08 April 2014

Bram Stoker's inspiration for Dracula

Today I  stumbled upon this article in Yorkshire post, questioning if Anne Bronte was Stoker's inspiration for his novel. It all started with the discovery of some letters, written in 1878 between Stoker and Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Wyat. In one letter is discussed about a series of attacks committed by a women biting her victim's neck. The woman dies in her twenties, from consumption, like Anne.

Is just a supposition and personally I'm convinced Stoker got his inspiration from more than one events/persons. So Ms Bronte might've been one of them , but this does not exclude the Vlad III Dracula. Both the character, the behaviour and the name point at him as a main possible inspiration.