Bram Stoker confirmed in his book that he’s the daddy of the trendy vampire Dracula introduced the world to the Count of Transylvania in 1897. There are only a few characters in popular culture as iconic as Dracula, and the long-lasting vampire will even be resurrected in a brand new TV series this fall. And after all, the Ghost Adventures crew of Zak, Nick and Aaron will travel to Eastern Europe to explore the legend of Dracula's inspiration, Vlad the Impaler, in a 2-hour special this coming Halloween.
But the facility of blood in Stoker's legacy goes far beyond the lingering fascination with the Count's food source. In fact, Stoker's family tree remains to be growing, and the Dublin-born writer is especially well represented by his great-grandson, Dacre Stoker.
Courtesy of Dacre Stoker
Dacre Stoker
Dacre, a Canadian-American educator and athlete who coached Canada's modern pentathlon team on the 1988 Olympics, entered the world of vampires when writing a 2009 book. Dracula: Undead. Dacre's writing debut, written from Bram's handwritten notes with screenwriter Ian Holt, is a sequel to Bram Stoker's original work from 1897 and is the just one to bear the Stoker name. Additionally, Dacre teamed up with English professor (and Dracula historian) Elizabeth Miller to publish the lost Dublin journal Brama, which focuses on the author's life before he moved to London and have become an assistant to English stage actor Henry Irving on the Lyceum Theatre. Dacre also delivers his “Stoker on Stoker” lecture to audiences world wide.
So where does Stoker's descendant live? Instead of going to a sinister castle nestled within the Carpathians, I met Dacre Stoker while he was fly fishing in British Columbia. Here he talked about his great-grandfather and representing the Stoker name.
Courtesy of Wikimedia
Bram Stoker
Aaron Sagers: What do you consider the many evolutions Dracula has undergone because the book The Gate?
Dacre Stoker: I'm not such a purist as to say they’re unsuitable because they aren’t the identical as what Bram Stoker created. I'm completely the alternative. I feel it's a tribute to Bram that these creatures can change and adapt to their surroundings and the world of entertainment. If it was the usual Bram Stoker's Dracula and we never modified it, we'd be bored by now. I feel that is great.
Aaron Sagers: Which version of Dracula most resembles Bram's version in your opinion?
Dacre Stoker: Gary Oldman in Coppola's 1992 version (Bram Stoker's Dracula) could transform like crazy throughout the movie… writers like Anne Rice gave these guys morality, they usually have dilemmas and need to worry about killing people for love or clean eating. So today there are lots of more dimensions. And you could remember, Bram allowed his vampire to shapeshift right into a mist, a wolf, a bat. Now they turn into the handsome guy round the corner or that hot girl and it's all an adaptation. I feel it really works and it's improbable.
Courtesy of the Motion Picture Arts Guild
Nosferatu
Aaron Sagers: German film from 1922 Nosferatu is the primary film version of Dracula, nevertheless it is unauthorized and introduced elements into vampire lore akin to sunlight killing the creature. Bram's widow, Florence, was sued for copyright infringement. Without this rip-off, couldn't we get to the 1931 version of Bela Lugosi and Tod Browning and the whole lot that followed?
Dacre Stoker: You're absolutely right. Sometimes evil, or “bad” within the moment, actually produces good. Imagine that one copy Nosferatu he didn't survive, ? At the time, it wasn't something Florence would have wanted or what the courts ruled, but thank God it survived since it was the spark that helped create this complete genre.
Aaron Sagers: Without Lugosi, would we still care about Dracula in spite of everything these years?
Dacre Stoker: This is a difficult call. Christopher Lee did an excellent job playing the role, but Lugosi was the primary to bring it to the stage after which to the cinema. Who knows? If he hadn't bridged that initial gap between the pages of the book and the stage, he might never have developed.
Aaron Sagers: Do you’re thinking that Bram intended vampires to be as sexy creatures as we've come to think about them?
Dacre Stoker: I don't think so in any respect. His research indicates that he was watching this terrifying specter come out of its grave and are available to life and look for one more life to sacrifice for itself. He wasn't a cultured, sexy guy. While this will not have been Bram's intention, that doesn't mean it's not good. You need to be an entertainer, and writers need to follow the audience's expectations. There are quite a lot of individuals who read books and watch movies, so someone has to do something right with these, let's call them, “new Draculas”.
Courtesy of Dacre Stoker
Dacre Stoker Dracula: Undead
Aaron Sagers: When you first read Dracula you were in college – did you understand it or wonder why it was so popular?
Dacre Stoker: I do know where you're going. Yes, it took some time. It was difficult to get into the kind of the story. But I remember this, as I got into it, and it was after my second reading, I began to appreciate how this style worked with different people's points of view through diaries and journal entries and so forth.
Aaron Sagers: What has modified essentially the most in your life since accepting Bram Stoker's legacy?
Dacre Stoker: One time it was around Halloween and my cousins and I were joking, “OK, what number of weird requests do you might have? Or how many individuals remember you being a smoker around Halloween? But I feel the most important thing that has modified is that I feel an obligation to my family. My wife and I actually delved into family research, trying to achieve recognition for Bram beyond just being an writer Dracula but as a flexible person with a great status all around the world. And so it modified.
Aaron Sagers: As a direct descendant of Bram, do you are feeling any burden or pressure to proceed his legacy?
Dacre Stoker: A bit like that. Over the years, many individuals have fallen into absurd speculations [based] on partial bits of data they gleaned from hearsay. Some of Bram's biographies contain inaccuracies which have led to a proliferation of errors.
Courtesy of Universal
Actor Bela Lugosi within the role of Dracula
Aaron Sagers: What are a few of these misconceptions?
Dacre Stoker: He wasn't just the one who wrote Dracula and was manager of the Henry Irving Theater. Everyone says Bram was second fiddle to Irving, but Bram helped create Irving's persona, and Irving played it to perfection on and off stage – a lot in order that he became the primary actor to be knighted. Bram was creative. He wrote all types of books and he wasn't only a dull, boring double bass player like Irving. He was an excellent man and established vital friendships with vital people of the time. He was an innovator in lots of fields, including latest science and technology, and he incorporated it into Dracula. He was a great friend of Mark Twain and an investor in a brand new style of typewriter that Twain was working on.
Aaron Sagers: And he was a pen pal of Walt Whitman – how did that affect him?
Dacre Stoker: I feel Whitman gave Bram Stoker the impetus to put in writing freely and break free from the constraints of the very Victorian society he lived in, Ireland and England. Whitman had no such limitations, and Bram admired that. When they finally met, Whitman was very unwell they usually didn't spend much time together, but they’d an excellent respect for one another. He actually gave Bram the notes for his famous speech on Abraham Lincoln.
Aaron Sagers: What has been your craziest experience since performing as a Stoker descendant?
Dacre Stoker: Halloween is just like the Super Bowl for the Stoker family. It comes every year and everybody wants a bit of you. It's wonderful and exciting. I’m going to events and the strangest thing was a girl who was living a vampire life and asked me, very seriously, if she could get a sample of Stoker's blood. She wanted some Stoker DNA, but I had to inform her I wasn't into that kind of thing… I told her she could spend a while with me and talk.
Aaron Sagers: Did anyone make you a set of fangs?
Dacre Stoker: I don't do fangs, but after I do, I try to decorate like Bram, the theater manager, in tails and white tie.
Courtesy of Wikimedia
Vlad Tepes, or Vlad the Impaler
Aaron Sagers: What's next for you and your work examining Bram's life?
Dacre Stoker: I'm currently working on a travel guide concerning the places where Bram grew up and where he was inspired to put in writing Draculaand real places in Romania where the “real” Dracula moved and did his thing, in addition to the places Bram selected for his book. This will help groups of individuals literally trace the trail Bram conducted his research on and where the book took place. Also, Bram's Dracula wasn't exactly based on the actual Vlad Dracula… so we're filling in all types of data concerning the real Vlad and showing where there may be overlap. I'm working on an adaptation of “Dracula” on stage through October – the highlight shall be on Halloween night in Columbia, SC on the Highvoltage Theater. I may even be presenting “Stoker on Stoker” with a gaggle called Historical Haunts who made a cool documentary about vampires in New England and various places leading as much as Halloween.
Image Source: Pixabay.com
