Dracula: The Connoisseur's Guide [Paperback]

Leonard Wolf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 31, 1997

In the 100 years since its publication, Bram Stoker's Dracula has never been out of print.  Once introduced to the world by the silent film classic Nosferatu in 1921, Dracula became an enduring icon of fear, forever immortalized as a frightful embodiment of evil and forbidden sexuality.

Now, in this fascinating and entertaining account, Wolf examines the various interpretations of the immortal vampire in print, film, television, theater, and literature, including an extensive outline of Bram Stoker's life and his literary masterpiece, Dracula.  Wolf explains how the story of a sexually sadistic undead creature/man who feeds on blood worked its way into mainstream society and how it is now used as a ubiquitous marketing tool for products from hair tonic to children's breakfast cereal.

The sourcebook includes:

* An exploration and the history of vampire myths, including the tale of Vlad the Impaler
* An overview of vampire films from the silent classic Nosferatu to Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula
* A discussion of vampire bats and the lore of blood
* A complete bibliography, filmography with movie stills, telefilmography, and a theater chronology
* Maps of Transylvania, London, and Whitby
* A calendar to coincide with the "real time" actions of Bram Stoker's Dracula, complete with sunrise and sunset times as well as the all-important phases of the moon
* And much more...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This odd assortment of exploratory essays circles around Dracula's neighborhood by looking at the philosophy of blood, the wonders of the vampire bat, the cryptic life of Bram Stoker, Dracula's movie lineage, and seven other vampiric topics. Author Leonard Wolf conveys his enthusiasm for the Dracula myth and its many resonances without sounding like either a drooling fan-boy or a lifeless academic. Bringing in his personal experiences with English students in the late '60s (Wolf taught at San Francisco State University) Wolf is able to connect the Dracula myth to the meanings of modern lives in a way that is playful, free from presumption, readable, and rigorous.

From School Library Journal

YA-Although Bram Stoker's 19th-century Gothic novel has never been out of print, far more people are familiar with the cultural artifacts it has spawned in the 20th century than have ever read the book. Wolf, probably the best-known Dracula scholar, has been writing thoughtful books on the subject for 25 years. His "connoisseur's guide" should be an enjoyable source for anyone intrigued by vampire lore or curious about its ubiquitousness in popular culture. Stylish graphics and a sly humor communicate the appeal of the subject. Brief essays cover topics such as "the lure and lore of death and vampirism," "the movie Draculas," and "the vampire bat and...its family values." One on Stoker himself tells of his correspondence with the poet Walt Whitman and provides insight regarding the creative process that produced the novel. Another, on Dracula's "fictional descendants," touches upon the work of several of the genre's more notable writers in horror, science fiction, and even mainstream literature; though this brief treatment cannot do full justice to the burgeoning market in vampire fiction, it is an excellent introduction. Teachers can use this book to encourage students to explore a number of literary questions, and vampire fans will enjoy it for its breadth of perspective and as a source of arcane data such as a monthly calendar that shows the phases of the moon during the events of the Dracula novel. It might even inspire some of them to read the book.
Christine C. Menefee, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 321 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (March 31, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553069071
• ISBN-13: 978-0553069075
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,477,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TELLS A LOT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF DRACULA AND VAMPIRES, November 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Dracula: The Connoisseur's Guide (Paperback)

I have just recently bought this book (from Amazon) and have found it very interesting. Wolf explains vampire lore, the importance of blood, the vampire bat, and find out about the real Dracula, Vlad the Impaler. Dracula; The Connoisseur's Guide also includes the history of horror in ficton and the precursors of Bram Stoker in vampire ficton. A brief biography of Bram Stoker is in this book, followed by another chapter with a over 30-page "summary" of the original Dracula story. The next part Wolf discusses the vampires tales of 1898-to the present. Leonard then has another chapter in his book about all the Dracula films, from Nosferatu, to Bram Stoker's Dracula.

This book is a wonderful addition to all the books on Dracula and vampires.

In addition to all the great writing, there are loads of pictures, including stunning illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. Also there are maps, film stills, photographs, and drawings.

This is a great book for vampire and Dracula fans everywhere.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Guide a Good Read, February 24, 2004

By 

Ashley Lambert-Maberly (Vancouver, British Columbia Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dracula: The Connoisseur's Guide (Paperback)

A well-written, well-researched, enjoyable outing from the author of the annotated Dracula. Anyone with a more-than-casual interest in Dracula will be well-rewarded with a read of this book. (And if your interest in Vampiredom's most famous son comes from the movies, don't hesitate to read Stoker's "Dracula" itself ... once you get past the possibly unfamiliar epistolary style, there's a real corker of a story there that too few lately have read!)

Note: a 3 star ranking from me is actually pretty good; I reserve 4 stars for tremendously good works, and 5 only for the rare few that are or ought to be classic; unfortunately most books published are 2 or less.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful Guidebook to a Century of Bram Stoker's "Dracula", April 23, 2005

By 

mirasreviews (McLean, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Dracula: The Connoisseur's Guide (Paperback)

Published for the centennial of Bram Stoker's masterpiece of gothic horror, "Dracula: The Connoisseur's Guide" is a guidebook of sorts to the Dracula Phenomenon that has continued for over a century since the novel's publication in 1897. At the time, "Dracula" didn't aspire to be anything more than a Victorian potboiler, but the novel found such far-reaching appeal that it has never gone out of print in over 100 years. Author Leonard Wolf also produced the excellent annotated edition of the novel "The Essential Dracula" and has long been one of "Dracula"'s most dedicated scholars.

Wolf introduces "A Connoisseur's Guide" by telling us how he came to be interested in the Dracula Matter, as he calls it, while teaching at San Francisco State University in the late 1960s. This bit of personal information may seem superfluous, but those readers who have followed Wolf's work on "Dracula" will find their curiosity finally satisfied. And the circumstances that led to Wolf's -and indeed anyone's- first book on the Dracula Matter, "A Dream of Dracula", published in 1972, reveal an interesting climate on American college campuses that led to academia's acceptance of "Dracula" as a work worthy of study.

"Dracula: A Connoisseur's Guide" then takes us through the "Dracula" phenomenon, from folklore to fiction to film. Wolf dedicates a chapter to each of these subjects: vampire folklore in various cultures, the symbolism and realities of blood, vampire bats, the 15th century Wallachian Prince Vlad Tepes from whom "Dracula" takes its name, gothic literature, literary precursors to "Dracula", the life of Bram Stoker, an analysis of the novel in four parts, 20th century vampire fiction, and vampire films from 1922 to 1992. Through these subjects, Wolf discusses "Dracula"'s descendants and the basis for its persistent appeal, as well as the novel itself.

"The Connoisseur's Guide" incorporates some elements of Leonard Wolf's out-of-print Dracula books. It is a more evolved and scholarly version of 1972's "A Dream of Dracula", although it lacks many of that book's personal meditations. "A Dream of Dracula" is quoted several times in "The Connoisseur's Guide", and most readers won't need a copy of the older book in addition to this one. A couple features of Wolf's first annotated edition, "The Annotated Dracula", published in 1975, have also made their way here: Wolf's 7-month calendar that plots the action of the novel is reprinted in the back of the book, and the wonderful drawings by Sätty introduce each chapter. These reproductions of Sätty's drawings really aren't big enough to be impressive, unfortunately -just big enough to remind us of how impressive they were in "The Annotated Dracula". But fans and students of Bram Stoker's novel will find "Dracula: A Connoisseur's Guide" and interesting and insightful exploration of their favorite gothic villain by an enthusiastic and erudite admirer.