Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 165th birthday of Dracula author Bram Stoker. He was born November 8, 1847 in Ireland, and his given name was Abraham. The doodle includes many of the important characters from the tale, including Jonathan and Mina Harker, the unfortunate Lucy, and I believe I see Van Helsing third from left. (Dracula is the guy on the right with the cape, of course).
Dracula was published in May 1897, but surprisingly was not an immediate bestseller. However, reviewers praised the work. And although we know that the story has been adapted many times in film, its first adaptation was as a play, which Stoker wrote himself. 217 films have Dracula in a lead role, second only to Sherlock Holmes (223). The creator of Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, wrote to Stoker in a letter, “I write to tell you how very much I have enjoyed readingDracula. I think it is the very best story of diablerie which I have read for many years.”
Stoker’s story, successful in its own right after all this time, has also served as the major influence for popular stories today: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, The Vampire Diaries, Interview with the Vampire, The Lost Boys, From Dusk Until Dawn, Blade, Underworld, . . . the list goes on. I can’t imagine that he had any idea how lasting his influence would be, 165 years after his birth.