Dracula: The Postcolonial Edition by Bram Stoker [Paperback]

This is the first postcolonial edition of Bram Stoker's gothic classic. For scholars interested in decolonization in literary studies this is a prime example. Jonathan Harker's colonial adventure and Bram Stoker's imperialist discourse are restored to their original context of British economic and political involvement in East-Central Europe. This edition relies both on British and Romanian sources and exposes the cultural appropriation and distortion of Romanian history and folklore. Among the many threads the editors have followed is the very significant one related to the superimposition of the vampire onto Romanian beliefs. This edition avoids the misinformation perpetuated by previous editions of Dracula published during the last four decades. It carefully supplies geographical, historical, ethnographical, and cultural information that will help future scholars as well as the general public. In correctly placing Stoker's novel within British colonial literature, this edition draws attention to the dangers of Othering and of turning a blind eye to Victorian and neo-Victorian practices.

Bram Stoker (1847-1912) is best remembered today for Dracula, which is now considered one of the foremost examples of Gothic literature. Stoker wrote prolifically - both in his role on the staff of The Daily Telegraph, and as a novelist and short-story writer. Some of Stoker's short stories appeared in three collections, including Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories, but he was always better known for his novels. As a friend of Oscar Wilde, Stoker's personal life attracted much speculation before his death in 1912.