THE BITE STUFF

When Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula was published in 1897, the critics were intrigued, if a little taken aback by the mordantly powerful nature of this sinister tale of a vampiric count. “It is, however, an artistic mistake to fill a whole volume with horrors,” noted the Manchester Guardian. “A touch of the mysterious, the terrible, or the supernatural is infinitely more effective and credible.”

‘Less is more’ may well be a good maxim for writers, but a “whole volume of horrors” never did Stoker’s novel of Gothic terror any harm. For a book that has never been out of print since it first hit shelves, it seems apt that a story about the undead should remain eternal, sparking appeal for each new generation. Second only to the character of Sherlock Holmes, Dracula has been re-animated for the screen more than 200 times.

Told in epistolary form, Stoker’s tale