Time, and the increasing ability of writers to blend sex and violence in the horror genre, might make 'Dracula' seem quaint. Moreover, it has the disadvantage of being written in that most antiquated of forms, the epistolary novel, a mixture of diaries and letters. Despite the advent of Bridget Jones, this style seems slightly musty.

Unlike Coppola's lurid, sensual film version, the vague hints of sexuality in the book are very much resisted, and the overall tone is very prim and Victorian. The fact that inhibitions are stripped away by vampirism is seen as a very dangerous thing, and Stoker clearly had more than his fair share of problems with the opposite sex (if you read 'The Lair of the White Worm', you get the impression of a writer literally going mad as he writes).

Despite all this, you shouldn't be put off. 'Dracula' is a superb tale. The multiple characters give the sense of a rising, building danger. Dracula only really features as a character in the opening sequence narrated by Jonathan Harker - after that, he is a dark presence, assaulting various characters in turn. It's Gothic and strange, and still very powerful in its most creepy sequences.