Dracula

Dracula (1897) is a Victorian gothic novel by Irish writer Bram Stoker. Though the novel is by far his best-known, other significant works include The Jewel of the Seven Stars (1903), The Lair of the White Worm (1911), and the short story collection Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories (1914). Like Dracula, many of these works—written at the peak of the British Empire’s power—reveal an Orientalist fascination with regions outside Western Europe.

In Dracula, Stoker tells the story of the fight against the eponymous vampire in epistolary format; the novel comprises various letters, telegrams, journal entries, and newspaper articles written by the main characters. Dracula explores the classic theme of good versus evil, but the novel also illuminates the relationships between religion and reason, the “East” and the “West,” modernity versus tradition, and liberation and repression (particularly for women). The novel’s influence on the gothic, horror, and romance genres was profound, and the character of Count Dracula became one of the most influential and recognizable figures in literature, film, television, and even video games.