I see the attraction of a novel based around the relationship between Henry Irving and Bram Stoker (and to a lesser extent) Ellen Terry. Whether it is more interesting than fact is debatable. I found what O’Connor decides to do with the story fitfully interesting, frequently irritating and the balance and structure of the book is extremely odd, not least the interminable Epilogue. It feels like a missed opportunity following an originally good idea. ( )

set in the London theater of the late 1800s, unforgettable main characters: Bram Stoker an Irish author (Dracula), Henry Irving (Actor) and Ellen Terry (actress) Exquisite writing.

Resurrects London from Time’s Coffin

Joseph O’Connor gives us an erudite and witty look into the lives of Bram Stoker, Ellen Terry, and Henry Irving when they worked together at the Lyceum Theatre in the last quarter of the 19th century, as well as a picturesque of London of that time. It is a novel lovers of literature and theater should not miss.

Most readers will know Bram Stoker as the author of the influential Dracula. While not the first vampire novel, it became the novel that planted these mythical creatures firmly into the minds of people worldwide and spawned an industry in print, film, TV, and theater that continues strong today. But most will find it news that Stoker earned his living as the business manager for the Lyceum Theatre working under the mercurial leadership of British actor and impresario Henry Irving, one of the most popular performers of his day. That Stoker was able to work with him for twenty-seven years, putting up with all manner of mania and abuse will strike some as miraculous. In this rendering, O’Connor portrays Stoker as, at the very least, adoring Irving and Irving, for his part, dependent on Stoker to keep his affairs straight and profitable. Ellen Terry will probably be a new personality to many American readers. She was on of the most popular actresses of her day, performed often with Irving in Lyceum productions, and led an unorthodox life for a woman of that era, marrying at seventeen, leaving her marriage after ten months, then later living with another man for several years while having two children. During their years together at the Lyceum, Stoker found himself strongly drawn to her.

Amid all this interaction of personalities, the novel focuses on Stoker’s struggle to write, particularly the novel that become Dracula. Self-doubt often plagued him, intensified by the fact his novels, including Dracula, did not sell well. Added to his, he wrestled with his sexuality. He married Florence Balcombe, who was also pursued by his Trinity College friend Oscar Wilde, in 1878 in Dublin and later they had one child, Noel. However, while he loved her and Noel dearly and worked hard to support them quite well, sexual relations with his wife were dearth. Stoker found himself attracted to men, and O’Connor shows him roaming London seeking but pulling away from male sexual companionship. O’Connor also has Stoker revealing his sexual preference to a friend and employee on the pledge that she would keep it secret. This sexual latency, scholars believe, further indicated by his profound admiration of Walt Whitman, Hall Caine, and Wilde, found itself expressed in his writing, with many of the homoerotic aspects of Dracula as example.

O’Connor has Stoker recounting a meeting with Whitman during the Lyceum’s American tour in the 1880s in a letter to the poet. Among other things, he writes about his struggles as a writer, while heaping accolades on Whitman himself. Many aspiring or struggling authors can certainly identify with his feelings:

“Another difficulty, loath though I am to face it square, is the Antarctica of time that I have squandered on my writing. The few shillings this has earned over the years will not be sufficient to pay for a tombstone and have proven costly indeed, not only on the family battlefront—where much harm has been done by my absence—but in other, more private respects. When we are young we do not think that time is currency. Then we notice the account running low.

“Bitterly I regret that I ever saw a book in my life and rue the day I ever permitted that horrid succubus, Ambition, to sharpen my pen.”

O’Connor’s resurrection of late 19th century London plays up its dampness, smokiness, and fog, and within this shroud the fear engendered by the Jack the Ripper murders (1888-1891) that kept the city on edge for several years and lived vividly in memory for decades more. His dialogue, especially that placed in the mouths of Irving and Terry, is witty and often very sharp. Stoker comes off as the steadying influence, or the straight man when the words really fly, and soother when Irving’s dark side flares. Most agree Stoker used Irving as the model for Count Dracula, which you might look at as a little revenge for mistreatment or love, given the Count’s imagined and real immortality.

Readers shouldn’t miss this and many who read it may count it as among the best of the year so far. ( )

Resurrects London from Time’s Coffin

Joseph O’Connor gives us an erudite and witty look into the lives of Bram Stoker, Ellen Terry, and Henry Irving when they worked together at the Lyceum Theatre in the last quarter of the 19th century, as well as a picturesque of London of that time. It is a novel lovers of literature and theater should not miss.

Most readers will know Bram Stoker as the author of the influential Dracula. While not the first vampire novel, it became the novel that planted these mythical creatures firmly into the minds of people worldwide and spawned an industry in print, film, TV, and theater that continues strong today. But most will find it news that Stoker earned his living as the business manager for the Lyceum Theatre working under the mercurial leadership of British actor and impresario Henry Irving, one of the most popular performers of his day. That Stoker was able to work with him for twenty-seven years, putting up with all manner of mania and abuse will strike some as miraculous. In this rendering, O’Connor portrays Stoker as, at the very least, adoring Irving and Irving, for his part, dependent on Stoker to keep his affairs straight and profitable. Ellen Terry will probably be a new personality to many American readers. She was on of the most popular actresses of her day, performed often with Irving in Lyceum productions, and led an unorthodox life for a woman of that era, marrying at seventeen, leaving her marriage after ten months, then later living with another man for several years while having two children. During their years together at the Lyceum, Stoker found himself strongly drawn to her.

Amid all this interaction of personalities, the novel focuses on Stoker’s struggle to write, particularly the novel that become Dracula. Self-doubt often plagued him, intensified by the fact his novels, including Dracula, did not sell well. Added to his, he wrestled with his sexuality. He married Florence Balcombe, who was also pursued by his Trinity College friend Oscar Wilde, in 1878 in Dublin and later they had one child, Noel. However, while he loved her and Noel dearly and worked hard to support them quite well, sexual relations with his wife were dearth. Stoker found himself attracted to men, and O’Connor shows him roaming London seeking but pulling away from male sexual companionship. O’Connor also has Stoker revealing his sexual preference to a friend and employee on the pledge that she would keep it secret. This sexual latency, scholars believe, further indicated by his profound admiration of Walt Whitman, Hall Caine, and Wilde, found itself expressed in his writing, with many of the homoerotic aspects of Dracula as example.

O’Connor has Stoker recounting a meeting with Whitman during the Lyceum’s American tour in the 1880s in a letter to the poet. Among other things, he writes about his struggles as a writer, while heaping accolades on Whitman himself. Many aspiring or struggling authors can certainly identify with his feelings:

“Another difficulty, loath though I am to face it square, is the Antarctica of time that I have squandered on my writing. The few shillings this has earned over the years will not be sufficient to pay for a tombstone and have proven costly indeed, not only on the family battlefront—where much harm has been done by my absence—but in other, more private respects. When we are young we do not think that time is currency. Then we notice the account running low.

“Bitterly I regret that I ever saw a book in my life and rue the day I ever permitted that horrid succubus, Ambition, to sharpen my pen.”

O’Connor’s resurrection of late 19th century London plays up its dampness, smokiness, and fog, and within this shroud the fear engendered by the Jack the Ripper murders (1888-1891) that kept the city on edge for several years and lived vividly in memory for decades more. His dialogue, especially that placed in the mouths of Irving and Terry, is witty and often very sharp. Stoker comes off as the steadying influence, or the straight man when the words really fly, and soother when Irving’s dark side flares. Most agree Stoker used Irving as the model for Count Dracula, which you might look at as a little revenge for mistreatment or love, given the Count’s imagined and real immortality.

Readers shouldn’t miss this and many who read it may count it as among the best of the year so far. ( )

Before reading this novel, all I knew about Henry Irving was that he died in my hometown of Bradford in 1905 - the chair he expired on was given by the Midland Hotel to the Garrick Club in London. Bram Stoker wrote Dracula. Ellen Terry was the actress sister of Fred Terry, who played Sir Percy Blakeney on stage. I like to think I know more about these literary and dramatic personalities now, even if the factual bones of Joseph O'Connor's story have been considerably fictionalised. But boy howdy, did I lack the patience to really enjoy what I was reading!

Starting in 1878, when a pre-vampire Stoker went to work for Irving as manager of the Lyceum, and dragging on past the actor's death in Bradford with many unnecessary codas, there isn't really a plot and I think the theatre is the best character. I did enjoy the bitchy bants between Irving and Stoker, and some of the narrative was amusing in places and spooky in others, but 432 pages of padded Wikipedia references is - just - too - long! Dying in Bradford sounds like a perfectly respectable ending to me - NOW STOP WRITING! ( )