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Bram Stoker page
Abraham
Stoker was born in 1847 near Dublin. Until the age of 8, he suffered from a debilitating disease
that meant that he was 
largely
confined to his bed. Echoes of
this can perhaps be found in Dracula’s attachment to his coffin in Bram
Stoker’s most famous fiction. It
also helped that his mother entertained him by telling him ghost stories. However, like many a child confined to
their bed, Bram Stoker also amused himself by reading. Doctors baffled by the exact nature of
his illness would be equally surprised by the fact that when Bram Stoker did
finally escape from bed, he did so with vigour and determination: so much so
that he was regarded as being the best athlete at Trinity College in
Dublin. Bram graduated from
Trinity at the age of 20. He had
wanted to be a writer at this age, but his civil servant father persuaded him
to join his own profession. Thus
Bram began a stint at Dublin Castle, where he wrote “Duties of
Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland” (1879), a tome far less lurid than his
later fictions. He wrote a great
deal in his 8 years in the civil service, and began to get published. “The Crystal Cup” (1872) was published
by the London Society, and in 1875 “The Chain of Destiny” was published in The
Shamrock. Probably more important
than these were his unpaid theatrical reviews for Dublin’s “Evening Mail” and
“The Irish Echo”. These allowed
him to cultivate his friendship with the famous English actor Sir Henry
Irving. This led to an offer from
Irving to Bram to become manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London in 1878. This allowed Bram to leave the civil
service, and to marry Florence Balcombe.
Florence was the ex-girlfriend of Oscar Wilde, who reportedly left
Ireland due to the marriage.
Bram’s new job, which he held for 27 years, allowed him to mix in even
higher circles and to travel with Irving abroad. Bram and Florence had a child within a year, Noel, but are
said to have become estranged.
There is speculation that Bram Stoker may have been homosexual. Despite this, they kept up appearances
in public as a couple.
Bram’s first book, “Under the
Sunset” (1882), was a series of fairy tales for children. This was followed in 1890 by his first
novel, “The
Snake’s Pass”. Two more novels
were published in 1895: “The Watter’s
Mou” and “The
Shoulder of Shasta”. During
this time, Bram Stoker was doing research on vampires, and discovered the
history of Vlad Dracula (more popularly known as “Vlad the Impaler”), a
Wallachian prince famous for executing hundreds of people by impaling them on
spikes. This gave Bram Stoker the
back story for his most famous character and novel: “Dracula”
(1897). The novel has been filmed
and adapted many times. The first
film adaptation was produced in 1922 by German director F. W. Murnau, who had
to rename the characters as his film studio were unable to purchase the movie
rights to the novel. Florence
Stoker sued for copyright infringement, and the court ordered that all existing
prints be destroyed. “Nosferatu”
had been distributed throughout the world however, so it proved impossible to
destroy all prints. It is widely
regarded as being the best film adaptation of the novel. There are also many fans of “Bram
Stoker’s Dracula”, which unfortunately, belongs more to director Francis
Ford Coppola’s vision than that of Bram Stoker, despite the title of the film.
Bram followed “Dracula” with several other novels, none of
which captured the public’s imagination as much as the vampire: “Miss Betty”
(1898) “The
Mystery of the Sea” (1902), “The Jewel
of the Seven Stars” (1903), “The Man”
(1905), “Lady
Athlyne” (1908), “Snowbound: The Record of a Theatrical Touring Party”
(1908), “The
Lady of the Shroud” (1909), and “The Lair
of the White Worm” (1911).
In 1905, Bram Stoker reportedly suffered a stroke after hearing of the
death of Sir Henry Irving, but recovered after being unconscious for 24
hours. The following year Bram
wrote a biography of the actor entitled “Personal Reminiscences of Henry
Irving”. Other factual works
included “A Glimpse
of America” (1886), and “Famous Imposters” (1910). Bram Stoker passed away in 1912. A volume of his short stories was
published posthumously, entitled “Dracula’s
Guest” (1914).
Dracula – The Literature Network’s ebook edition
The Jewel
of Seven Stars – The Literature Network’s ebook edition
The Lair of the
White Worm – The Literature Network’s ebook edition
The Man – The
Literature Network’s ebook edition
Dracula’s Guest – The
Literature Network’s ebook edition
Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” and Angela Carter’s “The
Magic Toyshop” – Kevin Patrick Mahoney’s
essay
Revenant
of Vienna: a critical comparison of Carol Reed’s film “The Third Man” and Bram
Stoker’s novel “Dracula” – John A. Dern’s essay
Absent
Presences in Liminal Places: Murnau’s “Nosferatu” and the Otherworld of
Stoker’s “Dracula” – Saviour Catania’s essay
Racialization,
Capitalism, and Aesthetics in Stoker’s “Dracula” – Patricia McKee’s essay
The
rhetoric of reform in Stoker’s “Dracula”: depravity, decline, and the
fin-de-siecle ‘residuum’ – Laura Sagolla Croley’s essay
The
contribution of F. W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu” to the evolution of Dracula –
Wayne E. Hensley’s essay
Repossessing
the body: transgressive desire in “Carmilla” and “Dracula” – vampire story
retold with masculine themes added – Elizabeth Signorotti’s essay
In
Search of Dracula: The Frozen Heart of Transylvania – Christopher
Rollason’s essay
Schaffer, Talia ""A Wilde
Desire Took Me": the Homoerotic History of Dracula"
ELH - Volume 61, Number 2, Summer 1994, pp. 381-425
The Johns Hopkins
University Press
Valente,
Joseph ""Double Born": Bram Stoker and the Metrocolonial
Gothic"
MFS Modern Fiction Studies - Volume 46, Number 3, Fall 2000, pp. 632-645
The Johns Hopkins
University Press
Ingelbien,
Raphael "Gothic Genealogies: Dracula, Bowen's Court, And Anglo-Irish
Psychology"
ELH - Volume 70, Number 4, Winter 2003, pp. 1089-1105
The Johns Hopkins
University Press
Ferguson,
Christine "Nonstandard Language and the Cultural Stakes of Stoker's
Dracula"
ELH - Volume 71, Number 1, Spring 2004, pp. 229-249
The Johns Hopkins
University Press
Saler,
Benson "Dracula and Carmilla: Monsters and the Mind"
Philosophy and Literature - Volume 29, Number 1, April 2005, pp. 218-227
The Johns Hopkins
University Press
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