Dracula (dramatic reading)

Written by Bram Stoker

Narrated by LibriVox Community

Bram Stoker did not invent the vampire story, but he popularized it with his classic 1897 novel. In form Dracula is an epistolary novel, told through a series of journal entries, letters, newspaper articles, and telegrams. It begins with lawyer Jonathan Harker's perilous journey to Castle Dracula in Transylvania, and chronicles the vampire's invasion of England, where he preys upon the lovely Lucy Westenra and Harker's fiancee, Mina. Harker and Mina join forces with lunatic asylum proprieter Dr. Seward, Lucy's fiance Arthur Holmwood, Texas man of action Quincey Morris, and Dutch vampire hunter Dr. Van Helsing to try and defeat their powerful adversary. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)

Cast:

Jonathan Harker: mb
Mina Murray Harker: Elizabeth Klett
Lucy Westenra: Arielle Lipshaw
Dr. Seward: Denny Sayers
Quincey P. Morris: Eric Zetterlund
Arthur Holmwood: Brett W. Downey
Cutting from The Dailygraph: Kara Shallenberg
Log of the Demeter: Chuck Burke
Samuel F. Billington & Son: Katalina Watt
Carter, Patterson & Co: Robert B.
Sister Agatha: Availle
Abraham Van Helsing: Rismyth
The Pall Mall Gazette: Lucy Perry
Patrick Hennessey: Dee Wyckoff
The Westminster Gazette: David Lawrence
Mitchell, Sons, & Candy: Robert B.
Rufus Smith Telegrams: Nadine Eckert-Boulet

Audio edited by: Elizabeth Klett

• Language: English
• Publisher: LibriVox
• Release date: Aug 25, 2014

Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker (1847-1912) was an Irish novelist. Born in Dublin, Stoker suffered from an unknown illness as a young boy before entering school at the age of seven. He would later remark that the time he spent bedridden enabled him to cultivate his imagination, contributing to his later success as a writer. He attended Trinity College, Dublin from 1864, graduating with a BA before returning to obtain an MA in 1875. After university, he worked as a theatre critic, writing a positive review of acclaimed Victorian actor Henry Irving’s production of Hamlet that would spark a lifelong friendship and working relationship between them. In 1878, Stoker married Florence Balcombe before moving to London, where he would work for the next 27 years as business manager of Irving’s influential Lyceum Theatre. Between his work in London and travels abroad with Irving, Stoker befriended such artists as Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman, Hall Caine, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In 1895, having published several works of fiction and nonfiction, Stoker began writing his masterpiece Dracula (1897) while vacationing at the Kilmarnock Arms Hotel in Cruden Bay, Scotland. Stoker continued to write fiction for the rest of his life, achieving moderate success as a novelist. Known more for his association with London theatre during his life, his reputation as an artist has grown since his death, aided in part by film and television adaptations of Dracula, the enduring popularity of the horror genre, and abundant interest in his work from readers and scholars around the world.