Bram Stoker's iconic and immortal tale of desperate battle against a powerful, ancient vampire, with a foreword by acclaimed director Robert Eggers, in a new Penguin Classics hardcover, a Penguin Speculative Fiction Special. A Penguin Classic Hardcover When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries in his client's castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in England: a ship runs aground on the shores of Whitby, its crew vanished; beautiful Lucy Westenra slowly succumbs to a mysterious, wasting illness, her blood drained away; and the lunatic Renfield raves about the imminent arrival of his "master." In the ensuing battle of wills between the sinister Count and a determined group of adversaries - led by the intrepid vampire hunter Abraham van Helsing - Bram Stoker created a masterpiece of the horror genre, probing into questions of identity, sanity and the dark corners of Victorian sexuality and desire. Penguin Speculative Fiction Special is a hardcover series of horror, science fiction, fantasy, and more published by Penguin Classics. Featuring custom endpapers, specially commissioned cover art, and introductions by scholars and notable figures, these collectible editions celebrate classics that invite us to ask, “What if?” and that, through bold imagination, alternative visions, and magical realms, transform our perception of our world.

ブラム・ストーカーの『ドラキュラ』は、書簡体という手法で読者を迷宮へと誘う文学的傑作です。日記や手紙の断片から浮かび上がるのは、近代科学の光が届かない闇の深淵であり、ヴィクトリア朝の抑圧された性愛や異物への恐怖を象徴する伯爵の姿は、今なお私たちの無意識を激しく揺さぶります。 数多の映像化が吸血鬼を耽美な悲劇として描くのに対し、原作の真髄は語り手たちの主観が織りなす圧倒的な臨場感にあります。映画が視覚で語るなら、本書は沈黙の行間に得体の知れない恐怖を宿らせます。ロバート・エガースが序文を寄せるこの重厚な原典こそが、映像を凌駕する冷徹な美しさと、永遠の戦慄を読者の魂に刻み込むのです。