From Trinity to Transylvania Professor Jarlath Killeen, Head of the School of English , illuminates the fascinating life of Dracula author and Trinity alumnus, Bram Stoker Cover of first edition ‘I have more. My revenge has just begun! I spread it over centuries and time is on my side.’ These defiant words are spoken by Count Dracula himself as he is confronted and apparently trapped by his enemies, the so-called Crew of Light, led by the intrepid though often incomprehensible Professor Abraham Van Helsing. Even though, by the end of Bram Stoker’s novel, he has apparently been vanquished by the vampire- hating, purity-loving, stake and garlic-wielding do-gooders, Dracula has ultimately triumphed over his antagonists. While popular culture has forgotten the names of Arthur Holmwood, Jonathan Harker, John Seward, Quincey Morris and Mina Murray – the names of the characters who track him through Europe and put him to death – Count Dracula is now a name that is recognised almost everywhere on the planet. In fact, it wouldn’t be going too far to suggest that with Dracula we are dealing not so much with a fictional character as an epic anti-hero who has broken free of the novel which gave him birth and has taken up habitation in global popular culture. Although Dracula was relatively well received when first published by Archibald Constable & Co in 1897, it would have been impossible at that stage to imagine the global impact this modestly ambitious novel, from a man best known as the genial and efficient manager of the great actor Henry Irving, would have in the 20th and now 21st centuries. Not only is Dracula the best-known vampire of them all (and we have been living in a veritable vampire “craze” since the 18th century), but he is also, in fact, one of the most recognisable characters in literary history – and the one most often portrayed in films, bar none (and that is not counting his appearance in other media). Along with some other characters from 19th century popular fiction, like Ebenezer Scrooge, Oliver Twist, Sherlock Holmes, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and Frankenstein, Count Dracula can now confidently claim mythic status. That this mythic status is in large part due to the mesmeric attraction of the Transylvanian bloodsucker for screenwriters and cinema audiences – and even though most who recognise Dracula’s name have never read the novel in which he first appeared and have never heard of Bram Stoker – should not detract from the cultural significance of the text or author. Join the Trinity Alumni Inspiring Reads Book Club to read Dracula in the current reading period
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