Does anyone have a Dracula (Bram Stoker's) edition that they can recommend? Have always been interested in reading it and this discussion has piqued my interest again.
Edit: I was searching for a good version and came across this article with this interesting tidbit:
> Bram Stoker did not intend for Dracula to serve as fiction, but as a warning of a very real evil, a childhood nightmare all too real.
But his editor prevented it, apparently concerned it would alarm the public.
> When the novel was finally released on May 26, 1897, the first 101 pages had been cut, numerous alterations had been made to the text, and the epilogue had been shortened, changing Dracula’s ultimate fate as well as that of his castle. Tens of thousands of words had vanished. Bram’s message, once concise and clear, had blurred between the remaining lines.
> In the 1980s, the original Dracula manuscript was discovered in a barn in rural northwestern Pennsylvania. Nobody knows how it made its way across the Atlantic. That manuscript, now owned by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, begins on page 102.
Now I am very curious what the dracula/castle fate changes were. If the published version is good I would expect the original may have been even better. Especially since the criticisms against it (would alarm the public) are no longer relevant.
I always found the inconsistencies off-putting (though my high-school English teacher was not taken by my attempts to note them).
Fred Saberhagen has the titular character write a pretty convincing defence in his book _The Dracula Tapes_, which is well-worth reading so as to be able to enjoy _The Holmes-Dracula File_.
Wow! It was mandatory reading in high school for me (Virginia). I’ve only read it a couple times, but I remember really liking it. This thread has also motivated me to re-read it. I read one of the Puffin paperbacks when I was a kid.
> I find it intriguing that BS's Dracula was required reading in VA.
The Virginia Department of Education doesn't and hasn't had a required reading list. Such decisions are the purview of local school districts. A minority of local school districts in the state specify a required reading list, but mostly these decisions are made at the school or individual teacher level.
Edit: I was searching for a good version and came across this article with this interesting tidbit:
> Bram Stoker did not intend for Dracula to serve as fiction, but as a warning of a very real evil, a childhood nightmare all too real.
But his editor prevented it, apparently concerned it would alarm the public.
> When the novel was finally released on May 26, 1897, the first 101 pages had been cut, numerous alterations had been made to the text, and the epilogue had been shortened, changing Dracula’s ultimate fate as well as that of his castle. Tens of thousands of words had vanished. Bram’s message, once concise and clear, had blurred between the remaining lines.
> In the 1980s, the original Dracula manuscript was discovered in a barn in rural northwestern Pennsylvania. Nobody knows how it made its way across the Atlantic. That manuscript, now owned by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, begins on page 102.
https://time.com/5411826/bram-stoker-dracula-history/
Now I am very curious what the dracula/castle fate changes were. If the published version is good I would expect the original may have been even better. Especially since the criticisms against it (would alarm the public) are no longer relevant.