Literary Blog Hop: Dracula

This weekend, The Blue Bookcase is hosting a literary blog hop.

The prompt is to highlight one of your favourite books and discuss why you think it is literary.  I've chosen Dracula by Bram Stoker. 

I've chosen this particular book as it is my favourite kind of literary book - one that is also easy to read and contains a great story.  Although I have enjoyed most of the literary books I have read, some of them can be a hard slog and can sometimes seem like more effort than they are worth.

Not so Dracula.  It opens perfectly with a chilling diary sequence from Jonathan Harker, sent to Eastern Europe to conduct property negotiations for Count Dracula.  Although the clues that Dracula is a vampire seem a bit heavy handed to a modern audience (he has fangs and only appears at night - run!), the writing is a masterpiece of slowly building suspense and tension.  Although this section is not at all gory compared to modern horror, I found it genuinely creepy.

The book continues as a "band of heroes" attempt and finally suceed to hunt down Dracula and destroy him.  Again, it's not a gory book but it's wonderfully descriptive, and for me that makes it creepy.  Every time I read it I get sucked right in to the world of the characters.

So why is Dracula literary?  For me most of all, it's down to the language and writing style.  I love old gothic books, and enjoy the slow, descriptive style.  For me it all adds to the tension.  And secondly, Dracula is literary due to it's impact.  Whilst I am not a fan of Twilight, the impact of Dracula can not be ignored - Bram Stoker took some folkore and turned it into one of th defining stories of all time.  There are countless vampire books and imitations, although for me none are as good as the original.

Have you read Dracula?
Were you scared?