Bram Stoker: A Chronology                          

(adapted from the Norton  Critical Dracula, ed. Auerbach and Skal)

 

 

 

 

 

 

1847 Abraham Stoker born in Dublin.                                                                             James Malcolm Rymer's penny-dreadful  Vamey the Vampyre serialized (1845-47).

 

1863 Enters Trinity College Dublin.                                                                                American Civil War.

 

1866 Named University Athlete at Trinity.

 

1868 Enters Civil Service as clerk of Petty Sessions.                                                   Typewriter patented.

   

1870 Receives M.A. from Trinity College.                                                                      Death of Charles Dickens.

 

1871 Assumes post as drama critic for the Dublin Mail.                                             Lewis Carroll's Alice Through the Looking Glass. Charles

                                                                                                                                                   Darwin's The Descent of Man.   J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla

 

1876 Death of Stoker's father. First meeting with Henry Irving.                                  Battle of Little Big Horn. Twain's Tom Sawyer. Queen Victoria

   Correspondence with Walt Whitman.                                                                           declared empress of India. 

                                                                                                                                  

1878 Marries Florence Balcombe. Assumes position as acting

   manager of Irving's Lyceum Theatre in London.

 

1879 First book published, The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions

   in Ireland. Birth of only child, Noel Thorley Stoker.

 

1883 Organizes first North American tour of Irving's

   company. Meets Walt Whitman (?)

 

1886 Publishes lecture, “A Glimpse of America”.                                                          Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

 

1888 Lyceum production of Macbeth.                                                                            Jack the Ripper murders.

 

1890 Publishes first novel, The Snake's Pass. Begins research on                            Emily Dickinson's Poems.

   novel, The Un-Dead,  later to be known as Dracula.

 

1891                                                                                                                                       Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.

 

1895 Publishes third novel, The Shoulder of Shasta.                                                   H. G. Wells's The Time Machine. X-rays discovered. Trial of Oscar Wilde.

   Henry Irving and Stoker’s brother Thornley knighted                                  

   by Queen Victoria.

                                                                                               

1896                                                                                                                                       Wells's The Island of Doctor Moreau.

 

1897 Dracula published. Dramatic adaptation given                                                   Kipling's poem "The Vampire." Wells's The Invisible Man. Queen

elaborate "copyright reading" at Lyceum.                                                                          Victoria’s Diamond  Jubilee. Havelock Ellis's Studies in the Psychology

                                                                                                                                                   of Sex. Freud coins term  "psychoanalysis."

 

1898 Catastrophic fire destroys stock of Lyceum scenery.                                         Pierre and Marie Curie discover radium.

 

1899                                                                                                                                       Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

 

1900 Lyceum signed over by Irving to syndicate.                                                        Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams. Death of Oscar Wilde.

                                                                                                                                  

1901 Stoker's mother dies. Lyceum company tours America.                                      Queen Victoria dies. President McKinley assassinated.

                                                                                                                   

1902 Publishes novel, The Mystery of the Sea.

 

1903 Publishes novel, The Jewel of Seven Stars.

 

1904 Henry Irving's final tour of America.

 

1905 Publishes novel, The Man. Death of Henry Irving.                                             Einstein's special theory of relativity.

    Stoker suffers stroke.

 

1906 Publishes Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving.                                          San Francisco earthquake.

 

1908 Publishes novel, Lady Athlyne, and tract

     “The Censorship of Fiction”

 

1909 Publishes novel, The Lady of the Shroud,

    and tract “The Censorship of Stage Plays.”

 

1910 Publishes nonfiction book, Famous Imposters.

 

1911 Publishes final novel, The Lair of the White Worm.

 

1912 Bram Stoker dies, April 20.                                                                                       Sinking of the Titanic, April 14.