Born in Ireland in 1847, Bram Stoker studied mathematics at Dublin's Trinity College and embarked on his longtime role as an assistant to actor Sir Henry Irving in the 1870s. He also began carving out a second career as a writer, publishing his first novel, The Primrose Path, in 1875. Stoker published his most famous work, Dracula, in 1897, though he died before the fictional vampire would achieve widespread popularity though numerous film and literary adaptations in the 20th century.
Stoker and Wilde knew each other at Trinity College in Dublin when they were both students; Stoker even proposed Wilde’s membership at the school’s Philosophical Society. But when his childhood sweetheart, Florence Balcome, decided to marry Stoker, Wilde left Ireland and moved to England.
Actually, he started off as a civil servant--and a theater critic. His review of Hamlet impressed the star, Henry Irving, who invited him to dinner. They became friends, and a few years later, he wound up managing Irving’s theater, the Lyceum Theater, as well as Irving’s career. (You can visit the Lyceum today. The Lion King is playing.)
Stoker is beloved for his supernatural fiction. In fact, the Horror Writer’s Association annually bestows the Bram Stoker Awards for superior achievement in horror. Dracula wasn’t his only work of horror, either, as readers who have have picked up The Lair of the White Worm know. But while Stoker wrote supernatural fiction such as Jewel of the Seven Stars and Dracula’s Guest and Other Weird Stories, over half of his works of fiction were romances. Extremely Victorian romances.
Stoker never visited Eastern Europe, so he had to rely on his journalist skills for his novel’s background. He spent seven years on research. His Hungarian friend, Ármin Vámbéry, also theoretically consulted with Stoker on Transylvanian culture.
Stoker died on April 20, 1912, of either exhaustion or syphilis, depending on which biographer you ask. He was cremated, and later, his ashes were joined by the ashes of his son, Noel. You can visit them at Golders Green Crematorium, the first crematorium in London…
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