Dracula

Fictional vampire in a book of that name by Irish author Bram Stoker (1847-1912). The Count Dracula character has become an archetype for scores of books, films, and plays on the vampire theme since first appearing in Stoker's version of May 1897.

Stoker's character was supposedly based in part on the real-life Prince Dracula (Vlad V) in fifteenth-century Wallachia, but the historical original was reportedly a sadist rather than a vampire. According to legend, during his rule one of his punishments was to impale his victims on stakes and gloat over their sufferings. Stoker wedded the image of the literary vampire developed in the stories of John Polidori and Sheridan Le Fanu with information about the medieval Romanian ruler.

Stoker possibly became aware of the real Dracula through conversations with the Hungarian scholar Arminius Vambéry and supplemented his stories with research in Whitby, York-shire, and at the British Museum Library, London. There is thus considerable authenticity in much of the background detail of Stoker's book, including vampire folklore and actual locations in Transylvania (now Romania).

Dracula was first performed as a play on May 18, 1897, at the Lyceum Theatre, London (where Stoker was manager to the actor Henry Irving), but this first production was an adapted reading for copyright purposes, lasting four hours.

In 1923 permission for a dramatization of Dracula was given by Stoker's widow to Irish actor Hamilton Deane, and this version was first produced in June 1924 at the Grand Theatre, Derby, opening in London at the Little Theatre, John Street, Adelphi, February 14, 1924.

It is believed that the first screen versions were a Russian and then a Hungarian silent film, but copies of neither have survived. However, the 1922 German film, Nosferatu, oder Eine Symphonie des Grauens (a slightly disguised Dracula made by the famous silent film director F. W. Murnau), did survive in spite of Florence Stoker's attempt to squelch it. The role of the vampire was played by Max Schreck and the film achieved a doom-laden atmosphere, chiefly through the photography of cameraman Fritz Arno Wagner. After Florence Stoker's successful prosecution for infringement of copyright, the production company went into bankruptcy, but some prints survived and have been made available for public showings.

The Movies

The first official Dracula movie was made in Hollywood in 1930, directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi in the title role. Lugosi became the most famous Dracula, appearing in many plays and films in this role. In 1972 a California court upheld the copyright of the heirs of Bela Lugosi in his own characterization of the part of Dracula. Over the years, the Dracula vampire theme has proliferated in movies all over the world, Christopher Lee and John Carradine playing the part most often. Dracula, the novel, has been brought to the screen more than a dozen times, and several hundred movies have featured the main character. In 1992, film director Francis Ford Coppola released his version of the classic entitled Bram Stroker's Dracula, with Gary Oldman in the title role supported by Anthony Hopkins and Winona Ryder. The film won Academy Awards for best costume design, makeup, sound effects, and editing.

In March 1968 the magazine Fate published an interview with Count Alexander Cepesi, who claimed to be a descendant of Vlad Dracula. Cepesi was a Romanian, living in Istanbul since 1947. He operated a blood bank and collected plasma for Turkish hospitals.

The traditional tomb of Dracula is in a monastery at Snagov, Romania. It was opened in 1931 but was found to contain only animal bones. A second grave in the same church contained a casket with a skeleton in a purple shroud embroidered with gold. However, the Weird Museum in Hollywood, California, exhibited what is claimed to be the authentic skeleton of Vlad Dracula, believed to have been removed from Bucharest.

In Britain, the Dracula Society exists to promote the study and appreciation of the work of Bram Stoker and Gothic themes in literature, theater, and film. In the Republic of Ireland, a Bram Stoker Society was formed with similar aims and fraternal association with the British Dracula Society. In the United States both the Count Dracula Fan Club and the Count Dracula Society carry on the appreciation of Dracula and his vampire cousins. Most recently, the Transylvanian Society of Dracula, headquartered in Bucharest, has brought together a worldwide network of Dracula enthusiasts.

The modern revival of interest in the undead vampire of Bram Stoker's famous novel has continued to grow through the twentieth century but has increased since the 1972 publication of a biography of the real Dracula by historians Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu. In May 1977, during ceremonies held in Bucharest to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Romanian independence, President Nicolae Ceausescu solemnly honored fifteenth-century warrior-prince Vlad Dracula (proto-type of Stoker's thriller) by inclusion in the nation's Hall of Fame. Prince Vlad is a tourist attraction in Romania for hundreds of foreign visitors who join the tours of sites related to both Prince Vlad and the novel's Transylvanian count. The real Dracula, Vlad Tepes or "Vlad the Impaler," killed his enemies by impaling them on sharply pointed wooden stakes. This is an inversion of the traditional method of setting a vampire to rest, as told in Dracula.

Vlad the Impaler was captured by Turks in 1476, and after decapitation his head was exhibited in Constantinople, on a stake. His status as a national hero stems from his opposition to the Turks and "love for the fatherland" as an authoritarian.

The centennial of the novel Dracula was celebrated in 1997 and Vlad Tepes is still a well-known historical figure to contemporary audiences, while the literary Dracula has become an immediately recognizable figure in popular culture. The image of Dracula regularly appears on products from greeting cards to mass media advertisements. Dracula books, comic books, movies, jewelry, dramas, candy, and toys appeal to an ever increasing audience.

Sources:

Bisang, Robert Eighteen-Bisang. Dracula: A Century of Editions, Adaptations and Translations. Part One: English Language Edition. Santa Barbara: Transylvanian Society of Dracula, 1978.

Florescu, Radu & Raymond T. McNally. Dracula: A Biography of Vlad the Impaler 1391-1476. New York: Hawthorn Books, 1973.

Glut, Donald. The Dracula Book. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1975.

McNally, Raymond T. & Radu Florescu. In Search of Dracula: A True History of Dracula and Vampire Legends. New York: New York Graphic Society, 1972.

Melton, J. Gordon. The Vampire Book: The Encyclopedia of the Undead. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994.

Miller, Elizabeth. Dracula: Sense and Nonsense. Westcliff-on-Sea, UK: Desert Island Books, 1998.

——. Reflection on Dracula: Ten Essays, White Rock, BC: Transylvanian Press, 1997.

Shepard, Leslie, and Albert Powers, eds. Dracula: Celebrating 100 Years. Dublin, Ireland: Mentor Press, 1997.

Summers, Montague. The Vampire: His Kith and Kin. Reprint, London: Routledge, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1928. Re-print, New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1960.

——. The Vampire in Europe. London: Routledge, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner, 1929. Reprint, New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1966.

Wolf, Leonard. The Annotated Dracula. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1975.