Why is Dracula aristocratic?
Where does the word `nosferatu' really come from?
Just what is the point of R.M. Renfield?
For 120 years, Bram Stoker's Dracula and its shape-shifting, bloodsucking Count have thrilled and terrified readers, abetted by stage and screen versions from Nosferatu and Bela Lugosi to the Hammer films and Gary Oldman.
Here, John Sutherland, author of Is Heathcliff a Murderer? and Can Jane Eyre Be Happy?, presents a toothsome new collection of literary puzzles, scrutinising the fine and not-so-fine points of this beloved text to raise some curious questions and reach some surprising conclusions.
Along the way we learn about Stoker's love-rivalry with Oscar Wilde, his `dreadful' stage adaptation of Dracula, performed to an audience of two, a tantalising dropped prelude set in Munich, and much more.
Who is Dracula's father? Who, for that matter, is Quincy P. Morris? Why does the Count take such pointless risks? And why are there still so few vampires? Take a peek behind Dracula's cloak and find out.
The book also includes 'Dracula Digested' by John Crace, author of the Guardian's Digested Reads column
