The most famous figure of seductive evil in Western Literature, bloodthirsty Count Dracula has inspired countless movies, books, and plays. But few, if any, have been fully faithful to the Bram Stoker's original best-selling novel of mystery and horror, love and death, sin and redemption.

Written in the form of letters and diary entries, Dracula chronicles the vampire's journey from his Transylvanian castle to the nighttime streets of London. There, he searches for the blood he needs to stay alive—the blood of strong men and beautiful women—while his enemies plot to rid the world of his frightful power.

Though Dracula's undertones of dark sexuality have always been of interest to the readers of the novel, today's critics see it as a virtual textbook on Victorian repression of the erotic and fear of female sexuality. In Dracula, Stoker created a new word for terror, a new myth to feed our nightmares, and a character who will undoubtedly outlive us all.

Brooke Allen is a book critic whose work has appeared in numerous publications including The Atlantic Monthly, The New Criterion, The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, and The Hudson Review. A collection of her essays, Twentieth-Century Attitudes, was published in 2003.