Bram Stoker died over 100 years ago, just days after the Titanic sank. We know him as the author of Dracula, but long before Dracula, he was just a young Irishman, hoping to be a writer, practicing poetry, and enjoying a good joke.
This Lost Journal (now found) is an amazing opportunity to get into the young mind of the Dracula author - to see who he was (law clerk), where he lived (Dublin, Ireland), and what he thought about (everything from walking on the beach and unrequited love to drunken parties at Dublin Castle and sliding in vomit).
Dr. Miller and Dacre Stoker make interesting comments about Bram's entries, and, as they say, some of the short notes are like twittering.
Imagine decoding somebody's twitter messages 141 years from now in the year 2153. Some of Stoker's notes are just that impossible - even for editors Stoker & Miller, who have studied Bram Stoker for years. The most obscure references will provide a field day for Irish history buffs and English professors who want to challenge their students of Gothic literature.
A few years ago, Bram Stoker's great-grandson found in his attic a journal Stoker had kept during the 1870s while he was young and single, still living in Dublin. All of the entries (over 300) are published in this new book, researched by Elizabeth Miller and Dacre Stoker.
The insights provided into Stoker's life and personality are exciting and unprecedented. We get glimpses into his friendships at Trinity College, his office mates at Dublin Castle, family members, his interest in athletics, as well as his travels around Ireland and on the Continent. We also get to know him better as a writer and see how his skills developed.
The editors say Bram Stoker never thought anybody would care about these notes so he wrote for himself, which is so revealing on many levels.