Includes bibliographical references (p. [177]-185) and index.

Tracing the gothic through Stoker's short stories -- Gothic material in The snake's pass, The watter's mou' and The shoulder of Shasta -- Dracula : Stoker's gothic masterpiece -- Ongoing work with the gothic in Miss Betty, The mystery of the sea and The jewel of seven stars -- Gothic-tinged romances : The man, Lady Athlyne and The lady of the shroud ; Stoker's return to the gothic in Famous impostors and The lair of the white worm.

This study of Bram Stoker focuses on Stoker as a Gothic writer. Identified with Dracula, Stoker is largely responsible for taking the Gothic away from medieval castles and placing it at the centre of modern life. The author examines Stoker's contribution to the modern notion of Gothic and thus to the history of popular culture, and demonstrates that the excess generally associated with the Gothic is Stoker's way of examining social economic and political problems. His relevance today is his depiction of problems that continue to haunt us at the beginning of the twenty-first century. --

What makes the current study unique is that it privileges Stoker's use of the Gothic but also addresses the other books, numerous articles and short stories that Stoker wrote. Since a number of these works are decidedly not Gothic, the study puts his Gothic novels and short stories into the perspective of everything that he wrote. The creator of Dracula also wrote The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, a standard reference work tier clerks in the Irish civil service, as well as The Man and Lady Athlyne, two delightful romances. Furthermore, Stoker was fascinated with technological development and racial and gender development at the end of the century as well as having an interest in supernatural mystery. Indeed, this book demonstrates that the tension between the things that can be explained rationally and the things that cannot is important to our understanding of Stoker as a Gothic writer.--Book Jacket.