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Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula

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Barbara Belford's "Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula" is considered to be the most scholarly and thorough of the 3 Bram Stoker biographies that have been published. But Mr. Stoker was a reticent person about whose personal life, opinions, and character there is precious little known. Whether out of humility or caution, he usually took care not to reveal himself. So what we know of Stoker comes primarily from his public life, which was thankfully shared with several grander, more loquacious personalities. Perhaps due to the scarcity of information about her subject, Barbara Belford gives Stoker's friends, colleagues, and the London theater community a lot of attention, especially Henry Irving, the great actor whose fame was dwarfed only by his ego, and whom Bram Stoker dedicated 27 years of his life to serving. Indeed, this biography of Stoker would serve well as a history of Irving's famous Lyceum Theatre for the decades that Stoker served as its acting manager.

The book starts by describing Stoker's childhood in Dublin, the third child born to a middle class Anglo-Irish family in 1847 during the potato famine, and his apparent debilitation until the age of 7. He grew up to be a civil servant like his father, and pursued personal interests as an unpaid drama critic for the "Evening Mail", through which Stoker met Henry Irving. After marrying the lovely Florence Balcombe, whom Oscar Wilde also courted, the Stokers moved to London where Bram's efficient management would help make the 1500-seat Lyceum Theatre fashionable and profitable. Since the Lyceum dominated Stoker's life, it dominates his biography, but Belford also discusses his trips to America on tour with the Lyceum company, his effusive admiration for Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln, and his novels and stories.

The upshot of "Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Man Who Wrote Dracula" is that Bram Stoker was a modest, hardworking man, exceedingly courteous even by Victorian standards, whose tireless work for Henry Irving was acknowledged by many but unappreciated and unrewarded by Irving himself. Stoker's genial but reserved manner harbored passionate, worshipful emotions toward his heroes, invariably men of power with larger-than-life personalities. Belford draws an occasional parallel between persons in Bram Stoker's own life and characters in "Dracula". Most notably, she sees a "sinister caricature" of Henry Irving in the vampire Count. Actress Ellen Terry seems to be reflected in Mina, and Stoker's wife Florence may have lent some of her character to Lucy. None of this is a stretch as long as one recognizes that "Dracula"'s characters don't have a single source, but many.

This biography includes a lot of good information for fans of Bram Stoker's work, but a couple of stylistic problems nagged at me. One is Belford's confusing tendency to refer to people by first or last name only, at the beginning of a chapter, instead of starting off with a full name. Another is the repeated use of the phrase "Unholy Trinity" to describe the business partnership between Henry Irving, Bram Stoker, and stage manager H.J. Loveday, which I found melodramatic. But Belford's book succeeds in creating a picture of Bram Stoker's personality without reading too much into his actions or words.

Barbara Belford is a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and wrote a biography of Violet Hunt. `Count Dracula' is the most filmed character in history after `Sherlock Holmes', but most people never read the novel. Stoker's `Dracula' is the best known of his novels. It has been translated into virtually all European languages except Rumanian. The `Prologue' begins by referencing passages from `Dracula'. [I never read this novel or knew what was there.] This book seems to require a background in literature that a casual reader may not have. Belford mentions Stoker's childhood illness and compares it to Stoker's future novel. Cholera and other plagues were recurrent events in the 19th century. Since little was known about Stoker's early life Belford has to fill in the blanks. His siblings weren't affected like Bram. Does the deaths of over a million from starvation (p.17) far exceed the victims of Dracula? There was no such mortality in Europe. The Stoker family is of Dutch origin (p.30). Many were civil service bureaucrats. Cholera patients were sometimes buried alive (p.22). The narrative keeps being interrupted by literary references; I don't like this style (p.24). This book is valuable as a look into 19th century life, the theatrical business, and the career of Bram Stoker. Another problem is the photographs: they are spread throughout the book, the "Illustration Credits" do not list the pages. Belford's story of the stage play did not mention that Bela Lugosi played Count Dracula on the stage but was not reportedly the first choice for the film (p.33).

Abraham Stoker was born in 1847 Ireland. His father was a civil servant to the British Government, his mother was later an advocate of schooling for the handicapped. Bram went to Trinity College in Dublin, was a great athlete, and became interested in dramatics. He was a fan of Walt Whitman's poetry (p.43). After graduating he met Henry Irving the famous actor and became his business manager and friend. Irish legends tell of the Dearg-due (p.64). Stoker wrote short stories (p.66). Stoker married Florence Balcombe in 1878. He picked a new play that became a success (p.117). Stoker was a friend and advisor to Prime Minister Gladstone (p.131). Stoker risked his life to save a stranger from drowning and received a medal (p.137). Irving (and Stoker) toured America in the 1880s and later. Belford says the characters in `Dracula' were based on people known to Stoker (p.184). Stoker became a barrister in 1890 but never practiced law or tried a case (p.193). In the late 19th century some turned away from Christianity to embrace pagan superstitions (p.211). Why did Stoker pick the historic Dracula for his novel (p.260)? Stoker spent 6 years on writing this novel. Page 279 says "horse-drawn hansom" but the hansom cab was a two-wheeler. "The Thirty-Nine Steps" was a John Buchan novel (p.294). Stoker wanted to ban lewd fiction (p.312). Stoker died in 1912 of "locomotor ataxy, granular contracted kidney, exhaustion" (p.319). Some suggested a disease.

Why was Dracula so popular in the past? It shows a threat to humanity that can be overcome when people learn what must be done. Did Dracula represent a foreign ruler (Kaiser Bill or Hitler), or the economic panics or depressions? Was it a morality play where the good guys win at the end? The 1931 film seems to be a simplified and condensed version of the novel, like the bowdlerized Fairy Tales of the 20th century. It proved very popular. There were many vampire stories in the 19th century, now mostly forgotten.