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The New Annotated Dracula

Bram Stoker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Cause for international celebration—the most important and complete edition of Dracula in decades.

In his first work since his best-selling The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Leslie S. Klinger returns with this spectacular, lavishly illustrated homage to Bram Stoker's Dracula. With a daring conceit, Klinger accepts Stoker's contention that the Dracula tale is based on historical fact. Traveling through two hundred years of popular culture and myth as well as graveyards and the wilds of Transylvania, Klinger's notes illuminate every aspect of this haunting narrative (including a detailed examination of the original typescript of Dracula, with its shockingly different ending, previously unavailable to scholars). Klinger investigates the many subtexts of the original narrative—from masochistic, necrophilic, homoerotic, "dentophilic," and even heterosexual implications of the story to its political, economic, feminist, psychological, and historical threads. Employing the superb literary detective skills for which he has become famous, Klinger mines this 1897 classic for nuggets that will surprise even the most die-hard Dracula fans and introduce the vampire-prince to a new generation of readers.

Frankenstein (Enriched Classics)

Mary Shelley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 34 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED

BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP

A timeless, terrifying tale of one man's obsession to create life -- and the monster that became his legacy.

EACH ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES:

• A concise introduction that gives readers important background information

• A chronology of the author's life and work

• A timeline of significant events that provides the book's historical context

• An outline of key themes and plot points to help readers form their own interpretations

• Detailed explanatory notes

• Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work

• Discussion questions to promote lively classroom and book group interaction

• A list of recommended related books and films to broaden the reader's experience

Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

SERIES EDITED BY CYNTHIA BRANTLEY JOHNSON

Dracula (Enriched Classics Series)

Bram Stoker

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A true masterwork of storytelling, Dracula has transcended generation, language, and culture to become one of the most popular novels ever written. It is a quintessential tale of suspense and horror, boasting one of the most terrifying characters ever born in literature: Count Dracula, a tragic, night-dwelling specter who feeds upon the blood of the living, and whose diabolical passions prey upon the innocent, the helpless, and the beautiful. But Dracula also stands as a bleak allegorical saga of an eternally cursed being whose nocturnal atrocities reflect the dark underside of the supremely moralistic age in which it was originally written -- and the corrupt desires that continue to plague the modern human condition.

Pocket Books Enriched Classics present the great works of world literature enhanced for the contemporary reader. This edition of Dracula was prepared by Joseph Valente, Professor of English at the University of Illinois and the author of Dracula's Crypt: Bram Stoker, Irishness, and the Question of Blood, who provides insight into the racial connotations of this enduring masterpiece.

Frankenstein

Mary Shelley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 318 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Choose the 1818 version 4 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Most editions of Mary Shelley's landmark book available today follow the heavily revised 1831 version. The impulse behind this trend is an honorable one (to present what is seemingly an author's "final revision"),but the 1818 version is preferable for many reasons. Looking back on her creation in later life, Shelley felt obliged to alter the book's focus in significant ways, adding what critic Marilyn Butler accurately describes as "long passages in which her main narrator, [Victor] Frankenstein, expresses religious remorse for making a creature..." The author sought to make the 1831 edition less controversial and thereby more palatable to the tastes of the reading public. The 1818 version is closer to Mary Shelley's original intentions, though it too, unfortunately, was filtered through the sensibilities of her husband, the poet Percy Shelley, who took many of his wife's rather straightforward passages and rendered them into his own more ornate and Ciceronian style. Still, the 1818 version remains more vital, more original, and less constrained by what the author believed would be acceptable to readers in 1830s England.

Editorial Review:

This is one of the best known horror stories ever. Victor Frankenstein, a Swiss scientist, has a great ambition: to create intelligent life. But when his creature first stirs, he realizes he has made a monster. A monster which, abandoned by his master and shunned by everyone who sees it, follows Dr. Frankenstein with murder and horrors to the very ends of the earth.

Bernie Wrightson's Frankenstein

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Wrightson at his best! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Mary Shelley's story comes to life thanks to Bernie Wrightson's drawings! A must have for any fan of classic horror.

Editorial Review:

Few works by comic-book artists have earned the universal acclaim and reverence that Bernie Wrightson's illustrated version of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein was met with upon its original release in 1983. Twenty-five years later, this magnificent pairing of art and literature is still considered to be one of the greatest achievements made by any artist in the field. Now, Wrightson and Dark Horse Books are collaborating on a beautiful new hardcover edition of the book, published in a larger 9' x 12' format intended to show off the exquisitely detailed line art of one of the greatest living artists in comics today. This book includes the complete text of the original groundbreaking novel, and the original forty-seven full-page illustrations that stunned the world with their monumental beauty and uniqueness.

Treasure Island (World's Classics)

Robert Louis Stevenson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 261 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Misfiled classic 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Cracking good pirate tale hits all the high points of treachery, adventure, narrow escapes, and treasure hunting, usually misfiled in the Juvenile section.

"Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!"

See my review of the new novel Silver: My Own Tale As Written by Me with a Goodly Amount of Murder that tells more of the story behind Long John Silver.

Maybe I'll be a pirate someday! Aye? 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

My dad and I are reading this book, and we think it's totally awesome! If you are 11 or 12, you may want to read this book with an adult, but you'll love the adventure and pirates, the treasure map and the Hispanola. I think I am going to start learning pirate lingo now, so I'll be ready if Long John shows up at my door! If you read this book you'll have to rate it a five star because of the adventure. Kids, hope you can get YOUR dad to read it with you!!

Editorial Review:

"Treasure Island will surely become--it must already have become, and will remain--in its way a classic."--Henry James. An absorbing tale of buccaneers and a romantic quest for treasure, Treasure Island is also the portrait of the briliantly drawn character, Long John Silver.

Frankenstein (Penguin Classics)

Mary Shelley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not what I remembered... turns out there are 2 versions 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Short Summary: Victor Frankenstein is young, intelligent, and quite full of himself. He discovers through his studies the methods of creating life, and does so. The creature he creates is of enormous size and strength and is hideous to behold. Terrified of what he has made, he flees, leaving the creature to fend for itself.

I just finished re-reading this book, it has been over 10 years since I read it the last time. My memory of the book was a tremendous feeling of sadness and compassion for the creature that Frankenstein created. In this re-reading I was shocked at the change in my feelings toward the characters. Though everything seemed the same it evoked an entirely different set of emotions in me. After doing a bit of poking about the internet I discovered that there are two versions of the story that Shelley wrote, one the first one, which is the one I just read, is much harsher, the creature is much less amiable, and Victor is much less forgivable. The second version she wrote, which I understand was written about 10-15 years later, evokes more sympathy for Victor and his creation.

Both are almost identical, starting with the gentleman on the ship in the Northern Ice who meets Victor. Victor relates his tale to the young seamen, this tale often becomes a tale within a tale within a tale as we shift points of view, always related to the young sailor through the stories of Victor. As I read this book I found myself thinking that this may be one of the few books that manages to encompass all 5 versions of Conflict, Man vs Man, Man vs Self, Man vs Nature, and Man vs God. Shelley's prose can at times be difficult, not to read, but to focus on because of the style and time frame it was written in. It is very easy to find yourself skimming, which you do not want to do.

The story is one of love and loss, creation and our relationship with our creator, the faults of man attempting to become God, and the cruelty that lies with our society to that which we perceive as ugly, frightening or hideous. When Victory abandons the monster he leaves him to learn of the cruelty of our society and to react to it as inappropriately as he does. This tale is NOT what you watched on TV, it is not found in the movie you watched. This is a story that can only be found in this book.

Did I love it? Not really, in the version I just read, Victor is a whiner, who considers himself a genius though he stands aside while his family and friends are killed. The monster, though more understandable, is also a contemptible character as he murders one after the other with little to no remorse. Yes it is well written and filled with interesting comparisons, warnings, and meaning... but as for a fun filled entertaining read, the characters were a bit to whiny and non-committal for me to really have anyone to root for. Still, they were full characters, completely rounded and interesting even though they were pathetic. The story is so filled with meaning that you could discuss it for days. And the concept of the feminine in this book is very interesting to read... I recommend this book, but I won't say that it ranks above Dracula in my mind.

Editorial Review:

Edited by Maurice Hindle.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Robert Louis Stevenson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 67 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A Good Quick Read 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Mr. Hyde is a known murderer. Dr. Jekyll is a honorable doctor in the scientific community. These people's lives should never cross, but why is Hyde the heir of Dr. Jekyll. This book by Robert Luis Stevenson "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", focuses on the duality of man and Jekyll's beleif that the evil in a man can be seperated from the good. This classic book can be read in as little as an hour and is a peice of literature that can surprise you in many ways. This book is not wriiten as poetry and as hard to read as The Odessy or Shakespeare. This book will make you think

Editorial Review:

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a landmark in psychological fiction. The respectable doctor and his horrifying double are known even to those who have never read Robert Louis Stevenson’s short novel.

This special edition, based on the original one published in 1886, features a dozen wood engravings by Barry Moser, whose work was described as “never less than dazzling” by John Ashbery in Newsweek. In her foreword novelist Joyce Carol Oates delineates the quality of horror that emerges from Stevenson’s Victorian parable.

The Dead Zone: Collectors Edition (Collectors' Editions)

Stephen King

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Total reviews: 193 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

One Of King's Best 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I am a big fan and have read every book, and this one is always the one I consider on of the best.

His books are always engrossing and page turners, but this one is set apart, to me, as being more in the realm of "believable."

All he does is asks you to accept one thing as being plausible, someone having a Sixth Sense, then the book goes on from there.

I had not read this one in quite awhile and picked it up again and it was just as how I remembered. A book very much worth reading if you have any interest in the genre.

Very Highly Recommended.

The Dead Zone 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I'm in college and needed a Stephen King book to read and review by the end of the semester. I was interested in reading The Dead Zone because I never got to see the TV show or the movie, but was interested in the story. After searching a couple of sites, I stumbled across this one on Amazon for $4.44! Legit! Thinking it was an amazing deal, I purchased it right away. It did take some time to ship to me, but I eventually did get it. Since I have until mid-December to read and write a 2,000 word essay about it, I was in no rush of receiving it. The only thing I wish was different about my purchase was that because it was a hard cover, I do with the original paper sheet covering was shipped with it. But for $4.44, I'm satisfied! If anyone has any good points that they noticed about the story that's hidden under the surface of the words, email me and let me know so I can get an A+ on my essay!

Editorial Review:

Introduction by Anne Rivers Siddons.

Frankenstein (Norton Critical Editions)

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

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Total reviews: 26 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Gothic at its best 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Mary Shelley was the daughter of the famous feminist and author, Mary Wollstonecraft, who is best known for her work The Vindication of the Rights of Women. In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a young university student, Victor Frankenstein, obsesses with wanting to know the secret to life. He studies chemistry and natural philosophy with the goal of being able to create a human out of spare body parts. After months of constant work in his laboratory, Frankenstein attains his goal and brings his creation to life. Frankenstein is immediately overwrought by fear and remorse at the sight of his creation, a "monster." The next morning, he decides to destroy his creation but finds that the monster has escaped. The monster, unlike other humans, has no social preparation or education; thus, it is unequipped to take care of itself either physically or emotionally. The monster lives in the forest like an animal without knowledge of "self" or understanding of its surroundings. The monster happens upon a hut inhabited by a poor family and is able to find shelter in a shed adjacent to the hut. For several months, the monster starts to gain knowledge of human life by observing the daily life of the hut's inhabitants through a crack in the wall. The monster's education of language and letters begins when he listens to one of them learning the French language. During this period, the monster also learns of human society and comes to the realization that he is grotesque and alone in the world. Armed with his newfound ability to read, he reads three books that he found in a leather satchel in the woods. Goethe's Sorrows of Young Werther, Milton's Paradise Lost, and a volume of Plutarch's Lives. The monster, not knowing any better, read these books thinking them to be facts about human history. From Plutarch's works, he learns of humankind's virtues. However, it is Paradise Lost that has a most interesting effect on the monster's understanding of self. The monster at first identifies with Adam, "I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence." The monster, armed only with his limited education, thought that he would introduce himself to the cottagers and depend on their virtue and benevolence; traits he believed from his readings that all humans possessed. However, soon after his first encounter with the cottagers, he is beaten and chased off because his ugliness frightens people. The monster is overwrought by a feeling of perplexity by this reaction, since he thought he would gain their trust and love, which he observed them generously give to each other on so many occasions. He receives further confirmation of how his ugliness repels people when, sometime later, he saves a young girl from drowning and the girl's father shoots at him because he is frightful to look at. The monster quickly realizes that the books really lied to him. He found no benevolence or virtue among humans, even from his creator. At every turn in his life, humans are judging him solely based on his looks. The monster soon realizes that it is not Adam, the perfect being enjoying the world, which he is most alike. Instead, he comes to realize that he most represents Satan. The monster is jealous of the happiness he sees humans enjoy that he has never attained for himself. The monster tells Frankenstein that he found his lab journal in his coat pocket and read it with increasing hate and despair as he came to understand what Frankenstein's intent was in creating him. The monster curses Frankenstein for making a creature so hideous that even his creator turned from him in disgust.

Shelley's intent here is plain to see. "The fate of the monster suggests that proficiency in `the art of language' as he calls it, may not ensure one's position as a member of the `human kingdom." In a sense, she is showing that both her parents were mistaken when they advocated greater education reform for people. They thought education would make people better, which in turn would improve society for all. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein contradicts this belief.

Starting with the full title of Mary Shelley's book, Frankenstein: or The Modern Prometheus one can instantly see that mythology was integral to her book. Lord Byron, poet and friend of the Shelley's was writing a poem entitled Prometheus, and Mary was reading the Prometheus legend in Aeschylus' works when she had a dream, which was the impetus for her book. The Greek god Prometheus, is known for two important tasks that he performed, he created man from clay, and he stole fire from the gods and gave it to man. The stealing of fire really angered Zeus because the giving of fire began an era of enlightenment for humankind. Zeus punished Prometheus by having him carried to a mountain, where an eagle would pick at his liver; it would grow back each day and the eagle would eat it again.

The presence of fire and light in this gothic story helps to point to the similarities to Prometheus and Victor Frankenstein, the creator of the monster, in Shelley's book. The book uses light as a symbol of discovery, knowledge, and enlightenment. The natural world is full of hidden passages, and dark unknown scientific secrets; Victor's goal as a scientist is to grasp towards the light. Light is a by-product of fire that the monster learned quickly when he is living on his own. The monster experienced fires' duality when he first encountered it in an unattended fire in the woods. He is mesmerized by the fact that fire produces light in the darkness in the woods, but is shocked at the sensation of pain it gives him when he touches it. Victor is defiant of god in the same way that Prometheus was defiant of Zeus. Victor steals the secret of life from god and creates a human out of spare body parts. He does this out of an altruistic wish to spare humankind from the pain and suffering of death. Thus, Victor Frankenstein embodies both aspects of the Promethean myth creation and fire. Victor in a sense has the same experience with the fire of enlightenment similar to his monster; he is "burned" by the fire of enlightenment. Victor also suffers from the classic Greek tragic condition of hubris for his transgression against god and nature.

The book also adopts two other great mythic legends. One is Adam from the Bible. Victor Frankenstein bears striking resemblance to Adam and his fall from grace for eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. The other is Satan, a mythic figure that Shelley admired from her readings in Milton's book Paradise Lost. In an interesting juxtaposition of booth myths, she expands on the motif of the fall from grace in her book when she portrays the monster comparing himself to Adam; after he read, Milton's book Paradise Lost. The monster tells Victor, that he at first identifies with Adam God's first creation. "I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence." However, after several incidents of mistreatment that he suffered from the humans he encountered in his travels; the monster soon realized that it is not Adam, the perfect being enjoying the world, which he was most alike. Instead, he came to realize that he most represented Satan. The monster's feelings of hatred and despair stem from the fact that humans found him grotesque to look at and would not accept him as a member of human society. The monster cursed Victor for making a creature so hideous that even his creator turned from him in disgust. Thus, it is obvious for all to see that Shelley's Frankenstein is replete with mythological references and they are central to the plot.

This was required reading for a graduate course in the Humanities. Recommended reading for anyone interested in history, psychology, philosophy, and literature.

Editorial Review:

This "Norton Critical Edition" of "Frankenstein" contains the 1818 first edition text. Only the obvious typographical errors have been corrected. The book also includes writings by Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron and John William Polidori, enabling the reader to place the novel in its historical context. Six 19th-century responses to the novel illustrate contemporary reactions, whilst 12 modern critical essays cover the different aspects (psychoanalytic, mythic, feminist) of the work.