Bram Stoker (1847–1912) was an Irish writer and theatre manager, the author of Dracula. For twenty-seven years he ran the Lyceum Theatre in London for the actor Henry Irving, and wrote novels and stories in his spare time; one of them gave the world its most famous vampire.
A sickly child in Dublin
Abraham Stoker was born in Clontarf, near Dublin, on 8 November 1847. He was so ill as a small child that he could hardly walk until he was seven; his mother entertained him with Irish tales and memories of a cholera epidemic.
He grew up to be a strong athlete at Trinity College, Dublin. He then worked as a civil servant at Dublin Castle and, unpaid, as drama critic for a Dublin newspaper, which brought him into contact with the actor Henry Irving.
The Lyceum
In 1878 Irving made Stoker the manager of the Lyceum Theatre in London. The same year Stoker married Florence Balcombe, a celebrated beauty who had been courted by Oscar Wilde. For almost thirty years he handled the theatre's business, its tours in America and its correspondence.
Through Irving he met writers, actors and politicians. He wrote between the demands of the theatre: a guide for Irish civil servants, stories for children, and novels such as The Snake's Pass.
Dracula
Stoker spent several years researching Dracula, reading about the folklore of Transylvania and about the fifteenth-century prince Vlad III, called Dracula. The novel, told through letters, diaries and newspaper cuttings, was published in May 1897.
It was well reviewed but only a modest success during his lifetime. Stoker died in London in April 1912. It was the films of the twentieth century, from Nosferatu (1922) to Bela Lugosi's Dracula (1931), that made his count a figure known everywhere.
Anecdotes
Count Wampyr
Stoker's working notes show that the vampire was first called Count Wampyr; he took the name Dracula from a book about Wallachia he read in Whitby, which explained that the word meant 'devil' in the local language.
A stolen film
Nosferatu (1922) was an unauthorised adaptation of Dracula. Stoker's widow sued the producers and won, and a court ordered the copies destroyed; a few survived, and the film became a classic.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Dracula set?
In Transylvania, in the castle of Count Dracula, then in England, in Whitby and London, before the hunters pursue him back to his castle.
Was Dracula based on Vlad the Impaler?
Stoker borrowed the name of the Wallachian prince Vlad III Dracula, but scholars disagree on how much he knew of his life; the count's character owes more to folklore and to earlier vampire stories.
What was Bram Stoker's job?
He was the business manager of Henry Irving's Lyceum Theatre in London from 1878 until Irving's death in 1905.