Bram Stoker

Abraham "Bram" Stoker (November 8, 1847–April 20, 1912) was an Irish writer, best remembered as the author of the influential horror novel Dracula.

Life

He was born on November 8, 1847 at Clontarf in Ireland, a coastal suburb of Dublin to Abraham Stoker (born in 1799; married Stoker's mother in 1844; died on October 10, 1876) and Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornley (born in 1818; died in 1901) as the third of seven children.His siblings were: Mathilda, born 1846; Thomas, born 1850; Richard, born 1852; Margaret, born 1854; and George, born 1855 Abraham and Charlotte were members of the Church of Ireland and attended the Clontarf parish church (St John the Baptist) with their children. Until he was 7 years old, recurring illness ensured that he could neither stand up nor walk on his own. This illness and helplessness was a traumatic experience which is noticeable in his literary work. Everlasting sleep and the resurrection from the dead, which are the central themes of Dracula, were of great importance for him, because he was forced to spend much of his life in bed.

Not only his illness but also his convalescence were considered miracles by his doctors. After his recovery, he became a normal young man who even became an athlete and soccer-star at the University of Dublin, where he studied history, literature, mathematics and physics at Trinity College. He was also president of the University Philosophical Society, where his first paper was on "Sensationalism in Fiction and Society", and auditor of the College Historical Society. He became a civil servant, a career that didn't satisfy him. So he started to work as a journalist and as a drama critic (The Evening Mail). His interest in theatre lead to a lifelong friendship with the actor Henry Irving.

Stoker married Florence Balcome, a former girlfriend of Oscar Wilde, in 1878. Stoker moved with his wife to London, where he became business manager of Irving's Lyceum Theatre, a post he held for 27 years. The collaboration with Irving was very important for Stoker. Through him he became involved in London's high society, where he met James McNeil Whistler and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the course of Irving's tours he got the chance to travel around the world.

Dracula

He supplemented his income by writing a large number of sensational novels, his most famous being the vampire tale Dracula which he published in 1897. Before writing Dracula, Stoker spent eight years researching European folklore and stories of vampires. Dracula is an epistolary novel, written as collection of diary entries, telegrams, and letters from the characters, as well as fictional clippings from the Whitby and London newspapers.

Dracula has been the basis for countless films and plays. The two that most closely follow the plot of the original novel are Nosferatu (1922) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Nosferatu directed by F.W Murnau and starring Max Shrek as Count Orlock was produced while Stoker's widow (and literary executor) was still alive, and the filmmakers were eventually sued by Florence Stoker who was represented by the lawyers of the British Incorporated Society of Authors. The basis of her complaint was that she had not been asked for permission for the adaptation, nor paid any royalty. The case dragged on for some years, with Mrs Stoker demanding the destruction of the negative and all prints of the film. The suit was finally being resolved in the widow's favour in July 1925. Some copies of the film survived however and it is now widely regarded as an innovative classic.

Stoker wrote several other novels dealing with horror and supernatural themes, but none achieved the lasting fame or success of Dracula. His other novels include The Snake's Pass (1890), The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903), and The Lair of the White Worm (1911).

Works

Novels

The Primrose Path (1875)
The Snake's Pass (1890)
The Watter's Mou' (1895)
The Shoulder of Shasta (1895)
Dracula (1897)
Miss Betty (1898)
The Mystery of the Sea (1902)
The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903)
The Man (AKA: The Gates of Life) (1905)
Lady Athlyne (1908)
Snowbound: The Record of a Theatrical Touring Party (1908)
The Lady of the Shroud (1909)
Lair of the White Worm (1911)

Short Story Collections

- Under the Sunset (1881)
- Under the Sunset
- The Rose Prince
- The Invisible Giant
- The Shadow Builder
- How 7 Went Mad
- Lies and Lilies
- The Castle of the King
- The Wondrous Child
- Dracula's Guest (1914) Published posthumously by Florence Stoker
- The Judge's House
- The Gipsy Prophecy
- The Coming of Abel Behenna
- The Burial of the Rats
- A Dream of Red Hands
- Crooken Sands
- The Secret of the Growing Gold

Uncollected Stories

Bridal of Dead (alternative ending to The Jewel of Seven Stars)
Buried Treasures
The Chain of Destiny
The Crystal Cup
The Dualitists; or, The Death Doom of the Double Born
The Fate of Fenella
The Gombeen Man
In the Valley of the Shadow
The Man from Shorrox'
Midnight Tales
The Red Stockade
The Seer

Biography

Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving (Two Volumes) (1906)

(This was initially Stoker`s most famous book.)

Non-Fiction

The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland (1879)
A Glimpse of America (1886)
Famous Impostors (1910)

References and notes

External links

Online texts

Bram Stoker Books in HTML format.

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