Bram Stoker
Bram Stoker is a famous Irish novelist and a short story writer. Bram Stoker was born in Ireland on November 8th, 1847. Bram Stoker wrote Horror, romantic, and fiction stories. Bram stoker was around during the Victorian era. He wrote several novels and short stories. His most famous novel of all time is Dracula. Bram was best known as being Henry Irving’s manager. His father was Abraham Stoker and his mother was Charlotte Mathilda Blake Thornely, Stoker was the third of seven children. [1]
Contents |
Childhood to College
When Bram was young he was very ill. This illness was so bad he couldn’t even walk. He made a full recovery at age 7 and started attending school shortly after that. Not much was said about his teenage years. He made quite an impact in college. Bram attended Trinity College in Dublin for 6 years. Bram graduated with a MA in Mathematics. Bram was also quite the athlete when he attended college. He played soccer for the college and received a few honors for how good he was. Bram was in some debating socities and he was very active in the college theatre. [2]
Civil Service and the Theatre
Upon graduation, Bram worked in the civil service in Dublin. When he was in the civil service, he worked for a local newspaper called Dublin Evening Mail. He worked at this newspaper for free. He was a theatre critic for the newspaper. Bram wrote a review on Sir Henry Irving playing as Hamlet while he worked for this newspaper. Soon after Bram wrote this review, Henry requested to meet with Bram. Henry and Bram soon became very close friends. So close that when Henry went on tour in Dublin, he would stay at Bram’s house. In 1878, Henry asked Bram to leave the civil service and become his manager. That same year before Bram moved to London to work for Henry, he met his wife Florence Balcombe. A year later in London, while working for Henry, they had a son. They named their son Noel. [2]
Working for Henry
Bram worked for Henry for about 30 years until Henry passed away. In his years of working for Irving he met hundreds of famous and powerful people. He met people like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote the Sherlock Holmes series, and Hall Caine who was a British writer who wrote mostly romantic novels. Stoker got to travel the world. Stoker really enjoyed coming to the U.S. His buddy Irving was very popular there. Irving was so popular him and Stoker have been invited to the White House two times. Once when William McKiley was in office and when Theodore Roosevelt was in office.
Famous Novels
Bram was well known for writing non-fiction books. Later in his career while he was still working for Henry, Bram started to write fiction books. He published The Snake’s Pass in 1890 which was noted as one of his first fiction novels. In 1897 he published his most famous books, Dracula. Dracula was noted to be the first full length vampire novel ever. Dracula was a set of journal entries by the various main characters. Dracula was about a vampire named Count Dracula who went to England to feed on humans to live. This novel was made into several different plays and even a modern movie. He wrote several other novels but none are as noteable as Dracula. Some people say that Bram was influenced by the vampire story Carmilla which was published in 1872. To this day people are still analyzing the novel Dracula and coming up with all sorts of interpretations on the different aspects like Dracula’s sexuality and how vampires can actually be killed. [3]
The End
Bram Stoker had several strokes and finally died in 1912. Bram’s career of writing is quite extensive. He has written several novels, short stories, and non-fiction books. Obviously his most famous work is Dracula which was about a vampire named Count Dracula. This book mostly consists of letters and journal entries by several different narrators who contribute to the plot of the story. [3]
Bram Stoker’s novels
Novels
- 1875 The Primrose Path
- 1890 The Snake's Pass
- 1895 The Watter's Mou'
- 1895 The Shoulder of Shasta
- 1897 Dracula
- 1898 Miss Betty
- 1902 The Mystery of the Sea
- 1903 The Jewel of the Seven Stars
- 1905 The Man
- 1908 Lady Athlyne
- 1909 The Lady of the Shroud
- 1911 Lair of the White Worm [1]
Short stories
- 1881 Under the Sunset
- 1908 Snowbound
- 1914 Dracula's Guest [1]
Non-Fiction books
- 1879 The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland
- 1886 A Glimpse of America
- 1906 Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving
- 1910 Famous Impostors [1]