Dracula is back
Dracula from Transylvania !
Dracula ist 165 years old ! So many years have passed since the novel “Dracula” was presented to the public On the 8th of November, exactly 165 years ago, Bram Stoker was born, the Irish autor who presented “Dracula” to the world, spreading the fame of Vlad Tepes across the Romanian territory, and also promoting Transylvania. The novel “Dracula” was inspired by the horror stories of Hungarian writer Armin Vambrey, storier about the Carphatians. Bram Stoker studied European folklore and some mythological stories, for many years, resulting this exceptional novel, made up of collected journals, telegrams or fictional letters, all combined in a very realistic manner, through his journalistic skills.
DRACULA
Vlad Tepes
Bran Castel
Dracula as fiction
Allthough “Dracula” is a work of fiction, it’s based on some historical references. The storyline tells how Count Dracula wants to move from Transylvania into Great Britain, and how he fights a small group of people, led by professor Abraham van Helsing. As a sequel to this novel, “In Search of Dracula” published by Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally in 1972, the connection suggested between Vlad Tepes and the imaginary character of Stoker, drew a lot of attention. It is believed that during his reign, Vlad Tepes killed almost 100.000 turks, which ensured his place in history as being the demonic ruler, being known for his cruelty on the battlefield, where he used to impale his enemies. Although Stoker’s knowledge of Romanian history were contested, following certain passages from the novel show that Bram Stoker had documented himself very well on Romanian history, mentioning Dracula as being a fighter against turks, being betrayed by his brother, the very same thing that happened to Vlad Tepes. Abraham Stoker, being his real name, had a very agitated life, which eventually turned out very well. Being very ill as a little boy, he surpassed his illness that kept him in bed for the first 8 years of his life, becoming a healthy young man who was an athlete for a while, withing Trinity College. After graduating top of his class, being licensed in mathematics, he was, for a few years, the auditor of the College Historical Society, where he presented his fist work, about “sensationalism in fiction and reality”. Even though theatre critics were not popular in those days, Stoker managed to draw attention to himself because of how well he wrote. During his career, in an attempt to explore the world, for a better documentation for his writings, Stoker visited the United States of America, where he met The President in that time, Theodore Roosevelt. As for the novel that made him so popular internationally, the original transcript of “Dracula”, which contains 541 pages, and was though to be lost for a very long time, was recently discovered in a barn in Pennsylvania. The original contains a lot of notes and deletions, and a modification of the title. After recovering the transcript, it was purchased by co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen. The original sketches of Bram Stoker can be seen today at Rosenbach Museum and Library in Pennsylvania.
Dracula – world’s most famous character!
Being the most popular character in the world, “Dracula” could be one of the biggest tourist attractions, attracting tourist from everywhere. If the ideal surroundings could be found, then a big project such as “Dracula Land” could come to life, overtaking the fame of other big fun parks in the world, in just a few years. It could probably be what Romania needs right now, to revitalise it’s tourism, after 22 years of colossal failure in this area, failures that not only affected other branches of activity, but crippled the human spirit for it’s citizens. Millions of tourists would come from all over the world. It would a breath of fresh air for Romanian Folklore and a broad expansion of our tourism, making these “authentic” offers tempting through mith and modern comfort. A good motto would be “Relaxation through adventure and unlimited fun!”. The need for such a vacation is growing, since today’s modern life style is so busy, people have a hard time disconnecting and relaxing themselves. All those who have this life style only want one thing when they set out for an adventure like this: to have a lovely refreshing vacation, somewhere nice! Allthough millions of tourists await this thrill offering vacation, a project such as “Dracula Land” is not yet built.
