'Twilight' time! 'Dracula' creator's relative wants memorial in Dublin

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Bram Stoker

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Perhaps feeling that the worldwide fascination with Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and the "Twilight" movie series has focused attention on the wrong vampires, a relative of the creator of the grand-daddy Gothic novel "Dracula" wants to have a memorial erected in Dublin in time for the 100th anniversary of Bram Stoker's death this year.

"It's an oversight. There is no permanent memorial in his home city to this guy," said Dacre Stoker.

Stoker, whose great-grandfather was Bram Stoker's youngest brother, feels that the "Dracula" creator rightly deserves his place among the many memorials throughout Dublin commemorating famous Irish writers, such as Samuel Beckett and James Joyce.

Bram Stoker was born in Dublin in 1847 and lived there for 31 years before moving to London.

A highly regarded scholar, Stoker attended Trinity College. He worked as a civil servant in Dublin Castle for many years and at the same time acted for Dublin newspapers (without any pay) as a theater critic at the time.

Stoke wrote several novels and Dracula, which was published in 1897, took the world by storm.

Since it's creation, Dracula has been made into numerous films and has been reprinted several times over.

The U.S. Stoker feels his cousin was inspired by all the Irish folklore tales his mother would have shared with him while growing up in Dublin to create the dark Gothic blood-sucking vampire that he named Dracula.

Through the years there has also been rumors that the vampire creator had his own blood taken removed as a child while suffering from a mystery illness.

So, thus, begs the question. Will the memorial depict Dracula or his creator?

The answer, said Stoker, is his great uncle.

The life-size statue is expected to cost in the region of $134,000.

Dublin City Council has given the initial go ahead for the memorial. Now Stoker has to come up with the capital.

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