is the most effective symbol for fighting and defeating this brand of evil. It was part of the novel's consistency that as the characters have to come to grips with the reality of ancient evil, they must also return to the symbols of good that they also have rejected in a narrow-minded embracing of the modern.

Dracula, the strongest character in Victorian fiction, does not weaken himself by the need to be "understood" or "pitied". He will destroy or be destroyed. And the worst destruction that could happen to him would be mitigation.

DRACULA may be the scariest book ever written; it's certainly the best of the classic horror stories. It's well-crafted and exquisitely constructed enough that it stands as a great novel even without genre pigeonholing.

A young man, who aspires to become a writer in Warsaw in 1922 gets caught up in issues of life, love, family, and politics. The times are chaotic and the future is uncertain. Social structures are changing, religon is under assault, and communism is on the rise.

This is the background for this novel by nobel prize winner Isaac B. Singer. This largly autobiograpichal story paints a picture of a culture and time lost in the ashes of history. His memories are touching and deftly written. A good read for any who are interested in this tremendous author.

David Bendiger is a penniless young man, willing to make a name for himself as a writer in Warsaw. But 1922 is a time of turmoil, war, anti-Semitism, the rise of communism, all of which deeply affecting a young generation that cannot find its place in society. More so for the Jewish community, torn itself between tradition and the new rationalism. David is a puppet in a world of chaos, who gets himself carried and involved in the lives of three women, each one of them with their own dilemma in life. Like in all his other works, I.B.Singer masters his depiction of human despair, love, greatness, and despicable existence.

David Bendiger is at a crossroad in his life. He is 18-1/2 and like his brother, Ahron, he aspires to be a writer. David also has the opportunity to obtain a certificate of passage to Palestine, a British protectorate in 1922. The only catch is that if he had a wife entry into Palestine would be that much easier. David enters into a fictitious marriage with Minna, a woman from a well-to-do Jewish family living in Warsaw. Minna plans to reunite with her adored fiance in Palestine and then dissolve her union with David. Needless to say problems ensue.

_The Certificate_ is a splendid and engrossing story full of unexpected plot turns. It captures that moment in a young man's life when he is just becoming an adult and must make important decisions that will affect the rest of his life. In David's case he chooses to begin his writing career by endeavoring to have some of his writings published. Newly discovering women, he ponders about the kind of woman he will eventually marry. The son of an orthodox rabbi, David also faces a challenge to his Judaism and his belief in God when he meets two Communist women at a rooming house, as well as from Minna, a self-denying Jew. Even his beliefs and his value system, much of these derived from Spinoza, are shaken. Whether David finds a new life in Palestine or takes an altogether different road may be discovered by reading this small, but important and engrossing work in the I.B. Singer canon.