Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker

In light of the fact that Dracula is this year's Dublin: One City, One Book's selected text, I thought it appropriate to delve into the background of the novel's author: Bram Stoker.

Born in Dublin in November 1847, Stoker was a sickly child and bedridden for much of his formative years. As a young man he attended Trinity College in Dublin and excelled in athletics as well as academic studies and was friends with Oscar Wilde. He graduated in 1868 with a degree in mathematics and began working as a civil servant in Dublin Castle. This experience inspired him to write his first book, the rather riveting sounding Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland. This thrilling epic took the form of a handbook of legal administration and was published in 1878.

At this stage, Dracula was but a mere twinkle in Stoker’s eye, and the budding writer busied himself with some freelance journalism and theatre criticism. Stoker eventually met and married Florence Balcombe, whose former suitor was Stoker's old friend Oscar Wilde. They moved to London and soon after attending a performance of The Rivals at the Theatre Royal, Stoker met Henry Irving and subsequently became his agent. Irving was considered the greatest Shakespearean actor of his generation and was the first member of the profession to receive a knighthood. This relationship has been the subject of speculation over the years, and rumour has it that Stoker was in love with the brilliant but allegedly cruel Irving, and based aspects of the character of Count Dracula on him. 

Sometime in 1890, and apparently after overindulging in some rich crab pate, Stoker took himself to bed and experienced some of the most vivid and feverish nightmares imaginable. These were to form the basis of his inspiration for Dracula. It is also suggested by certain scholars that Irving also helped inspire Stoker to realise his blood thirsty and ravaging antagonist and Stoker based many of the Count’s tyrannical mannerisms on Irving. Dracula was not completed until 1897 and in-between times Stoker wrote The Snake’s Pass, The Shoulder of Shasta and a number of short stories whilst researching European folklore and history.

Dracula may be the most famous vampire story in the world today, but it certainly wasn’t the first. It was preceded by fellow Dubliner Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla in 1871, a scandalous tale about a lesbian vampire who falls in love with the main character Laura. John Polidori’s The Vampyre also preceded Dracula and was written during the summer of 1816 while Polidori stayed with Mary Shelley and Lord Byron in Geneva. Polidori’s representation of the vampire as an aristocratic count also inspired Stoker when he was creating his own diabolical character.

When Dracula was published it was not an immediate success, though reviews were positive. Many readers thought it a titillating and rather scandalous read. Stoker went on the publish several more notable novels, including The Jewel of Seven Stars and The Lair of the White Worm – none were to have the same impact on literature or indeed Western culture as Dracula though.

Stoker died in London in 1912 after a series of strokes and complications allegedly caused by Tertiary Syphilis. His ashes were placed in an urn and remain stored in Golders Green Crematorium in the north-west of the city.