DRACULA, Frankenstein and Jekyll and Hyde are all names that evoke terror deep within the psyche, especially with Hallowe'en just around the corner.

The characters of gothic literature are deeply ingrained in the consciousness of the nation and for one Trowbridge man they have proved a life-long source of fascination.

William Hughes, 42, of Gloucester Road, Trowbridge, is Professor of Gothic Studies at Bath Spa University and has written eight books on the subject.

The Liverpool-born academic has just completed the introduction for a new edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula and is himself working on his latest book, A Readers Guide to Dracula.

He said: "This stuff is not just pulp fiction or throwaway novels. It is actually very well crafted fiction.

"It provides serious commentaries about issues like mental health, medicine, the state of the nation. It is actually quite a social commentary.

"I would say to people to read Dracula, they might be very surprised. We are a TV generation but the books are better, I think. It is like the difference between Hitchcock's Psycho and Freddie Krueger - it is so much worse in your own imagination."

Mr Hughes' interest in the gothic arts began when he was at school and led him to do a PhD on Bram Stoker while at the University of East Anglia. He joined Bath Spa in 1993 to teach students about the gothic, from its 18th century roots to the present-day works of Anne Rice, Poppy Z Brite and Stephen King.

"Gothic is still very vibrant. It is camp, it is full of little in-jokes and parodies of itself," he said. "I began with the fascination most young boys have with horror stories but I am still fascinated with it."

As well as his work with students in the English and Creative Studies department and his own writing and research, Mr Hughes enjoys bellringing at St James' Church in Trowbridge and is chairman of the Gloucester Road Conservative Club.

FACT FILE:

  • The first gothic novel The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole was published in 1786.
  • Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, is not merely a book about a monster but a stark warning about the dangers of modern life and the over-reaching of man during the industrial revolution.
  • Dracula, written in 1897, has been studied in terms of its commentary on the role of women in the Victorian era, sexuality, immigration and post-colonialism.
  • Jane Austen parodied the gothic novel in her 1798 comic satire Northanger Abbey.
  • Actors to portray Dracula on screen include Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jnr, Leslie Nielson, and, most famously Christopher Lee