Bram Stoker
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| Bram Stoker | |
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| Born | Abraham Stoker 8 November 1847 Clontarf, Ireland |
| Died | 20 April 1912 (aged 64) London, England |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Genres | Horror, Romantic Fiction |
| Literary movement | Victorian |
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Influenced
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Abraham "Bram" Stoker (8 November 1847–20 April 1912) was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 horror novel Dracula. During his lifetime, he was better known as the personal assistant of actor Henry Irving and business manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London, which Irving owned.
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[edit] Early life
He was born in 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf,[1] Dublin.[2] His parents were Abraham Stoker (1799–1876), from Dublin, and the feminist Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely (1818–1901), who came from Ballyshannon, County Donegal. Stoker was the third of seven children.[3] Abraham and Charlotte were members of the Church of Ireland Parish of Clontarf and attended the parish church with their children, who were baptised there.
Stoker was bed-ridden until he started school at the age of seven, when he made a complete 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." He was educated in a private school run by the Rev. William Woods.[4]
After his recovery, he grew up without further major health issues, even excelling as an athlete (he was named University Athlete) at Trinity College, Dublin, which he attended from 1864 to 1870. 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".
[edit] Early career
While still a student he became interested in the theatre. Through the influence of a friend, Dr. Maunsell, he became the theatre critic for a newspaper, the Dublin Evening Mail, co-owned by the author of Gothic tales Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. At a time when theatre critics were held in low esteem, he attracted notice by the quality of his reviews. 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. Stoker 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. 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), which long remained a standard work on the subject.[4]
[edit] Lyceum Theatre and later career
In 1878 Stoker married Florence Balcombe, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel James Balcombe of 1 Marino Crescent, a celebrated beauty whose former suitor was Oscar Wilde[5]. Stoker had known Wilde from his student days, having proposed him for membership of the university’s Philosophical Society while he was president. Wilde was upset at Florence's decision, but Stoker later resumed the acquaintanceship, and after Wilde's fall visited him on the Continent.[6]
The Stokers moved to London, where Stoker became acting-manager and then business manager of Irving's Lyceum Theatre, London, a post he held for 27 years. On 31 December 1879, Bram and Florence's only child was born, a son whom 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 Abbott McNeill Whistler and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (to whom he was distantly related). Working for Irving, the most famous actor of his time, and managing one of the most successful theatres in London made Stoker a notable if very busy man. He was absolutely dedicated to Irving and his memoirs of Irving show how he idolised him. In London Stoker also met Hall Caine who became one of his closest friends - he dedicated Dracula to him.
In the course of Irving's tours, Stoker got the chance to travel around the world though he never visited Eastern Europe, scene of part of his most famous novel. Stoker particularly enjoyed visits to the United States, where Irving was popular. With Irving he was invited twice to the White House, and knew both William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Stoker was a great admirer of the country, setting two of his novels there and using Americans as characters, the most notable being Quincey Morris. He also got a chance to meet one of his literary idols Walt Whitman.
[edit] Writing
Stoker supplemented his income by writing novels; the best known being the vampire tale Dracula which was published in 1897. Before writing Dracula, Stoker spent several 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, in addition to Whitby, may have included a visit to Slains Castle in Aberdeenshire, and a visit to the crypts of St. Michan's Church in Dublin.
After Irving's death he managed productions at the Prince of Wales Theatre and was also on the staff of the Daily Telegraph, but he concentrated mainly on his writings. In 1906 he brought out his life of Irving, which proved very successful.[4]
[edit] Death
After suffering a number of strokes Bram Stoker died at No 26 St George's Square in 1912.[7] Some biographers attribute the cause of death to tertiary syphilis[8]. He 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. To visit his remains at Golders Green, visitors must be escorted to the room the urn is housed in, for fear of vandalism.
[edit] Beliefs and Philosophy
Stoker was brought up as a Protestant, in the Church of Ireland. He was a strong supporter of the Liberal party. He took a keen interest in Irish affairs[4] and was what he called a "philosophical Home Ruler", believing in Home Rule for Ireland brought about by peaceful means - but as an ardent monarchist he believed that Ireland should remain within the British Empire which he believed was a force for good. He was a great admirer of Prime Minister William Gladstone whom he knew personally, and admired his plans for Ireland[9].
Stoker had a strong interest in science and medicine and a belief in progress. Some of his novels like The Lady of the Shroud (1909) can be seen as science fiction. Like many people of his time Stoker believed in the concept of scientific racism drawing on his belief in Phrenology and these fears form elements in novels like Dracula.[citation needed] This is also reflected in his interest in early theories of criminology - he read both Cesare Lombroso and Max Nordau and used them in Dracula.[citation needed]
Stoker had an interest in the occult especially mesmerism, but was also wary of occult fraud and believed strongly that superstition should be replaced by more scientific ideas. In the mid 1890s, Stoker is rumoured to have become a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, though there is no concrete evidence to support this claim.[10][11] One of Stoker's closest friends was J.W. Brodie-Innis, a major figure in the Order, and Stoker himself hired Pamela Coleman Smith, as an artist at the Lyceum Theater.
[edit] 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 released in 1922 and 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 had 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 and the film has become well known. The first authorized film version of Dracula did not come about until almost a decade later when Universal Studios released Tod Browning's Dracula (1931 film) starring Bela Lugosi.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] 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)
- The Lady of the Shroud (1909)
- The Lair of the White Worm (1911)
[edit] Short story collections
- Under the Sunset (1881), comprising eight fairy tales for children
- Snowbound: The Record of a Theatrical Touring Party (1908)
- Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories (1914), published posthumously by Florence Stoker
[edit] 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)
[edit] 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)
- Bram Stoker's Notes for Dracula: A Facsimile Edition (2008) Bram Stoker Annotated and Transcribed by Robert Eighteen-Bisang and Elizabeth Miller, Foreword by Michael Barsanti. Jefferson NC & London: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3410-7
[edit] Critical Works on Stoker
- William Hughes, Beyond Dracula (Palgrave, 2000) ISBN 0312231369 [12]
[edit] References and notes
- ^ Belford, Barbara (2002). Bram Stoker and the Man Who Was Dracula. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press. pp. 17. ISBN 0-306-81098-0.
- ^ Weston St. John Joyce: The Neighbourhood of Dublin, 3rd edition, 1920, Chapter 24
- ^ His siblings were: Sir (William) Thornley Stoker, born in 1845; Mathilda, born 1846; Thomas, born 1850; Richard, born 1852; Margaret, born 1854; and George, born 1855
- ^ a b c d Obituary, Irish Times, 23 April 1912
- ^ Irish Times, 8 March 1882, page 5
- ^ "Why Dracula never loses his bite". Irish Times. last modified 2009. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2009/0328/1224243595688.html. Retrieved on 2009-01-04.
- ^ "Bram Stoker". Victorian Web. last modified 1998. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/stoker/bio.html. Retrieved on 2008-12-12.
- ^ Gibson, Peter (1985). The Capital Companion. Webb & Bower. pp. 365-366. ISBN 0863500420.
- ^ Murray, Paul. From the Shadow of Dracula: A Life of Bram Stoker. 2004.
- ^ Ravenscroft, Trevor (1982). The occult power behind the spear which pierced the side of Christ. Red Wheel. pp. p165. ISBN 0877285470.
- ^ Picknett, Lynn (2004). The Templar Revelation: Secret Guardians of the True Identity of Christ. Simon and Schuster. pp. p201. ISBN 0743273257.
- ^ http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/victorian_studies/v044/44.2glover.html
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Bram Stoker |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bram Stoker |
- Bram Stoker at the Open Directory Project
- Bram Stoker at the Internet Movie Database
- Bram Stoker at Find a Grave
- h2g2 article on Bram Stoker
- Bram Stoker's brief biography and works
- 20 Common Misconceptions and Other Miscellaneous Information
- The Stoker Dracula Organisation
- Gothic and Stoker Studies at Bath Spa University [1]
[edit] Online texts
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