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Abraham "Bram" Stoker (1847-1912), Irish writer, best known
for his vampire novel Dracula(1897).
Bram Stoker was born near Dublin on November 8, 1847, the third of seven
children. An unidentified illness kept him virtually bedridden until age seven. Although he remained shy and bookish, in his
adolescence Bram Stoker was anything but sickly. Perhaps to make amends for his earlier frailty, he was by this time developing
into a fine athlete. At Trinity College, Dublin, he would conquer his shyness and be named University Athlete.
Young
Bram had always dreamed of becoming a writer, but his father had safer plans. Yielding to the father's wishes, Bram followed
him into a career as a civil servant in Dublin Castle. While climbing the civil service ladder, he wrote a dry tome entitled
Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland. This book of rules, however, would not be published until 1879, by which
time Stoker would be married, living in another country, and immersed in a new career.
During his eight-year stint in the civil service, Stoker continued to write stories,
the first of which, a dream fantasy entitled "The Crystal Cup" (1872), was published by The London Society. A serialized four-part
horror piece, entitled "The Chain of Destiny" followed three years later in the The Shamrock. He also found time to
take unpaid positions as theatrical critic for Dublin's Evening Mail and, later, as editor of The Irish Echo.
In 1878, Henry Irving offered Stoker the job of actor-manager at London's Lyceum Theatre. Stoker promptly resigned
the civil service, married Florence Balcombe and set off for his new life in London. Within a year, Florence had given birth
to their only child, a son, Noel, but Stoker and his wife, though continuing to keep up appearances, are said to have become
estranged.
Despite his heavy professional duties, Stoker somehow found the time to write fiction. His first book,
Under the Sunset (1882), consisted of eight eerie fairy tales for children. His first full-length novel, The Snake's
Pass, was published in 1890. That same year marks the beginning of Stoker's research for his masterwork, Dracula,
which, would be published in 1897 to world-wide acclaim. Stoker wrote several short stories, novels and essays but his name
is inextricably linked with Dracula.
Stoker continued to pursue a writing career until his death on April 20,
1912.
“I sometimes think we must all be mad and that
we shall wake to sanity in strait-waistcoats.”
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First published in1897, the book has never been out of print
and has been translated into over 50 different languages.
It's
widely believed that Bram Stoker's Dracula tells the story of the 15th century bloodthirsty Romanian Prince Vlad Dracula III,
better known as Vlad the Impaler.
The Transylvanian prince earned this name because of his reputation for impaling
his enemies and watching them slowly and painfully die.
- The name Dracula comes from the Irish word "Droch Ola",
which means "bad blood".
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