Shadowplay tracks Stoker’s relationship with Irving and another theatre star, Ellen Terry, “the highest-paid actress in England”. Bram Stoker, Irish writer, The Dead, Undead, as Dracula’s original title would have it. In that guise, as in life, Irving overshadows Stoker. Copyright is a central issue in the book, even as O’Connor borrows from Stoker, Shakespeare and many other sources. Like many of history’s wives, she has been a sort of shadow figure in Stoker’s life.

Source: Irish Independent April 17, 2021 04:09 UTC