"My dear Bram Stoker" Indeed

Letter to Bram Stoker (20 august 1897)/The Author Conan Doyle Encyclopedia

Aug 20 /97

My dear Bram Stoker

I am sure that you will not think it an impertinence if I write to tell you how very much I have enjoyed reading Dracula. I think it is the very best story of diablerie which I have read for many years. It is really wonderful how with so much exciting interest over so long a book there is never an anticlimax. It holds you from the very start and grows more and more engrossing until it is quite painfully vivid. The old Professor is most excellent and so are the two girls. I congratulate you with all my heart for having written so fine a book.

With all kindest remembrances to Mrs Bram Stoker and yourself

Yours very truly

A Conan Doyle.

I've been rereading Dracula this past week as part of my two-person long-distance book club with Sherlockian, bookman, and artist Jeff Decker, BSI. (Jeff is actually rereading the book as part of his in-person book club and I'm tagging along for the fun of it.) Once again, the power of Bram Stoker's work in the novel amazes me.  I'm always surprised anew when I read it. Count Dracula, as we think we know him, is such a part of our culture (especially this time of year) that it is easy to forget what Stoker actually created. The book is a triumph of planning, execution, and art. As I read last night, I wished I could write to Stoker to thank him for his work. I then vaguely remembered reading about Arthur Conan Doyle writing a letter to Stoker congratulating him for the excellence that is Dracula.

Today, I went looking for Doyle's letter. As always, the indispensable Alexis Barquin and The Author Conan Doyle Encyclopedia came through for me with images and text. I like Doyle's words in this letter.  I think he could clearly see and appreciate the work Stoker put into creating his masterpiece. In Paul Chapman's fascinating Birth of a Legend, Count Dracula, Bram Stoker and Whitby, he notes Stoker's idea for the novel "...was to prove rather exceptional and would ultimately take over six years to plan, research and write." At the time of the letter writing, I doubt if Doyle or Stoker could have imagined what would become of that six years of work. Doyle lived long enough to see some of the power Sherlock Holmes holds in the public imagination. It is a shame Stoker did not live long enough to see the power of Count Dracula on that same public imagination.

I especially like how Doyle notes the quality of the characters of Van Helsing, Mina and Lucy.  I think that despite the menacing and unforgettable presence of the Count himself, Stoker's full cast of main characters are not over-shadowed by him in the book. They are all memorable and effective.

In Stoker's world, these ordinary people face extraordinary horror but yet they step up, push back, and eventually defeat an almost indestructible monster. Stoker shows us who these people are in a relatable and believable way. I feel like I know them well. They seem real to me, like Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Although the world remembers the Count, I think what I will remember most from this book is a line about Dr. Seward from Mina Harker's journal. With the words he gave to Mina, Stoker reminded me of something important: "How good and thoughtful he is; the world seems full of good men--even if there are monsters in it."

The world has its fair share of monsters today; I'm comforted to think there might still be a number of good men, too. Thank you for that, my dear Bram Stoker.