Index: Bram Stoker

Dracula
The Jewel of Seven Stars
The Lady of the Shroud
The Lair of the White Worm
The Man
Dracula's Guest
The Judge's House

About Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker aka Abraham Stoker was born in Marino Crescent (Fairview), which was then in Clontarf (Dublin) in Ireland on 8th November 1847. The immortal writer of one of the best-ever vampire horror novels, Dracula, this Irish author gained posthumous fame rather than during his lifetime. He was the third of the seven children of Abraham Stoker (1799-1876) and the feminist Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely (1818-1901).

Bram Stoker had a childhood during which he could not walk. He started to walk only after he was seven years old and he started school where he recovered completely. He had later acknowledged that his initial bedridden years had given him the leisure to think and that had been fecund in his later life. Once he recovered, he went ahead to complete his graduation with Mathematics Honors. In fact, he became a remarkable athlete and soccer (football) player once he recovered (remember the famous Forrest Gump?). Stoker then became a civil servant in Dublin. In the meantime he started getting established as a writer as he wrote a non-fiction (1876) and stories (The Crystal Cup - 1872 - published by London Society).

In 1878, Bram Stoker married Florence Balcombe, and they moved to London. Here, he became a stage and business manager for Irving's Lyceum Theatre. Then they had a son whom they named Irving Noel. Through Irving Noel, popularly known as Noel, Stoker became known to London's high society (including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle) and also travelled the world.

Stoker's famous novel Dracula came in 1897. The novel Dracula, allegedly based on Vlad the Impaler aka Vlad III - a cruel impaler from Transylvania, is a vampire novel and a masterpiece of horror. Though it was not the inception of the concept of vampires (which had been around for more than a thousand years) and not even the first ever vampire novel written, Dracula stands out to be the real fore-runner of the modern-day vampire by its sheer class of story-telling and the quality of the story. Possibly also motivated and inspired by Le Fanu's Carmilla, the novel Dracula, along with its masterly vampire Count Dracula, has created a place of its own in the history of literature.

Bram Stoker passed away on 20th April, 1912, at No 26 St George's Square. After his death his story Dracula's Guest and some other stories were published posthumously.

(Note: We are deeply thankful to Late Dr. Elizabeth Miller - one of the greatest Dracula experts on Earth today - for sharing her knowledge on Beam Stoker and Dracula with us. Elizabeth Miller's Dracula Sites used to offer a great read on Dracula references, and was recommended by us while it existed.)

A great profile of Bram Stoker can also be found in Who2.com.

Literature Web - Home