Something in the Blood

Starred review from August 8, 2016
Known today almost exclusively as the author of Dracula, Bram Stoker (1847–1912) is thoroughly scrutinized in this sumptuous biography. Drawing on a wealth of research, Skal (Hollywood Gothic: The Tangled Web of Dracula from Novel to Stage to Screen) finds credible influences for Stoker’s classic novel in several key figures in his life: his strong-willed mother, who entertained her sickly young son with terrifying accounts of a cholera epidemic she lived through in the 1830s; Oscar Wilde, whose mother’s salons he frequented and whose onetime love interest, Florence Balcombe, he eventually married; and Henry Irving, the renowned actor whom he served as business manager. As depicted by Skal, Stoker was a tireless workaholic who readily absorbed creative ideas from his experiences. Skal also breaks new critical ground, noting Dracula’s similarities to Drink, a novel by Hall Caine, to whom Stoker dedicated his novel. Skal writes with intimate familiarity about his subject and his habits, and he has organized a remarkable amount of information into an engrossing narrative. There will likely be more biographies written about the author of Dracula, but they are not likely to surpass the achievement of this one. 16 pages of color and 80 black-and-white illustrations. Agent: Malaga Baldi, Baldi Agency.

An exhaustive portrait of the author of Dracula and his suppressed emotional life.Skal (Halloween: The History of America's Darkest Holiday, 2016, etc.), a cultural historian and horror film and literature critic, delves into Bram Stoker's life (1847-1912) deeper than others before him--and there have been countless critical considerations of Dracula's provenance since its appearance in 1897, many of which the author shares here. An exemplary gentleman of a certain class, Dublin-born Stoker embodied the anxieties of the highly charged Victorian era, especially fears about the (sexual) body, disease, miasmal vapors, and blood-borne "contagion" and "degeneration." Indeed, Stoker gleaned early on as a bedridden child (born at the height of the Irish famine, no less) the ghastly tales his mother told about the cholera epidemic of her youth. Skal underscores how strikingly similar Stoker's life was to that of Oscar Wilde. They both attended Trinity College, where they absorbed "pseudoscientific theories of mind, body, and eros," were fascinated by the theater and fairy tales (terrifying theatrical pantomimes, in Stoker's case), were drawn to the homoerotic work of Walt Whitman (Stoker wrote him bashful fan letters), and were romantically connected to the same woman, Florence Balcombe, who rejected Wilde and married Stoker. Skal uses Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray as a kind of touchstone against which to explore themes of male attraction and "the leprosies of sin," foretelling Wilde's public downfall and the "submerged self" that Stoker injected into his character Count Dracula. Mostly, however, Stoker was a man of the theater, the acting manager for the famous actor Henry Irving at London's Lyceum Theatre for over 25 years, and such a workaholic that Skal wonders how he could have found time to write (stories, criticism, novels) so prolifically. The author also assiduously sifts through Dracula productions from then until today. A wild, occasionally messy, ultimately enthralling work of biography. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 1, 2016

Despite the melodramatic title, this work is a scholarly study of Bram Stoker's (1847-1912) life and times. Historian Skal (Hollywood Gothic) addresses sexual identity and anxiety amid 19th-century upheavals in science, religion, and personhood. He depicts the dark underside of Victorian culture, including preoccupation with the occult, excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs, and prevalence of syphilis. Skal examines homosexuality, just emerging as a societal issue, with a focus on figures such as Stoker's friend Oscar Wilde and literary hero Walt Whitman. Stoker is depicted as resembling a child who never grew up, dominated by his mother and ambivalent toward women despite being married. Fascinated by the theater, he became the manager for actor Henry Irving whom he idolized and with whom he experienced a hostage-like relationship. Stoker's preoccupation with the macabre is traced to accounts of the horrors of the Irish Potato Famine, Irish mysticism, and fairy tales read as a child. Skal explores Stoker's most famous work, Dracula, in detail, with its focus on the magic of blood, the "oldest and deepest and most paradoxical human symbol." VERDICT For serious students of horror literature and Victorian culture.--Denise J. Stankovics, Vernon, CT

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2016
Bram Stoker is a world-famous writer about whom most of us know almost nothing. Sure, we know he wrote Dracula (1897), and we probably know he took his inspiration from the legend of Vlad the Impalerbut stop right there. Skal, a historian of horror literature and film, points out that apart from the name Dracula, Stoker actually doesn't seem to have taken a whole lot from the Vlad legend; those connections were forged afterward, by literary commentators and wishful thinkers. In fact, certain key elements of Dracula, including the vampire's sexual ambiguity, came from Stoker himself; even the themes of blood and darkness appear to be drawn from Stoker's own life and the gruesome medical experimentation he underwent. In writing about Stoker's life, Skal also writes about the time in which he lived, a time in which shifting literary sensibilities and the impending transition between centuries set the stage for a new kind of dark horror novel to launch a revolution. An engagingly written, well-documented biography of a famous writer we all think we know, even if we really don't.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)