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Bram Stoker's life
Today, I find it necessary to introduce each of you with new and interesting information about Bram Stoker's life. Hope it will be useful to you. Leave comments!
Today, I find it necessary to introduce each of you with new and interesting information about Bram Stoker's life. Hope it will be useful to you. Leave comments!
Beliefs and philosophy
Stoker was raised a Protestant in the Church of
Ireland. He was a strong supporter of the Liberal Party and took a keen
interest in Irish affairs. As a "philosophical home ruler," he
supported Home Rule for Ireland brought about by peaceful means. He remained an
ardent monarchist who believed that Ireland should remain within the British
Empire, an entity that he saw as a force for good. He was an admirer of Prime
Minister William Ewart Gladstone, whom he knew personally, and supported his
plans for Ireland.
Stoker believed in progress and took a keen interest
in science and science-based medicine. Some Stoker novels represent early
examples of science fiction, such as The Lady of the Shroud (1909). He had a
writer's interest in the occult, notably mesmerism, but despised fraud and
believed in the superiority of the scientific method over superstition. Stoker
counted among his friends J.W. Brodie-Innis, a member of the Hermetic Order of
the Golden Dawn, and hired member Pamela Colman Smith as an artist for the
Lyceum Theatre, but no evidence suggests that Stoker ever joined the Order
himself.
Posthumous
The short story collection Dracula's Guest and Other
Weird Stories was published in 1914 by Stoker's widow, Florence Stoker, who was
also his literary executrix. The first film adaptation of Dracula was F. W.
Murnau's Nosferatu, released in 1922, with Max Schreck starring as Count Orlok.
Florence Stoker eventually sued the filmmakers, and was represented by the
attorneys of the British Incorporated Society of Authors. Her chief legal
complaint was that she had neither been asked for permission for the adaptation
nor paid any royalty. The case dragged on for some years, with Mrs. Stoker
demanding the destruction of the negative and all prints of the film. The suit
was finally resolved in the widow's favour in July 1925. A single print of the
film survived, however, and it has become well known. The first authorised film
version of Dracula did not come about until almost a decade later when Universal
Studios released Tod Browning's Dracula starring Bela Lugosi.
Dacre Stoker
Canadian writer Dacre Stoker, a great-grandnephew of
Bram Stoker, decided to write "a sequel that bore the Stoker name" to
"reestablish creative control over" the original novel, with
encouragement from screenwriter Ian Holt, because of the Stokers' frustrating
history with Dracula's copyright. In 2009, Dracula: The Un-Dead was released,
written by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. Both writers "based [their work] on
Bram Stoker's own handwritten notes for characters and plot threads excised
from the original edition" along with their own research for the sequel.
This also marked Dacre Stoker's writing debut.
In Spring 2012, Dacre Stoker (in collaboration with
Prof. Elizabeth Miller) presented the "lost" Dublin Journal written
by Bram Stoker, which had been kept by his great-grandson Noel Dobbs. Stoker's
diary entries shed a light on the issues that concerned him before his London
years. A remark about a boy who caught flies in a bottle might be a clue for
the later development of the Renfield character in Dracula.
Commemorations
On 8 November 2012, Stoker was honoured with a Google
Doodle on Google's homepage commemorating the 165th anniversary of his
birth.
An annual festival takes place in Dublin, the
birthplace of Bram Stoker, in honour of his literary achievements. The 2014
Bram Stoker Festival encompassed literary, film, family, street, and outdoor
events, and ran from 24–27 October in and around Dublin City. The
festival is supported by the Bram Stoker Estate and funded by Dublin City
Council and Fáilte Ireland.
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