Bram StokerBram Stoker unleashed his horrific creation on an unsuspecting world over a hundred years ago. It was difficult to imagine that his creature of the night would delight and inhabit the nightmares of every generation between his and ours. Count Dracula has become an icon of evil and is perhaps the most widely recognized bogeyman in all of world literature. To date, more than a hundred films have been made about Dracula or other vampires, not to mention countless novels, comic books, nonfiction, toys, clubs and societies – even breakfast cereals for children celebrating the myth of counting the living dead. Dracula's notoriety is of such epic proportions that it has all but obscured the man who gave us this deliciously terrifying fictional character. Abraham "Bram" Stoker was born in Clontarf, Ireland on November 8, 1847, the third of seven children. For the first eight years of his life, he never stood without assistance and was constantly kept in bed with unidentified illnesses ("ClassicNotes"). These illnesses and his feeling of helplessness were traumatic experiences, perceptible in his literary work. Eternal sleep and resurrection from the dead, which are the central themes of his Dracula, were of great importance to him, perhaps because he was forced to spend much of his youth in bed. Although he remained shy and bookish, in his adolescence Stoker was anything but sickly. Perhaps to compensate for his earlier frailty, by the time Stoker was attending Trinity College, Dublin, he had become a seasoned sportsman and was named a varsity athlete for his impeccable skills in football and marathon walking. At Trinity College, Stoker studied history, mathematics and philosophy and became president of the Philosophical Society and the Historical Society. It was there that he discovered the works of American poet Walt Whitman and became an instant and devoted fan. He wrote Whitman a long, enthusiastic letter praising his work, but did not mail it until four years later. In 1870, Stoker graduated from Trinity with honors in mathematics. A series of events occurred at Trinity that would forever change the direction of Stoker's life. A theater touring group came to Dublin to deliver a production of Sheridan's The Rivals starring a young actor named Henry Irving (born John Henry Brodribb), the tallest... middle of paper ... time and died . After that, a devastated Stoker drifted through life, managing various theatrical projects, working as a writer here and there, and publishing more novels, none of which compared to the one great creation of his life. “Bram Stoker died on 20 April 1912 in London, England and was buried at Golders Green Crematorium, London” (“Wikipedia”). Bram Stoker wrote many novels, short stories, essays and lectures, but Dracula is, by far, his most famous work. His other works have not aged well, but the story of Count Dracula continues to sell steadily even today. Stoker coined the term “undead” (Stoker 195), and his interpretations of vampire folklore have powerfully shaped depictions of legendary monsters ever since. Works Cited “Bram Stoker”. E Literature. January 4, 2004. “ClassicNotes: Bram Stoker.” » GradeSaver.com. January 5, 2004. .Folsom, Ed and Price, Kenneth M. Biography. The Walt Whitman Archives. January 5, 2004. Irving, Sir Henry. World Book Online Reference Center. January 2, 2004..Menon, Sindhu. Bram Stoker. January 2, 2004. .Miller, Elizabeth. Count Dracula. Memorial University of Newfoundland. December 31, 2003.