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Bram Stoker: Inspiration & Irish Heritage

February 7, 2021

Looking at a copy of Dracula thatfeatures an author biography of Bram Stoker (born Abraham Stoker), it begins with an account of his work at the Lyceum Theatre in London. Born in 1847, Stoker did not actually move to London until 1878 and grew up in Clontarf, Co. Dublin. He lived, studied, and worked in Ireland for over 30 years beforehand.

As he did not become an author until he moved over to London, his early Iife is often forgotten. He developed his love of writing in Ireland and there are different settings and storylines in his books based on his life there.

Early Life in Dublin

It is surprising to hear that Stoker spent most of his early life in bed. He suffered from a rare illness that was never identified, finding it impossible to walk independently. Severe sleep problems were another issue, and he was home-schooled from his bedroom. The oldest of six children, it is believed he was overlooked by his family from a young age but luckily, at the age of seven this illness miraculously vanished.

Surprisingly enough, H.G. Wells, author of War of the Worlds first acquired his love of reading after he broke his leg in an accident and was left bedridden. His father began bringing in books from the local library and Wells became captivated by certain storylines and places these pieces were set.

While he was ill, Stoker was sometimes brought out to the countryside for fresh air. It is known that he saw the countryside as quite a frightening place, which may have inspired the settings for some of his books. This includes the storms and bad weather associated with Transylvania. There is also a theory that the image of Count Dracula living in a coffin, stemmed from his early life spent in bed.

Trinity College and Dublin Castle

In 1864, Stoker attended Trinity College, Dublin, studying history, literature, maths, and physics. He may have been unable to walk as a boy but, in college he went on to become a star football player. While he was there, he first saw the actor Henry Irving at the Theatre Royal in Dublin and became a huge fan. Although this is where his love of theatre originated from, Stoker still followed in his father’s footsteps and went on to become a civil servant at Dublin Castle.

He missed College and continued to study further education courses, earning a higher degree in mathematics. He still interacted with the College through debating societies. After Stoker watched Henry Irving on stage again, he decided to work as an unpaid drama critic for the Dublin Evening Mail Newspaper. He referred to Irving as ‘the greatest stage actor ever‘.

In 1876, Irving read a positive review written about his recent version of Hamlet. He contacted Stoker to meet up and they went on to become close friends. Irving offered Stoker the opportunity to become his manager in London, a job which he happily accepted. Stoker married his wife Florence Balcombe at St. Ann’s Church in Dublin in 1878. She did seem slightly worried that he had become almost hypnotized with Irving. Their only child ‘Noel’ was born in 1879.

London

When he became theatre manager at the Lyceum Theatre, London, Stoker would write up to 50 letters a day for Irving. Travelling overseas to America to accompany Irving on tours, he became a bit of a local celebrity.

He was already writing horror stories for newspapers and his first one The Chain of Destiny was published in Shamrock in 1875. In 1879, his first book was published. The Duties of Petty Sessions in Ireland was a source of different references that made up a handbook for petty sessions (Irish courts dealing with minor criminal and minor civil cases) clerks.

After referring to his first book as ‘dry as dust’ it is not surprising that Stoker decided to focus on gothic fiction, instead of the work he once did at Dublin Castle. The 19th century Victorian era was a time when Gothic fiction gained its popularity.

The Rise of Gothic Fiction

One ground-breaking book published during the Victorian era was Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859), seen as the foundation of evolutionary biology or ‘the theory of evolution’.

British writer Roger Luckhurst, states that the Victorian period was also known as:

An evangelical revival in the Christian church but also a host of dissenting heterodox and millenarian cults. It was the golden age of belief in supernatural forces and energies, ghost stories, weird transmissions and spooky phenomena.[1]

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was a gothic Irish writer whose work had a big influence on Stoker. His best-known novels are Uncle Silas (1864) and The House by the Churchyard (1863). In 1890, Stoker published his first horror novel A Snakes Pass. This story focuses on the legend of Saint Patrick and his defeat of The King of Snakes.

Dracula: Inspiration

The first written vampire legend was a short story called The Vampyre: A Tale of Lord Byron. Written by the British writer John William Polidori, it was first published in 1819, featuring in Henry Colburn’s New Monthly Magazine. The well-known figure of the vampire originates from Eastern European folklore.

Dracula was first published in 1897. The story is set in the Romanian region of Transylvania, as well as London. Written as an epistolary novel, in the form of letters and diaries, the publication of Dracula, revived this form of writing.

The brutal murderer Jack the Ripper killed at least five women in London in the 1880s. The story of this figure, who was never identified, may have been part of the inspiration behind the storyline of this book.

Spending so much time with Henry Irving, many feel he was the main inspiration behind the charismatic character of Count Dracula. The 15th-century Wallachian Prince ‘Vlad the Impaler’ was actually known as Dracula. Known for killing his enemies by driving a wooden stake into their hearts, he was another figure who inspired Stoker.

The country trips around Ireland and the fact that he remained bedbound for the first seven years of his life have already been noted as possible sources of inspiration behind the storyline and setting of Dracula. The town of Whitby and St. Michan’s Church Crypt are two other destinations that need to be mentioned.

It’s unknown whether Stoker really came to St. Michan’s Church, Arran Quay in Dublin but, many believe that he visited the crypts inside regularly. They may have been another source of inspiration behind Dracula. St. Michan’s Church is the oldest church in Dublin, featuring burial vaults that contain well-known Irish figures such as The Earl of Leitrim. Carelessly stacked over a long period of time, some of these coffins have been badly damaged, revealing the skeletal remains inside.

Whitby is a seaside town in North Yorkshire, UK that Stoker visited in 1890. It was in the local library at Whitby that Stoker first read the story of Prince ‘Vlad the Impaler’. Going off to explore the local medieval architecture, he visited Whitby Abbey, the remains of an 11th century Benedictine monastery. This is a site that is mentioned in Dracula:

Whitby Abbey

Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey… It is a most noble ruin, of immense size and full of beautiful and romantic bits; there is a legend that a white lady is seen in one of the windows.

Lasting Popularity

Although it was popular with the public and became a bestseller when it was first released, Dracula received mixed, sometimes negative reviews from critics:

The plot is too complicated for reproduction, but it says no little for the authors powers that in spite of its absurdities the reader can follow the story with interest to the end. It is, however, an artistic mistake to fill the whole volume with horrors. A touch of the mysterious, the terrible, or the supernatural is infinitely more effective and credible (The Manchester Guardian, June 15, 1897).

Over 200 film versions of this book have been created over the years. The silent movie Nosferatu, released in 1922,was the first adaptation. Like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, movie versions of this book have kept the character alive over the years.

Whitby is still a popular tourist destination where visitors go to view the impressive castle mentioned in the book. Tours of the local area are available, with a ‘Dracula’ museum open to the public. 

Different places that can still be visited in Dublin today include to St. Michan’s Church Crypt and St. Ann’s Church in Dublin, where Stoker was married. He first lived in the small Georgian-style house still seen today at 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf, Dublin 3. Living there until adulthood, there are no plaques to be seen on this house but, there is one on the house he later lived in, at 30 Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Neither of these places are open to the public but can still be appreciated from outside.

Plaque at 30 Kildare Street, Dublin 2

Every year, the Bram Stoker Festival is held in Dublin over the Halloween weekend with events available for people of all ages to appreciate the writer’s work.

Conclusion

Stoker died in 1912 from an unknown cause. He was cremated and his ashes remain today at Golders Green Cemetery in London. Florence outlived her husband by 25 years, dying in 1937.

The works of Ulysses by James Joyce and Gulliver’s Travels by Johnathan Swift are other renowned Irish novels that are appreciated around the world, but Dracula is still recognized today as one of the greatest gothic horror novels of all time.

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References

[1] Luckhurst, Roger. ‘The Victorian Supernatural’. Accessed online at: http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-victoriansupernatural#sthash.UTyU8p8s.dpuf

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