Bram Stoker is the author of one of the greatest genre-changing novels of all time, Dracula. Throughout the writing process, there are many factors to take into account that affect an author’s writing style. Bram Stoker chose to follow the genre of gothic horror/ historical fiction in Dracula because of his interests in vampiric mythology.
Stoker was born on November 8, 1847 in Dublin, Ireland during the Irish potato famine. He was the third of seven children of his father, whom worked at Dublin Castle and his mother who was a social activist 20 years younger than her husband. Throughout his adolescence, Bram Stoker was ill and consequently, was forced to stay in bed and miss out on many early childhood experiences. When Stoker went to college …show more content…
His intellect led him to explore many different subjects, and the one that fascinated him the most being vampires. Stoker spent a considerable amount of time with Henry Irving’s theater company after he became good friends with Irving himself. Stoker attended multiple late night dining events that supposedly inspired him to create the eerie mood present in Dracula. Stoker became increasingly interested in vampiric mythology and his research eventually led him to find the tyrant ruler presiding over Wallachia, Romania, Vlad the Impaler. He spent many hours researching the royal family and and Vlad’s history. He also found more inspiration from Arminius Vambery’s stories of vampirism in eastern Europe. Quite interestingly, Vambery was the first to expose Stoker to the history of the mythical nocturnal monsters. Stoker’s intense researching and study of vampires furthermore led him to the book Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia by William Wilkinson. In this book, Stoker learned that “Dracula”, previously known from Vlad III Dracula of Romania, means “devil” in the Wallachian language (Novels for Students). It was true from the beginning that Dracula was intended
Stoker was born on November 8, 1847 in Dublin, Ireland during the Irish potato famine. He was the third of seven children of his father, whom worked at Dublin Castle and his mother who was a social activist 20 years younger than her husband. Throughout his adolescence, Bram Stoker was ill and consequently, was forced to stay in bed and miss out on many early childhood experiences. When Stoker went to college …show more content…
His intellect led him to explore many different subjects, and the one that fascinated him the most being vampires. Stoker spent a considerable amount of time with Henry Irving’s theater company after he became good friends with Irving himself. Stoker attended multiple late night dining events that supposedly inspired him to create the eerie mood present in Dracula. Stoker became increasingly interested in vampiric mythology and his research eventually led him to find the tyrant ruler presiding over Wallachia, Romania, Vlad the Impaler. He spent many hours researching the royal family and and Vlad’s history. He also found more inspiration from Arminius Vambery’s stories of vampirism in eastern Europe. Quite interestingly, Vambery was the first to expose Stoker to the history of the mythical nocturnal monsters. Stoker’s intense researching and study of vampires furthermore led him to the book Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia by William Wilkinson. In this book, Stoker learned that “Dracula”, previously known from Vlad III Dracula of Romania, means “devil” in the Wallachian language (Novels for Students). It was true from the beginning that Dracula was intended