Sir, - John O'Halloran (October 13th) is either unaware of, or deliberately ignores the fact that Dracula is a work of fiction. Indeed, it is probably the most widely-read and influential work of popular fiction by any Irish author, and some would feel that official recognition of Stoker's achievement by his own country is long overdue.
While it is true that the Church of England authorities in Whitby opposed the use of consecrated ground for a celebration of Stoker's work, it should be noted that the literary opinions of the curate of St Mary's, as quoted by Mr O'Halloran, provide a rather extreme and "politically correct" interpretation of the book. A more balanced view, which would be favoured by most admirers of Stoker, would be that Dracula is about the ultimate victory of good over evil.
While it is true that there was initial opposition to the casting of Christopher Lee as Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan (solely on the grounds of his identification with the character of Dracula), Mr O'Halloran neglects to mention that "as filming progressed in Karachi, onlookers burst into spontaneous applause as Lee, 74, stepped off a Dakota in a recreation of Jinnah's arrival in the newly created Pakistan in 1947" (Daily Telegraph, March 21st, 1997).
Rather than airing his spurious views on the question of whether or not a "civilised people" should commemorate the achievement of one of its authors, or that an Irish company (An Post) should "want us to be associated with such satanic activities," Mr O'Halloran would do well to regain a sense of proportion by considering that the church authorities of our "civilised people" recently displayed no qualms in using consecrated ground to inter a real-life "vampire" who preyed on real-life young girls and boys. - Yours, etc.,
Ulverton Road, Dalkey, Co Dublin.