Dracula

Bram Stoker, geb. 1847 in Dublin, gestorben 1912 in London. Seine Biografie ist hinter dem Ruhm seines Dracula in Vergessenheit geraten. Die ersten sieben Jahre seines Lebens war er durch eine schwere Krankheit ans Bett gefesselt, ein Trauma, das er erst mit der Niederschrift seines Vampirromans ganz überwinden konnte. An der Dublin University entwickelte Stoker ungeahnte geistige und körperliche Talente, wurde Präsident einer philosophischen und einer historischen Studentengemeinschaft und war der Star einer Fußballmannschaft. Nach dem Studium schlug er sich als unbezahlter Theaterkritiker und Zeitschriftenherausgeber durch, bis er 1878 Manager des berühmten Shakespeare-Darstellers Henry Irving wurde. In seiner Freizeit veröffentlichte er zehn Bücher, von denen allerdings nur Dracula internationale Anerkennung fand. Bram Stoker starb 1912, genau zehn Jahre bevor mit Murnaus Film "Nosferatu" der Durchbruch des dunkelsten Helden der Weltliteratur gelang.

Since its publication in 1897, Dracula has enthralled generation after generation of readers with the same spellbinding power with which Count Dracula enthralls his victims. Though Bram Stoker did not invent vampires, and in fact based his character’s life-in-death on extensive research in European folklore, his novel elevated the nocturnal creature to iconic stature, spawning a genre of stories and movies that flourishes to this day. But a century of imitations has done nothing to diminish the power of Stoker’s tale. As his chilling, suave monster stalks his prey from a crumbling castle in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania to an insane asylum in England to the bedrooms of his swooning female victims, the drama is infused with a more and more exquisite measure of sensuality and suspense.Dracula is a classic of Gothic horror, an undying wellspring of modern mythology, and an irresistible entertainment.

Since its publication in 1897, Dracula has enthralled generation after generation of readers with the same spellbinding power with which Count Dracula enthralls his victims. Though Bram Stoker did not invent vampires, and in fact based his character’s life-in-death on extensive research in European folklore, his novel elevated the nocturnal creature to iconic stature, spawning a genre of stories and movies that flourishes to this day. But a century of imitations has done nothing to diminish the power of Stoker’s tale. As his chilling, suave monster stalks his prey from a crumbling castle in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania to an insane asylum in England to the bedrooms of his swooning female victims, the drama is infused with a more and more exquisite measure of sensuality and suspense.Dracula is a classic of Gothic horror, an undying wellspring of modern mythology, and an irresistible entertainment.