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Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula Hardcover – April 9, 1996
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Barbara Belford tells the story of Stoker the hidden man. On the surface: the very model of Victorian modesty, reserve, and duty, the devoted husband and father. In actuality: a man whose emotional and working energies were in large part expended on the care and cultivation of the flamboyant, mesmerizing genius of the stage, Henry Irving.
We see Stoker the writer of novels and stories that were imbued with sexuality, violence, and the celebration of death -- works at opposite poles from the decorum he presented in society. And Barbara Belford shows us in Dracula a mirror of the undercurrents of Stoker's own life, as well as a masked exploration of subjects utterly forbidden in his time -- seduction, rape, necrophilia, incest, voyeurism -- universal taboos dramatized with such a myth-making edge that the novel remains resonant and unsettling almost one hundred years later.
We follow Stoker from his sickly childhood -entertained by his mother's twice-told tales of Irish hobgoblins and banshees -- to his years as a Dublin undergraduate and newspaperman, when he first wrote to his idol Wait Whitman, spilling out his innermost thoughts and beginning a lifelong correspondence that culminated in their meeting when Stoker traveled to America on tour with Irving and Ellen Terry. We see Stoker's childhood friendship with Oscar Wilde, and watch as the two young men compete for the hand of the beautiful Florence Balcombe, who became Stoker's wife. And we see Stoker in the literary and theatrical circles of Victorian London among such figures as Mark Twain, Arthur Conan Doyle, James Whistler, Lord Tennyson, and George Bernard Shaw.
Belford gives us a vivid picture of the man, his time, his London -- the domestic and theatrical worlds he lived in -- and the dark imaginary realms that were the wellspring of all his writings, especially of his enduring and enduringly fascinating Dracula.
- Print length381 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherKnopf
- Publication dateApril 9, 1996
- Dimensions6.75 x 1.25 x 10 inches
- ISBN-100679418326
- ISBN-13978-0679418320
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-- Brenda Maddox, author of The Married Man: The Life of D. H. Lawrence
"Bram Stoker will be remembered for his devotedly long service to the great actor Sir Henry Irving, excellently commemorated in this fascinating account of their work together."
-- Sir John Gielgud
"The Lyceum chapters are wonderfully alive: Barbara Belford captures what I am sure are the tone and atmosphere of Irving's theatre, and clarified many things I had never understood about that opaque character Bram Stoker."
-- Nina Auerbach
From the Inside Flap
Barbara Belford tells the story of Stoker the hidden man. On the surface: the very model of Victorian modesty, reserve, and duty, the devoted husband and father. In actuality: a man whose emotional and working energies were in large part expended on the care and cultivation of the flamboyant, mesmerizing genius of the stage, Henry Irving.
We see Stoker the writer of novels and stories that were imbued with sexuality, violence, and the celebration of death -- works at opposite poles from the decorum he presented in society. And Barbara Belford shows us in Dracula a mirror of the undercurrents of Stoker's own life, as well as a masked exploration of subjects utterly forbidden in his time -- seduction, rape, necrophilia, incest, voyeurism -
From the Back Cover
Barbara Belford tells the story of Stoker the hidden man. On the surface: the very model of Victorian modesty, reserve, and duty, the devoted husband and father. In actuality: a man whose emotional and working energies were in large part expended on the care and cultivation of the flamboyant, mesmerizing genius of the stage, Henry Irving.
We see Stoker the writer of novels and stories that were imbued with sexuality, violence, and the celebration of death -- works at opposite poles from the decorum he presented in society. And Barbara Belford shows us in Dracula a mirror of the undercurrents of Stoker's own life, as well as a masked exploration of subjects utterly forbidden in his time -- seduction, rape, necrophilia, incest, voyeurism -
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Product details
- Publisher : Knopf; First Edition (April 9, 1996)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 381 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0679418326
- ISBN-13 : 978-0679418320
- Item Weight : 1.65 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.75 x 1.25 x 10 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,744,388 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,789 in England History
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- Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2023This book was listed as "good condition," but arrived flawless and a full week early. Very pleased.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2016A very interesting book, that focuses in on Stoker's life with Henry Irving and at the Lyceum Theatre, which he managed.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 14, 2020If you think you'll find out very much about Stoker's writing of Dracula, or really very much at all about Stoker's life, you're in for a disappointment. This book should have been titled, "Henry Irving And His World" or something along those lines. Stoker was the stage manager for the Lyceum Theater and basically worked for Irving. Endless pages about Irving, and other Victorian notables, but not a lot of indepth info about Stoker. I found the book poorly written and at times confusing. The author also tends to use words/language that is so pretentious and outmoded that it detracts from the overall comprehension of the work. That's not good writing. That's BAD writing. I found myself having to re-read paragraphs or sentences just to grasp what it is the author is saying (or trying to say). Could have used a good editor to cut through some of the unnecessary digressions and lack of focus. Guess what? After slogging through over 300 pages of this book, I still know very little about Bram Stoker, what made him tick, and certainly almost nothing about the writing of Dracula, the one and only reason why modern day readers even know about this man.
- Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2005Barbara Belford's "Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Author of Dracula" is considered to be the most scholarly and thorough of the 3 Bram Stoker biographies that have been published. But Mr. Stoker was a reticent person about whose personal life, opinions, and character there is precious little known. Whether out of humility or caution, he usually took care not to reveal himself. So what we know of Stoker comes primarily from his public life, which was thankfully shared with several grander, more loquacious personalities. Perhaps due to the scarcity of information about her subject, Barbara Belford gives Stoker's friends, colleagues, and the London theater community a lot of attention, especially Henry Irving, the great actor whose fame was dwarfed only by his ego, and whom Bram Stoker dedicated 27 years of his life to serving. Indeed, this biography of Stoker would serve well as a history of Irving's famous Lyceum Theatre for the decades that Stoker served as its acting manager.
The book starts by describing Stoker's childhood in Dublin, the third child born to a middle class Anglo-Irish family in 1847 during the potato famine, and his apparent debilitation until the age of 7. He grew up to be a civil servant like his father, and pursued personal interests as an unpaid drama critic for the "Evening Mail", through which Stoker met Henry Irving. After marrying the lovely Florence Balcombe, whom Oscar Wilde also courted, the Stokers moved to London where Bram's efficient management would help make the 1500-seat Lyceum Theatre fashionable and profitable. Since the Lyceum dominated Stoker's life, it dominates his biography, but Belford also discusses his trips to America on tour with the Lyceum company, his effusive admiration for Walt Whitman and Abraham Lincoln, and his novels and stories.
The upshot of "Bram Stoker: A Biography of the Man Who Wrote Dracula" is that Bram Stoker was a modest, hardworking man, exceedingly courteous even by Victorian standards, whose tireless work for Henry Irving was acknowledged by many but unappreciated and unrewarded by Irving himself. Stoker's genial but reserved manner harbored passionate, worshipful emotions toward his heroes, invariably men of power with larger-than-life personalities. Belford draws an occasional parallel between persons in Bram Stoker's own life and characters in "Dracula". Most notably, she sees a "sinister caricature" of Henry Irving in the vampire Count. Actress Ellen Terry seems to be reflected in Mina, and Stoker's wife Florence may have lent some of her character to Lucy. None of this is a stretch as long as one recognizes that "Dracula"'s characters don't have a single source, but many.
This biography includes a lot of good information for fans of Bram Stoker's work, but a couple of stylistic problems nagged at me. One is Belford's confusing tendency to refer to people by first or last name only, at the beginning of a chapter, instead of starting off with a full name. Another is the repeated use of the phrase "Unholy Trinity" to describe the business partnership between Henry Irving, Bram Stoker, and stage manager H.J. Loveday, which I found melodramatic. But Belford's book succeeds in creating a picture of Bram Stoker's personality without reading too much into his actions or words.
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- Amazon CustomerReviewed in the United Kingdom on June 29, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Quality
The product was exactly as described and arrived in the time given.