Book Review: “Bram Stoker: Author of Dracula – An Illustrated Biography”, by Neil R. Storey

Reading time: 2 mins

“We are the children of Dracula.”

★★★★☆

Everybody knows the giant of literature Bram Stoker, author of Dracula and father of the lore of the vampire.

But how well do you really know him?

Any depth of knowledge seems to pale in comparison to the one Neil R. Storey displays in the book Bram Stoker: Author of Dracula – An Illustrated Biography. The author’s research is minutely conducted through letters, testimonies, records, and a vaste number of books (all listed at the end, for the ones curious about them).

I was sure surprised to see the book starting with a chapter that goes further back to Bram’s birth, all the way to his descendants. It gave a comprehensive and broad outlook of the author, contextualizing him as a man of his century (and beyond), and not as a particle frozen in time. This is a perk that will be present throughout all the book.

This is why calling it a biography of Bram Stoker’s life is a little reductive to me, considering that not only every aspect of his life, but also of his time is explored: society, arts and cultures, literary medium. It’s not often that one can see a biographer mastering a topic, and being able to present it in the most readable way.

I have to admit that I found Storey’s citations surprising at times: where other historians would have just gone on with the narration, the author gives a specific source for his claims. It’s not something I would view negatively, though – they always ended up being relevant and enriching, other than reinforce the certainty that his research was excellent.

As much as Neil R. Storeys goes back to a time before Bram Stoker, he also jumps ahead into the immediate future from Bram’s death, and into more modern times, talking about his legacy.

All this is viewed not through the clinical lens of a cold observer, but as a man that has a personal relationship with Bram’s works and the man behind them – there are numerous retellings from people who knew Dracula‘s author, and they can only add to the affection you’ll feel towards one of the “oddest narrator of the odd tales”, how he would have probably appreciate being called.

Final Thoughts

Bram Stoker: Author of Dracula – An Illustrated Biography is a beautiful introduction to Dracula‘s author, as much as the time in which he lived. I can’t even say that little is left behind: starting from the origins of the Stoker family, passing through his education in college and his time as a civil servant and then as acting manager at the Lyceum theater, touching his most intimate relationships and the inspirations for his books, untill beyond his mortal life, I can’t see a topic that Neil R. Storey didn’t touch in this exhaustive book.

Table of Contents

Chapter One – Origins
Chapter Two – Trinity
Chapter Three – The Chain of Destiny
Chapter Four – Acting Manager
Chapter Five – In His Element
Chapter Six – The Inner Sanctum
Chapter Seven – Dracula
Chapter Eight – Vampire Women, Clubs and Confessions
Chapter Nine – The Yellow Book
Chapter Ten – Final Curtain
Appendix I – The Published Works of Bram Stoker
Appendix II – Published Sources Listed by Bram Stoker in his Research Notes for Dracula
Appendix III – Mr. Bram Stoker: A Chat with the Author of Dracula
Appendix IV – “Dracula” and Dundee: Famous Author’s Fireside Recital
Appendix V – Irving’s Last Hours
Appendix VI – Bram Stoker’s Last Public Speech

**Thank you NetGalley, Neil R. Storey and Pen & Sword for an ARC of this book.**