Search results for ""author david j. skal""

Bram Stoker, despite having a name nearly as famous as Count Dracula, has remained an enigma. David J. Skal, in a psychological and cultural portrait, exhumes the inner world and strange genius of the writer who conjured an undying cultural icon. Stoker was inexplicably paralysed as a boy and his story unfolds against a backdrop of Victorian medical mysteries and horrors: fever, opium abuse, bloodletting, quack cures and the obsession with “bad blood” that inform every page of Dracula. Stoker’s ambiguous sexuality is explored through his acquaintance with Oscar Wilde, who emerges as Stoker’s repressed shadow self—a doppelgänger worthy of a Gothic novel. The psychosexual dimensions of Stoker’s correspondence with Walt Whitman, his punishing work ethic and his adoration of the actor Henry Irving are examined in scholarly detail.

Read more less

Bram Stoker, despite having a name nearly as famous as Count Dracula, has remained an enigma. David J. Skal, in a psychological and cultural portrait, exhumes the inner world and strange genius of the writer who conjured an undying cultural icon. Stoker was inexplicably paralysed as a boy and his story unfolds against a backdrop of Victorian medical mysteries and horrors: fever, opium abuse, bloodletting, quack cures and the obsession with “bad blood” that inform every page of Dracula. Stoker’s ambiguous sexuality is explored through his acquaintance with Oscar Wilde, who emerges as Stoker’s repressed shadow self—a doppelgänger worthy of a Gothic novel. The psychosexual dimensions of Stoker’s correspondence with Walt Whitman, his punishing work ethic and his adoration of the actor Henry Irving are examined in scholarly detail.

Read more less

Turner Classic Movies presents a festival of film frights, spanning monster greats to modern and classic horror to family-friendly cinematic treats that capture the spirit of Halloween, complete with reviews, behind-the-scenes stories, and a trove of images.Halloween Favourites spotlights 31 essential Halloween-time films, their associated sequels and remakes, and recommendations to expand your seasonal repertoire based on your favourites. Featured titles:Nosferatu (1922)Phantom of the Opera (1925)Dracula (1931)Frankenstein (1931)Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1931)The Mummy (1933)Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933)The Wolf Man (1941)Cat People (1942)Them (1953)Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)Curse of Frankenstein (1957)Horror of Dracula (1958)House on Haunted Hill (1959)The Birds (1963)Black Sunday (1960)Pit and the Pendulum (1961)The Haunting (1963)Night of the Living Dead (1968)Rosemary's Baby (1968)The Exorcist (1972)Young Frankenstein (1976)Halloween (1978)The Shining (1980)The Thing (1982)A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)Beetlejuice (1988)Hocus Pocus (1993)Scream (1996)Get Out (2017)

Read more less

This Norton Critical Edition includes: The first edition of the novel, published by Archibald Constable in London in 1897 and chosen by the editors in order to give readers—insofar as such a thing is possible—a more historically authentic reading experience than has been generally available. Arcane words and usages are footnoted at first appearance. Editorial matter by John Edgar Browning and David J. Skal. Eight background pieces, five of them new to the Second Edition, on Count Dracula specifically and vampires more generally; seven reviews and reactions to Dracula’s publication, five of them new to the Second Edition; and six selections, two of them new to and two others updated for the Second Edition, on Dracula’s many dramatic and filmic variations. Eleven critical essays on Dracula’s central themes, six of them new to the Second Edition. A selected bibliography. About the Series Read by more than 12 million students over fifty-five years, Norton Critical Editions set the standard for apparatus that is right for undergraduate readers. The three-part format—annotated text, contexts and criticism—helps students to better understand, analyse and appreciate the literature, while opening a wide range of teaching possibilities for instructors. Whether in print or in digital format, Norton Critical Editions provide all the resources students need.

Read more less