Bram Stoker was an Irish writer known for Dracula, the classic 19th century horror novel. He was born in 1847 in Ireland.
His longtime role was acting as an assistant to the actor Sir Henry Irving in the 1870s. During that time he began his second and his most known career as a writer. He published his first novel, The Primrose Path, in 1875. Three years later, he published Dracula. Stoker died before the fictional vampire became popular through films and literary adaptations.
Dracula is the famous Gothic classic that is made from journal entries, letters, and telegrams written by the main characters. Many people theorize that Dracula is based on the Vlad III, also known as Vlad the Impaler. They theorize that Stoker picked the name Dracula after reading a book about Vlad that was revealed to him in translation from Romanian.
Stoker’s Dracula was the reason why vampires became so popular in films and novels alike. The story was received well when it was first published, but it grew to its immense popularity by the many adaptations that it inspired. Nosferatu was the first film to be based on Dracula in 1922, but actually plagiarized the story.
Because of Dracula, vampires have spread across the world and starred in modernized adaptations like Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. Others have chosen to stick closer to Bram Stoker’s idea for vampires like Stephen King does in Salem’s Lot.
Dacre Stoker is the great grand nephew of Bram Stoker and has chosen to rework the idea of Dracula that his uncle had for the character by co-writing Dracula the Un-Dead as well as co-editing The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: the Dublin Years. He currently manages the Bram Stoker Estate with his wife.
Because of all the controversy and the way adaptations were changing vampires, Dacre Stoker, decided to reawaken the story of Dracula with J.D. Barker. Dracul was inspired by notes left behind by Bram Stoker. It doesn’t only reveal Dracula’s origins but Bram Stoker’s as well!
It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here…A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents’ Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen—a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen—and that the nightmare they’ve thought long ended is only beginning. -Penguin Random House
We currently have both Dracula and Dracul on our shelves. Any other books by the author we could get through inter-library loan in Indiana.
Information taken from:
“Dracul By J.D. Barker, Dacre Stoker | Penguinrandomhouse.Com: Books”. Penguinrandomhouse.Com, 2019, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/570086/dracul-by-jd-barker-and-dacre-stoker/.
“Dracula | Summary, Characters, & Facts”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dracula-novel#googDisableSync.
Crossroads: Change in Rural America, during the exhibition period of September 7 – October 20. The Crossroads exhibit, made possible through the generous support of Indiana Humanities, can certainly be viewed without assistance. However, a docent helps visitors appreciate and enjoy the exhibit more fully. The docent can encourage visitors to think about the subject matter and invite them to share memories and personal connections to the exhibit.
I know the weather is sweltering right now, but it is NOT too early to start thinking about Christmas. I truly enjoy making gifts for people, especially those that appreciate handmade gifts. My list is long, so it is never too early to get started with the process of discovering cute ideas and getting them completed in plenty of time for the holidays.
