Introducción a Drácula:
BRAM STOKER wrote 18 novels during his literary career, but he is best remembered for the
creation of but one work that has managed to endure for nearly a century in spite of the ever
changing likes and dislikes of a fickle public. "Dracula" is a novel that embraces multiple motifs.
The supernatural, the world of dreams and gothic terror - real or imagined - are but some of the
fascinating themes that permeate this work. Stoker by no means invented the vampire - he did
however make one particular vampire "famous." Indeed, the vampire "enjoys" a long tradition in
human history and some form of the creature, whether spiritual or corporeal, has a
tradition-bound spot in many world cultures.
As we near the centennial of the novel's first publication, academia still has much to say about
Stoker's complex work, whether in the traditional form of the book or via the newer medium of
the Internet. The fascination with Stoker, "Dracula" and vampires also grips the interest of the
layman, so much so that literally hundreds of Web sites on various aspects of the vampire exist.
Vampire aficionados are well aware of the Bram Stoker Award, a literary prize give to top writers
of horror fiction presented by the Horror Writers' Association. (A newly published vampire
author, Christopher Golden, has recently received this award.) There are vampire societies like
The Transylvania Society of Dracula, which is an organization that "promotes the study of the
vampire myth and its impact on the West."
There can be no doubt about Stoker's impact on the cultivation of Western culture because his
work is still analyzed today. It is doubtful whether Stoker himself would have believed his work
could have had such lasting impact over such a span of time. His work has been long lasting, so
much so that his novel has not been out of print for nearly a century, and has been translated into
several languages. There are just over a hundred adaptations of Stoker's work for the move screen
(Francis Ford Coppolla's 1992 release of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" being the most recent), as well
as for the stage. Entire generations were frightened and simultaneously mystified with Bela
Lugosi's rendition of "Dracula" in the 1931 film adaptation, a movie that had its debut a few
short years after the "talkies" were invented.
"Dracula," both the novel and the legend, have upstaged its author practically from the time of its
first publication, but we must "thank" the mortal Stoker for making the vampire such an element
of our mythos. It would not be surprising to surmise that 7 out of 10 people know what a vampire
is, and certainly who Count Dracula was. This Web page is a practical study of the phenomenon of
vampirism, and though it is necessary to pull away from Stoker to study it in broader terms, it is
appropriately necessary to analyze, if possible, those facets or qualities of Stoker's life and
influences that have made Dracula a cultural phenomenon to this day.
 http://www.lctn.com/~lanette/bstoker.html
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Biografía de Bram Stoker/ Ensayos sobre Drácula/ Drácula 

Vida de M. Shelley/ Obras / Frankenstein/ Obra crítica sobre Frankenstein 

Introducción/First Paper / Conclusión / Enlaces/ Referencias 

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Actualizado: 1999 Enrique Noguero Rodríguez