Bram Stroker
Bram
Stoker (1847 - 1912)
Category: Irish Literature
Born: November
8, 1847
Clontarf (near Dublin), Ireland
Died: April
20, 1912
London, England
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 This book of rules, however, would not be published until 1879, by which time Stoker would be married, living in another country, and immersed in a new career.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.