"The Lair of the White Worm is a horror novel by the Irish writer Bram Stoker. It was first published by Rider and Son of London in 1911[1][2] - the year before Stoker's death - with colour illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith. The story is based on the legend of the Lambton Worm. It has also been issued as The Garden of Evil.In 1925 a highly abridged and rewritten[clarification needed] form was published.[3] It was shortened by more than 100 pages, the rewritten book having only 28 chapters instead of the original 40. The final eleven chapters were cut down to only five, leading some critics to complain that the ending was abrupt and inconsistent.[4]The Lair of the White Worm was very loosely adapted by Ken Russell into a 1988 film of the same name.The first episode of the German radio drama ""Die Schwarze Sonne"", produced by the label LAUSCH, is loosely based on the events of The Lair of the White Worm.[5] The main characters of the radio drama are also based on the protagonists of the novel and feature in the rest of the episodes even though the plot turns away from Stoker's original story."

ブラム・ストーカーが晩年に遺した本作は、古の伝承と心理的恐怖が混ざり合う怪奇文学の極致です。最大の魅力は、妖艶な貴婦人と巨大な白蛇が重なり合う不気味な変身譚にあります。合理的な現代文明の裏側に潜む原始的な恐怖が、熱病のような筆致で描かれ、読者を底知れぬ深淵へと誘います。 ケン・ラッセル監督による映像化では、原作の怪異がサイケデリックな色彩で再構築されました。活字が描き出す静謐な狂気と、映画版の過剰な視覚的衝撃を比較することで、ストーカーが真に描こうとした絶対悪の輪郭が、より鮮明に浮かび上がるはずです。