A reanimated corpse lumbering from the shadows with outstretched arms. A vampire creeping toward a bared throat with fangs exposed. A scientist’s brutish alter ego stalking the shadows of gas-lit London. Chances are that you’re familiar with the literary monsters of Frankenstein, Dracula, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde—even if you haven’t read the novels that portray them.

In Classics of Horror: Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, James Krasner, an expert in Victorian literature, takes you on a fascinating journey into the enduring power of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You’ll learn how these three literary masters structured their novels to offer not only scares but also complex insights into cultural debates that still matter to us today. What responsibilities do scientists owe to their discoveries, and is there such a thing as going too far? What anxieties about gender and sexuality do we still share with Victorian readers? Can literature help us answer questions about crime, identity, and the nature of evil?