I'm grateful to Noel French of Meath Heritage Centre for pointing out a mention of Sligo in an upcoming book on Bram Stoker, the Dublin-born creator of Dracula.A long-lost notebook belonging to Stoker, written between 1871 and 1881, was recently discovered in the attic of one of his great grandsons and is being published to coincide with the Centenary of Stoker’s death. This personal Notebook is said to show Stoker’s private thoughts and his developing style that foreshadows the journalistic technique of Dracula.
One undated diary entry refers to a trip to Collooney, Co. Sligo, which Stoker describes as the “most unbusy place in Ireland”. In the same town, he overhears some disparaging remarks made by a “peasant” about one of the political parties of the time. “They do go round an’ round an’ round an’ round, jist for all the world like a dog lookin’ for the head of his bed.” This, together with numerous other entries, reveals Stoker’s precision and keen ear for recreating the local dialect.
Natives of Coolaney, like myself, never thought much of Collooney, five miles away and a constant source of postal confusion.
More here and here.
The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: The Dublin Years is written by Dacre Stoker and Prof Elizabeth Miller and will be published by Robson Press on 8 March, 2012, priced at STG£18.99.
Michael,
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post. Bram's Lost Journal should be of great interest to Irish historians, as well as serving as a catalyst for general discussion of Bram as an Irishman and Dracula having been born of Bram's Irish roots, which ran deep in Sligo Co.
I hope to get to Co. Sligo & to Co. Kerry on one of my trips over- perhaps this summer.
Best,
Dacre Stoker