Meeting a legend

One of the most important requirements for graduating with honors from Murray State University is the honors thesis. During the fall of 2007, I combined my love of history and literature to write my thesis comparing the historical Dracula, Wallachian Voivode Vlad Tepes (the Impaler), and Bram Stoker's literary vampire, Count Dracula. Throughout my research, I used several sources written by Elizabeth Miller. Dr. Miller is considered to be the world's leading authority on Dracula and Vlad the Impaler. She is a fantastic writer who has been very influential in transcribing Bram Stoker's original notes and proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Stoker had absolutely no knowledge of Vlad Tepes, other than a nominal reference.

Since I began my research, I have kept in contact with Elizabeth Miller through occasional emails. Although she lives in Toronto, she sometimes comes to Dublin because of its connection with Bram Stoker. When I learned of my acceptance into Trinity, I emailed her to ask if she was planning to be in the area during the next year. At the time, she wasn't planning on coming over, but that changed about a week ago when she emailed and said she would be in the area filming for a documentary. She had some free time on Monday morning, and we met for coffee.

Elizabeth Miller is an absolute delight! I was a little nervous at first to be meeting the world's authority in my field, but she was so easy to talk to. We discussed various vampire legends and she told me about groundbreaking research she was doing to disprove claims in one of the most influential Vlad the Impaler texts that has been published. It was incredible. She also invited me to dine with a group of Stoker scholars this coming Thursday evening at 8 (after ensuring I wasn't a Twilight fan). I would have been thrilled to just be in the same room overhearing the discussion, but I am absolutely ecstatic at the thought of sitting at the same table with professors and researchers who are doing exactly what I hope to be doing one day. I told her I would be there.

During our conversation, I was also able to briefly meet Dacre Stoker, Bram's great great nephew, in town for the same documentary.  Dacre Stoker is working on the 2012 project to erect a statue of his great great uncle in Dublin, as surprisingly enough, one does not currently exist. 2012 will mark 100 years since Bram Stoker's death, and the unveiling of his statue will occur on July 5-6 of that year. I hope I will be living somewhere close enough to Dublin to take a quick trip over to celebrate!