Everything about Bram Stoker totally explained
Abraham "Bram" Stoker (
8 November 1847 –
20 April 1912) was an
Irish writer of novels and short stories, who is best known today for his
1897 horror novel
Dracula. During his lifetime, he was better known for being the personal assistant of the actor
Sir Henry Irving and the business manager of the
Lyceum Theatre in London, which Irving owned.
Early life
He was born in 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent – then as now called "The Crescent" – now in
Fairview (but then
Clontarf),
Dublin,
Ireland. His parents were Abraham Stoker and the
feminist Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely. Stoker was the third of seven children. Abraham and Charlotte were members of the
Clontarf Church of Ireland parish and attended the parish church (St. John the Baptist located on Seafield Road West) with their children, who were both baptised there.
Stoker was bed-ridden until he started school at the age of seven — when he made a complete and astounding recovery. Of this time, Stoker wrote, "I was naturally thoughtful, and the leisure of long illness gave opportunity for many thoughts which were fruitful according to their kind in later years."
After his recovery, he became a normal young man, even excelling as an athlete (he was named University Athlete) at
Trinity College, Dublin (1864 – 1870), from which he graduated with honours in mathematics. He was auditor of the
College Historical Society and president of the
University Philosophical Society, where his first paper was on "Sensationalism in Fiction and Society".
Early career
In 1876, while employed as a
civil servant in Dublin, Stoker wrote a non-fiction book (
The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland, published 1879) and became the theatre critic for the newspaper
Dublin Evening Mail. In December 1876, he gave a favourable review of the actor
Henry Irving's performance as
Hamlet at the
Theatre Royal in Dublin. Irving read the review and invited Stoker for dinner at the
Shelbourne Hotel, where he was staying. After that they became friends. He also wrote stories, and in 1872 "The Crystal Cup" was published by the London Society, followed by "The Chain of Destiny" in four parts in
The Shamrock.
Stoker was a regular visitor to the home of
William Wilde and
Lady Wilde, who were friends of his mother. In 1871 they asked Bram to be Trinity College referee for their son
Oscar Wilde. Bram and Oscar became friends. In mid 1878, Stoker became engaged to
Florence Balcombe, who had been in a two year relationship with Oscar.
Lyceum Theatre and later career
Later in 1878 Stoker married Florence and they moved to
London, where Stoker became business manager (at first as acting-manager) of Irving's Lyceum Theatre, a post he held for 27 years. On 31st December 1879, Bram and Florence's only child was born, a son that they christened Irving Noel Thornley Stoker. The collaboration with Irving was very important for Stoker and through him he became involved in London's
high society, where he met, among other notables,
James McNeil Whistler, and
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the course of Irving's tours, Stoker got the chance to travel around the world. In the mid 1890s, Stoker became an member of the
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a fraternal magical order that also included among its members author
W.B.Yeats, occultist
Aleister Crowley, author and co-creator of the
Rider-Waite Tarot deck,
Arthur Edward Waite, London stage actress and musician
Florence Farr and others.
Stoker supplemented his income by writing a number of novels, his most famous being the vampire tale
Dracula which was 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. Stoker's inspirations for the story were a visit to Slains Castle and a visit to the crypts under the church St. John the Baptist where he was baptised.
Death
Bram Stoker died in 1912, and was
cremated and his ashes placed in a display urn at
Golders Green Crematorium. After Irving Noel Stoker's death in 1961, his ashes were added to that urn. The original plan had been to keep his parents' ashes together, but after Florence Stoker's death her ashes were scattered at the Gardens of Rest.
Posthumous
The short story collection
Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories was published in 1914 by Stoker's widow Florence Stoker. The first film adaptation of Dracula was named
Nosferatu. It was directed by
Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau and starred
Max Schreck as Count Orlock.
Nosferatu was produced while Florence Stoker, Bram Stoker's widow and literary executrix, was still alive. Represented by the attorneys of the British Incorporated Society of Authors, she eventually sued the filmmakers. Her chief legal complaint was that she'd been neither 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 resolved in the widow's favour in July 1925. Some copies of the film survived, however.
Bibliography
Novels
Short story collections
Under the Sunset (1881), comprising eight fairy tales for children
(1908)
Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories (1914), published posthumously by Florence Stoker
Uncollected stories
"Bridal of Dead" (alternate 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"
"Lord Castleton Explains" (chapter 10 of The Fate of Fenella)
"The Gombeen Man" (chapter 3 of The Snake's Pass)
"In the Valley of the Shadow"
"The Man from Shorrox"
"Midnight Tales"
"The Red Stockade"
"The Seer" (chapters 1 and 2 of The Mystery of the Sea)
Non-fiction
The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland (1879)
A Glimpse of America (1886)
Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving (1906)
Famous Impostors (1910)
References and notes
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bram Stoker'.
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