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The New Annotated Dracula For more than 100 years, readers of the Sherlock Holmes tales have played "The Game" - treating Holmes and Dr. Watson as real, historical figures. Now, for the first time in a major book, Dracula comes to life in the same way. Klinger (with tongue firmly in cheek) posits that Jonathan and Mina Harker, Abraham Van Helsing, Lucy Westenra, and of course the Count himself were real individuals, whose true identities were deliberately concealed. Klinger is hosting a talk and book signing tonight at 7pm at the Elmer L. Andersen Library on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis. You can find The New Annotated Dracula in bookstores everywhere.
“Klinger brings the same impressive breadth of knowledge that distinguished The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes to this definitive examination of one of the classic horror novels of all time.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Leslie S. Klinger’s great virtue as an editor is his sublimely willful and scrupulous disregard for the boundary between historical fact and literary falsehood. In The New Annotated Dracula, he reprises the same ‘gentle fiction’ (as he calls it) of his earlier annotated Sherlock Holmes, treating Stoker’s novel as nonfiction: real events happening to real persons. After a brief preface in which he explains his trick, Klinger’s edition becomes a surreal treat, exploiting the ‘real-life’ flavor of the book’s succession of journal entries and letters.” —BookPage
“This is a book every serious reader of the horror genre should have on his or her shelf. You will read Dracula with new eyes. Fascinating!”—Stephen King
“When the madman Renfield invokes Dracula, he pleads: ‘You will not pass me by, will You, dear Master, in your distribution of good things?’ The New Annotated Dracula is so full of good things—detailed historical annotations, iconic images of the vampire and his swooning victims, illuminating essays—that many readers will wonder if its author has not been personally rewarded for his services to the dark lord. Certainly nobody alive knows more about Dracula than Les Klinger.”—Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize–winning critic, and author of Bound to Please and Classics for Pleasure
“Leslie Klinger’s marvelous, marvel-packed new annotated Dracula is both deeply enjoyable and astonishingly informative. I loved his playfulness, his erudition, his joy in this material. Anyone who has ever enjoyed Dracula needs this wonderful volume.”—Peter Straub
“For two years I have said that the one book I would take to that proverbial desert island is Leslie Klinger’s The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes. Having just read, studied, and reread The New Annotated Dracula, I’d toss my last bottle of water to include this extraordinary volume on my raft.”—Otto Penzler, editor of The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps
Updated ‘Dracula’ released in time for Halloween Yes, the vampire craze is at full tilt with “Twilight” author Stephenie Meyer aiming for world domination with her bestselling, bloodsucking series and HBO going goth with the much-ballyhooed new series “TrueBlood.” Who knew there was such a financial windfall in fangs? To the rescue comes Leslie S. Klinger, the overseer of “The New Annotated Dracula,” to remind us all who did it first, and who did it best. His lavish new tome deconstructing Bram Stoker’s haunting classic is a firm, fun reminder of the fable that launched (seemingly) a thousand franchises. Klinger takes himself on a trip to the still untamed lands of Transylvania, and follows the trail, and story, right through England to bring us copious notes and observations about the text’s imagery. With 1,500 footnotes, Klinger’s ode sheds light for the first time on oft-overlooked details and nuances of Jonathan Harker’s fateful meeting with Count Dracula, and the ensuing madness that unfolds. Klinger refuses to quit with footnotes detailing topography, eastern European history, science and resolving the sometimes antiquated language; he goes further to uncover an alternate ending, which drastically changes the legendary epic’s outcome. Along the way we’re treated to hundreds of illustrations of Dracula in his various incarnations and interpretations, from the sadistic count to the Hollywood camp that this literary figure came to embody. Also packaged inside are three essays exploring the evolution of Dracula, the phenomenon, and its place in modern culture. Of the three, “The Public Life of Dracula” is the most relevant, examining the myriad spinoffs of Stoker’s classic, and how the story has manifested itself into all realms of entertainment. Those with a curiosity of literature, or currently working toward an English degree, will certainly enjoy the professorial “Sex, Lies, and Blood,” which thoroughly, and sometimes tediously, investigates Stoker’s intentions as well as his reflections of the time of its publication in 1897. Klinger also analyzes all matter of phobias and philias that comprise key plot points and themes. This version of “Dracula” could appropriately serve as a crash course in the science of the macabre. In a book loaded with bonus materials, easily the most interesting is Klinger’s assertion that Stoker considered his novel nonfiction. Stoker’s insistence that “Dracula” was based upon true events ultimately was subject to much ridicule. Klinger initiates his research under the premise that Stoker was right that “Dracula” is indeed a true story. With this in mind, the annotated version of the story takes on newly creepy twists, which affirms that new-age vampires come and go, but Dracula is here to stay.
'Dracula' packs bigger bite with trivia-packed annotated edition •Dozens of actors have portrayed Dracula in films: Bela Lugosi, Gary Oldman, Frank Langella, Christopher Lee, Louis Jordan, George Hamilton, Leslie Nielsen and John Carradine. •Actors who have portrayed Dracula on Broadway: Lugosi, Langella, Raul Julia, David Dukes and Jeremy Brett. •Novels inspired by Dracula: Anne Rice's The Vampire Chronicles, Dracula: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer. •TV shows: Dark Shadows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Moonlight, Blade and True Blood.
'The New Annotated Dracula' by Leslie S. Klinger: Any devotee of the Transylvanian count will adore this 613-page compendium, which features the complete text of Dracula plus more than 1,500 footnotes and some 200 color and black-and-white illustrations including historic and contemporary photos, movie stills and posters and stage bills. It also includes a bibliography and guide to Dracula societies where one might find friends in fangdom. Mr. Klinger, who also edited The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, brings a good deal of intelligent wit to this project, starting with taking author Bram Stoker "at his word" that the letters, journals and newspaper articles that comprise Dracula are historically accurate. Mr. Klinger, tongue embedded in cheek, surmises that Jonathan, Mina, Dr. Van Helsing and Mr. Fangs-for-the-Memories were all real individuals whose true identities were intentionally concealed. To prove this, he points out the manuscript's many inconsistencies and errors – Stoker's way, Mr. Klinger says, of diversion from the truth. For instance, he notes that in a scene where Dracula forces Mina to drink his blood, Dr. Seward's journal says of Dracula, "his face was turned from us," but that "we all recognized the Count – in every way, even to the scar on his forehead." In his footnote, Mr. Klinger writes, "This [contradiction] suggests that the scene is a constructed one, a fictionalized version of the true events, which in fact may have been sexual." You think? He doesn't shy from taking characters to task or gently making fun; in several notes, he remarks on Dr. Van Helsing's unfettered ego and medical quackery, for instance his ability to take Mina's pulse in a few seconds while kissing her hand. Mr. Klinger went to the source for his work; he studied Stoker's original manuscript, which is owned by a private collector who has allowed access to only two researchers in recent years. In his preface, he writes: "In examining Dracula, I must admit that I have found more questions than answers. ... In the words of Bernard Davies, a lifelong student of Dracula, in his provocative Unearthing Dracula – Burying Stoker, 'We shall fit in all the pieces of the puzzle as neatly as we can, then throw the odd one or two left back in the box. With Dracula you've always got some pieces left.' " Mr. Klinger pays particular attention to Dracula's wicked pull on readers, even those who might otherwise avoid tales so visceral and shocking. A review in the August 1897 issue of London's The Bookman read: "A summary of the book would shock and disgust; but we must own that, though here and there in the course of the tale we hurried over things with repulsion, we read nearly the whole thing with rapt attention." How ghastly! Tell me more! The same can be said of The New Annotated Dracula. Set aside a few days for this one – you'll want to savor every juicy, bloody bit.The New Annotated Dracula Bram Stoker, edited with a foreword and notes by Leslie S. Klinger
'Annotated Dracula' adds to vampire tale "The New Annotated Dracula" (W.W. Norton & Co. 624 pages. $39.95), by Bram Stoker, edited by Leslie S. Klinger: Part trick and part treat, this weighty tome seeks to add another dimension to the famous vampire tale. To the complete text of Bram Stoker's "Dracula," Klinger adds copious notes — usually several a page — that offer facts and anecdotes to put the tale in the context of its Victorian England roots. The trick of the book — what in his introduction calls his "gentle fiction" — is that he treats the text as if it were nonfiction, as though Stoker actually found the letters and clippings that make up the novel and as if existence of Dracula might be verified if the evidence is examined. Klinger, who gave a similar, and award-winning, treatment to Sherlock Holmes, clearly relishes in the minutiae and history of the Victorian age. Many details on which he elaborates — for example, the specific books that were in Dracula's library at the time — bring vivid context to the novel and make the story come alive to readers who might not be aware of many details of the era. But the treatment can be tiring, as when he points out at length why a description of "soft yellow moonlight" is unlikely for the date indicated in protagonist Jonathan Harker's diary. Klinger refers to many other works on Dracula and the Victorian age in his notes, but his decision to treat the text as real sometimes makes it difficult to decipher what references are real and what Klinger is making up himself. There are many treats to be found here that will both entertain the casual reader and sate the taste of the most rabid fans of vampire lore and the horror genre: an introduction by horror writer Neil Gaiman; plentiful illustrations taken from Dracula-related movies and TV shows (from "Nosferatu" to "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"); books and historical sources. There are appendices that lay out the chronology of the text and essays that consider how Dracula has been treated in academia, and on the stage and screen. But what Klinger wisely realizes, and the reader can stick to if he or she wearies of all else, is that the biggest treat of all remains Stoker's text, still as captivating and horrifying as it was when first published in 1897.
What a Tax Lawyer Dug Up on 'Dracula'
Readers know even more. Does anybody pick up a copy of "Dracula" these days without first realizing it's about a supernatural bloodsucker from Transylvania? Or were you expecting a spoiler alert? This is a challenge for a lot of classic books: The stories are so familiar that their twists and turns fail to shock or awe. Yet the publisher W.W. Norton & Co. seems to have found a commercially viable way out of this fix, with a series of annotated volumes that perform the marketing miracle of making the old seem new again. The latest, "The New Annotated Dracula," is out just in time for Halloween. A novel such as "Dracula" still possesses plenty of well-told pleasures. An early scene in which its iconic antihero climbs out a window and crawls headfirst down a castle wall remains one of the creepiest in English literature. Yet it's the exceedingly rare reader who will scratch his head in bewilderment when Van Helsing breaks out the crucifixes and garlic. Leslie S. Klinger, the editor of "The New Annotated Dracula," nevertheless manages to enliven the experience of reading about the world's most famous undead white male. Like a movie studio that adds "bonus features" to a DVD, Norton includes extensive commentaries in "The New Annotated Dracula" and even offers what appears to be a genuine literary discovery: The volume describes a previously unknown "alternate ending" to the 1897 text. "The New Annotated Dracula" probably wouldn't exist but for the success of several predecessors. Annotations aren't exactly an innovation, of course, and many publishers have glossed the plays of Shakespeare and the poetry of "Paradise Lost" for college students. Norton's breakthrough idea was to produce lavish volumes full of illustrations, essays, appendices, and discursive footnotes for general readers. A decade ago, Robert Weil, an editor at Norton, conceived of "The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition." It brought together Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass," combining and updating previous annotations by Martin Gardner, a renowned Carroll expert. "Our goal was to publish a beautiful book that would allow adults to relive a classic that they knew as children and to understand it in a new way," says Mr. Weil. "The Annotated Alice" became a hit whose steady sales make it a back-list superstar for the publisher. Norton has gone on to try the same tack with annotated editions of more than a dozen other titles, such as "The Wizard of Oz," "Huckleberry Finn" and "A Christmas Carol." Forthcoming editions include "The Wind in the Willows," "Peter Pan" and the tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Norton says its first printing of "The New Annotated Dracula" will number about 50,000 copies -- a healthy run for an oversized, 613-page book. Even so, it's a lightweight compared to "The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes," three volumes totaling more than 2,700 pages, also edited by Mr. Klinger. By day, Mr. Klinger is a Los Angeles tax attorney with clients in the entertainment industry. By night, he turns his attention to genre literature. When he finished working on the Holmes books, he cast around for a similar project. His wife suggested "Dracula," which made sense because it, too, was a product of late-Victorian Britain whose central character had achieved a legendary status in popular culture -- an inspiration for everything from the movies to the Muppets. In his book, Mr. Klinger does what annotators do. He defines obscure words and terms. He conveys little-known trivia, such as Stoker's consideration of "The Un-Dead" or "The Dead Un-Dead" as potential titles. And he proposes offbeat interpretations. Is it possible, for instance, that Quincey Morris, one of Van Helsing's vampire hunters, is secretly in league with Dracula? Stoker almost certainly didn't intend it, but a careful probing of the text leaves open this intriguing prospect. In the vast body of amateur scholarship on Sherlock Holmes, there's a tradition of pretending that Holmes was a real person and that Arthur Conan Doyle was not a writer of fictional stories but an actual biographer. Mr. Klinger takes the same approach with "Dracula," with results that will amuse some and annoy others. "You don't have to buy into my crackpot suggestion," he says. "But the idea is to help the reader have fun." In researching "Dracula," Mr. Klinger had to perform detective work that would do Holmes proud. Stoker left behind not only his published manuscript, but also extensive drafts and notes that provide glimpses of how his ideas about the novel evolved over several years -- rich source material for any annotator. One of the key texts is a 541-page manuscript that turned up in a Pennsylvania barn some years ago. Few people have laid eyes on it, and Mr. Klinger tried to contact its anonymous owner through Christie's, the auction house. That effort initially failed, though the private collector ultimately approached Mr. Klinger through an intermediary and invited him to spend two days with the manuscript. Mr. Klinger had to sign a nondisclosure agreement, but this summer he received permission to identify the mysterious owner: Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. Mr. Klinger draws extensively from this document, and the greatest payoff comes in the last chapter, when he reveals an ending different from the one Stoker put into print. The lost scene shows up in Mr. Allen's manuscript, but not in the novel as it was finally published. It takes place in Transylvania and involves a massive explosion. Saying more would spoil the surprise. Mr. Miller writes for National Review. |
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Bram Stoker's Dracula was published in 1897, and the blood-drinking vampire has been entrenched in popular culture ever since. Dracula has inspired countless vampire novels, movies, TV shows, comic books — even cereal (Count Chocula!). In time for Halloween comes The New Annotated Dracula (Norton, $39.95) edited by Leslie S. Klinger, with an introduction by Neil Gaiman. Sharpen your teeth on Dracula trivia in the book:
© 2008 Leslie S. Klinger. All rights reserved.
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