BORN. Nov. 8, 1847, Dublin, Ire.
                                                                        DIE. April 20, 1912, London, Eng.
 
 

        Author of the popular horror tale Dracula. Although an invalid in early childhood--he could not stand or walk until he was seven--he outgrew his weakness to become an outstanding athlete and football player at the University of Dublin. After 10 years in the civil service at Dublin Castle, during which he was also an unpaid drama critic for the Dublin Mail, he made the acquaintance of his idol, the actor Sir Henry Irving, and from 1878 until Irving's death 27 years later, he acted as his manager, writing as many as 50 letters a day for him and accompanying him on his American tours. Turning to fiction late in life, he published The Snake's Pass in 1890, and in 1897 his masterpiece, Dracula, appeared. Written chiefly in the form of diaries and journals kept by the principal characters--Jonathan Harker, who made the first contact with the vampire Count Dracula; Mina, Jonathan's wife; Dr. Seward; and Lucy Westenra, a victim who herself became a vampire--the story is that of a Transylvanian vampire who, using supernatural powers, makes his way to England and there victimizes innocent people to gain the blood on which he lives. Led by Dr. Van Helsing, Harker and his friends, after many hair-raising adventures, are at last able to overpower and destroy Dracula. The immensely popular novel enjoyed equal success in several versions as a play and as a film.

          The story of Dracula was first told by Bram Stoker, an Irish-born writer. He was a newspaper editor who wrote thrillers for the popular papers during the late 1800's. One of his close friends was a professor from the University of Budapest in Hungary. This man told Stoker about the vampire legends of Transylvania.

           Stoker went to the best libraries in London and studied all about vampires and about the history of Transylvania. Many European countries had vampire legends. The vampires of Transylvania were undead monsters that rose from the grave and tried to steal your beauty or your strength. Or they might try to kill you, unless you chased them away with garlic. The vampire legends of Greece featured blood-sucking monsters. Stoker put together both of these legends in his story. The writer also studied vampire bats. These are small flying mammals with bodies about the size of mice. They live only in Central and South America. A bat will come up to a sleeping animal and make a cut with its sharp teeth. Then it laps up the blood. The little bat does not take much blood; but it can spread rabies, so it is dangerous. Stoker used vampire bats as part of his story.
The idea for the vampire hero, Dracula, came from a real person; Prince Viad Dracula (See my Vald Dracula Section)
 

        The author may have taken other ideas for a vampire mold from another real person; Elizabeth Bathory. She was a Transylvanian countess famed for her beauty. When she began to grow old, she went insane. She believed the blood of girls would restore her youth. She murdered about 50 maidens and bathed in their blood before her deeds were discovered. She was walled up alive in her castle and died in 1614.

        Bram Stoker's novel Dracula, was published in 1897 It was a great success, and it still can be found on the shelves of libraries everywhere.

        Stoker wrote several other novels--among them The Mystery of the Sea (1902), The Jewel of Seven Stars (1904), and The Lady of the Shroud (1909)--but none of them approached the popularity or, indeed, the quality of Dracula.
 
 

EXTRACTED FROM: http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/9/0,5716,71589+1+69775,00.html?query=stoker%20bram