"Dracula" by Bram Stoker, which was published in 1897, is considered a masterpiece of dark Romanticism and a landmark in Gothic horror literature.

Many scholars believe that the author initially intended to give the position of the "Guest" to the introductory chapter of "Dracula", as relevant analyses in the manuscript indicate that there was indeed a first chapter that was later removed.

The text was first published in 1914 as a standalone story, just two years after Stoker's death, in an anthology of short stories edited by his widow, Florence Balcombe.

The "Walpurgis Night" is a motif of German Romanticism; it was used by Goethe, Mendelssohn, and others. The Irish Stoker, as a prelude to his famous novel, makes a direct reference to German Romanticism. His protagonist, who has the characteristics of Jonathan Harker, travels through Germany to meet Count Dracula in Transylvania and is initiated into this "macabre revelry" of the German literary tradition.