Powers of Darkness (Iceland)

Powers of Darkness (Icelandic' Makt Myrkranna, Swedish Mörkrets makter) is the title of a Dracula variant serialized in the Reykjavik newspaper Fjallkonan from 13 January 1900 till 20 March 1901. In August 1901, the story was published in book form by Nokkrir Prentarar, mentioning Valdimar Ásmundsson, publisher and Editor-in-chief of Fjallkonan, as translator. His precise role in the creation of the Icelandic text remained a riddle until March 2017, when it became clear that it was a shortened and modified translation (with Icelandic elements added) of an earlier Dracula variant serialized in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladets Halfvecko-Upplaga in 1899–1900.[1][2][3][4][5][6] The annotated English translation of Makt myrkranna by Hans Corneel de Roos was released on 7 February 2017.

The Icelandic book editions

The first book edition appeared in August 1901, mentioning Valdimar Ásmundsson as "translator" for the first time. The book was published by Nokkrir Prentarar, which simply means "various printers" in Icelandic. Nokkrir Prentarar published only one other book, and it is unclear who the actual publishers were; possibly, Ásmundsson himself participated in the enterprise.[7]

Part 1 of Makt Myrkranna consist of pages 5–167 (ca. 37,200 words) concerning the visit of Thomas Harker (as Jonathan Harker is renamed here) at Castle Dracula in Transylvania, while Part 2 consists of pages 168-210 (ca. 9,120 words) concerning the rest of of the story.[8] An episode published in Fjallkonan of 13 October 1900, dealing with Harker's fixation on the blonde vampire girl, was omitted from the 1901 book and its subsequent republications, but was included by De Roos in his English translation.[9]

In 1950, Makt myrkranna was republished by Bókaútgáfan Högni, Reykjavik, in very narrow print. The text showed small deviations from the 1901 edition.[10]

The third edition was published in October 2011 by Bókafélagið, Reykjavik, based on the Högni edition. Editor was Ásgeir Jónsson, who also wrote an important afterword.[11]

The first edition by now is extremely rare; only two dozen copies are known, most of them held by academic and national libraries.

Reception of Makt myrkranna in Iceland

In Iceland, Makt myrkranna received only one contemporary review - and it was negative.

in 1906, Benedikt Björnsson (1879-1941) wrote.

Without doubt, for the largest part it is worthless rubbish and sometimes even worse than worthless, completely devoid of poetry and beauty and far removed from any psychological truth. "Fjallkonan" presented various kinds of garbage, including a long story, "Powers of Darkness". That story would have been better left unwritten, and I cannot see that such nonsense has enriched our literature.[12]

Björnsson was of a younger generation than Valdimar and feared that the translation of "cheap" sensational fiction from abroad might replace Iceland's own literary production, including his own. Ásmundsson, on the other hand, promoting the liberalization of trade relations with England, hoped to connect his readers with the newest literary trends from the UK and attract more subscribers to his newspaper

Despite the lack of positive reviews, Makt myrkanna became a household name in Iceland after Dracula with Bela Lugosi (1931) had been shown in a Reykjavik cinema in 1932; it became the generic name for a whole series of vampire movies.[13]

The Icelandic Nobel Prize Laureate Halldór Laxness (1902-1998) was heavily impressed by the Icelandic edition of Dracula: "And do not forget Makt Myrkranna (Bram Stoker) with the famous un-dead Count Dracula in the Carpathians, who was not less popular than today; one of the best pens of the country was engaged to translate the novel: Valdimar Ásmundsson."[14] Halldór's own novel Kristnihald undir Jökli (1968) was largely based on Makt myrkranna.

The buzz around the English translation by de Roos has also sparked new interest in the novel in Iceland.[15][16][17]

Reception of Makt myrkranna outside of Iceland

Makt myrkranna only received international attention in 1986, when literary specialist Richard Dalby published a translation of the foreword to Makt myrkranna (Powers of Darkness), taken from the 1901 book edition by publisher Nokkrir Prentarar.) Dalby believed this book to be the first foreign translation of Bram Stoker's vampire novel, which had been released in London on 26 May 1897.[18][19] In fact, as pointed out by Prof. Jenő Farkas in 2010, the first translation of Dracula was into Hungarian by the writer and newspaper publisher Jenő Rákosi, who serialized a translation of Dracula in the Budapest newspaper Budapesti Hírlap (79 parts, starting on 1 January 1898), later that year published in book form.[20][21][22][23][24][25] Dalby characterised the Icelandic text as a "excessively abridged" version of the English original, only notable because a new, extended preface by Bram Stoker had been added. Without further examination, this assessment was adopted by most English-speaking Dracula experts, and "Stoker's Icelandic foreword," mentioning the crimes by Jack the Ripper, started playing a major role in academic Dracula exegesis.[26]

Only In January 2014, the Dutch literary researcher Hans Corneel de Roos unearthed the original text of Makt myrkranna as originally serialized in Fjallkonan (Lady of the Mountain). The serialization started on 13 January 1900 on p. 4, opening with the preface, signed "B.S." and dated "August 1898." The last installment appeared on 20 March 1901. Fjallkonan (Lady of the Mountains) had been founded in 1884 and since January 1886 was owned by Valdimar Ásmundsson, who also acted as publisher and editor-in-chief. He was married to Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir, who played an important role in the early women's movement in Iceland. She was the publisher and editor-in chief of Kvennablaðið (Women's Magazine) and Barnablaðið (Children's magazine). They had two children, Laufey and Héðinn.Valdimar Ásmundsson was a self-taught man, but he was recognized in Iceland as an expert on the sagas, and praised as the „best pen in the whole of Iceland in the beginning of the twentieth century" by later Nobel laureate Halldor Laxness,[26]

De Roos discovered that the Icelandic version was no (abridged) translation of Dracula at all, but featured a modified plot. Harker's adventures in Transylvania were described in an extended Part I, in the journal format known from Dracula, while Part II, set in Hungary, Transylvania, Whitby and London, read like a sketch-like cauda, with only 9,100 words. New characters had been added, such as a mute and deaf housekeeper woman, two detectives (Barrington and Tellet), a dark-eyed Countess Ida Varkony, Prince Koromezzo, the ravenous Mme. Saint-Amand, the hunchback violinist Giuseppe Leonardi, Lucy's uncle Morton and Arthur's sister Mary. Harker's host was named "Count Drakulitz," who engaged in financing and organizing an international conspiracy aiming at overthrowing Western democracy, and vented Social-Darwinist ideas; he also acted as the high priest of a clan of ape-like followers, sacrificing half-nude girls during gruesome rituals in a secret temple underneath the castle. All in all, the Icelandic text showed to be less sentimental and more to the point than Dracula, with a heightened erotic stance.

De Roos announced these findings in February 2014 in Letter of Castle Dracula, before starting to work on a complete translation from Icelandic to English.[26]

Differences between Dracula and Markt myrkranna

Already in his first essay of February 2014, de Roos summarized the content of Markt myrkranna and described the main differences with Dracula:[27]

In Dracula, Harker soon feels repulsed by the Count's "brides." In Markt myrkranna, he is continuously attracted to her and disobeys the Count's instructions to meet her secretly at various occasions. This and other elements add to an erotic atmosphere almost absent from Dracula.
In Dracula, the Counts lives alone at his castle. In the Icelandic version, he has a deaf and mute housekeeper woman who cooks and serves Harker's meals, and he has a clan of followers. He also has a family: a father, an uncle, a niece thrice removed, three wives who have died.
In Dracula, the emphasis is on the Count's vampire nature, which forces him to drink the blood of his victims. Apart from a single scene in which Harker cuts himself while shaving, the Count from Markt myrkranna focuses on his elitist political goals; during the sacrificial rituals, he does not drink the blood of the murdered girl.
In Markt myrkranna, it is Mina, together with Harker's employer Hawkins and the detectives Tellet and Barrington, who conducts investigations in Transylvania and visits Castle Dracula. Mina is never attacked by Dracula, and Van Helsing's crew does not travel to Eastern Europe to eliminate the Count. Instead, the story ends while the Count is still in London.
In Dracula, the Carfax house is located in Purfleet, Essex, far away from the London smog - although Stoker originally envisioned the Count to live in Plastow. In Markt myrkranna, Carfax is set in the East of London.
In the Whitby and London sections of Dracula, the Count hardly appears in public; he is an invisible threat lurking in the shadows. In the Nordic versions, the vampire has pleasant chats with Mina and Lucy at the Whitby graveyard, openly visits Lucy when she is sick, and hosts a grand party with international guests at his Carfax estate.
In Dracula, the police never play an active role, while in the Nordic versions, they investigate the death of Lucy and her mother and two detectives join the ranks of Dracula's enemies. In the Swedish variants, the Hungarian Secret Police also play an active role.

Despite these significant differences, the Nordic versions are clearly based on Stoker's 1897 narrative and - unlike later movie adaptations - include all of its main characters. The shortened ending and the Count's public appearance as an elegant socialite seem to anticipate the adaptations made for the 1931 Dracula film with Bela Lugosi.[26]

Remarkable is that Ásmundsson removed Dracula's favorable mentioning of the Viking berserkers as bloodthirsty warriors, although Makt myrkranna added various elements from the Icelandic sagas.[28][29] Likewise, Ásmundsson removed the vampire's power to shape-shift into an animal, even though Dracula's shape-shifting ability came from Icelandic folklore; Stoker had been inspired by The Book of Were-Wolves by Sabine Baring-Gould, who had lived in Iceland for a time.[29]

Some of the names are different than in Dracula: Lucy Westenra is renamed "Lusía Western," Mina is named "Vilma," from her full name "Wilhelmina," Jonathan is "Tómas," and the Count is named "Draculitz".[30]

Similarities with Stoker's preparatory notes for Dracula

Already in his first essay on Makt myrkranna, De Roos noted a number of parallels between the Icelandic plot and Stoker's preparatory notes for Dracula.[26][31] Some of these early ideas, such as an evening party with the Count entering as the last guest, the use of a "secret room – coloured like blood," the appearance of a silent housekeeper woman, or the active role of a police inspector, did not appear in the published version of Dracula. If Ásmundsson had not invented such ideas by himself, he only could have learned about them if Stoker had shared his early ideas for the plot with him.[26]

In his blog entry of 15 February 2017, Jason Colavito questioned whether these similarities actually evidenced that Stoker provided an early draft as a basis for an Icelandic (read: Swedish) adaptation.[32] x

The Icelandic preface

The translation of the Icelandic preface by Joel H. Emerson, published by Richard Dalby in 1986 and again in 1993,[18][19] over the years has caught the attention of several Dracula scholars, especially as it seemed to suggest a link with the Ripper murders.[26][33][34][35]

In the translation by Joel H. Emerson, the preface reads:

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

The reader of this story will very soon understand how the events outlined in these pages have been gradually drawn together to make a logical whole. Apart from excising minor details which I considered unnecessary, I have let the people involved relate their experiences in their own way; but, for obvious reasons, I have changed the names of the people and places concerned. In all other respects I leave the manuscript unaltered, in deference to the wishes of those who have considered it their duty to present it before the eyes of the public.

I am quite convinced that there is no doubt whatever that the events here described really took place, however unbelievable and incomprehensible they might appear at first sight. And I am further convinced that they must always remain to some extent incomprehensible, although continuing research in psychology and natural sciences may, in years to come, give logical explanations of such strange happenings which, at present, neither scientists nor the secret police can understand. I state again that this mysterious tragedy which is here described is completely true in all its external respects, though naturally I have reached a different conclusion on certain points than those involved in the story. But the events are incontrovertible, and so many people know of them that they cannot be denied. This series of crimes has not yet passed from the memory -- a serious of crimes which appear to have originated from the same source, and which at the same time created as much repugnance in people everywhere as the murders of Jack the Ripper, which came into the story a little later. Various people's minds will go back to the remarkable group of foreigners who for many seasons together played a dazzling part in the life of the aristocracy here in London; and some will remember that one of them disappeared suddenly without apparent reason, leaving no trace. All the people who have willingly -- or unwillingly -- played a part in this remarkable story are known generally and well respected. Both Jonathan Harker and his wife (who is a woman of character) and Dr. Seward are my friends and have been so for many years, and I have never doubted that they were telling the truth; and the highly respected scientist, who appears here under a pseudonym, will also be too famous all over the educated world for his real name, which I have not desired to specify, to be hidden from people -- least of all those who have from experience learnt to value and respect his genius and accomplishments, though they adhere to his views on life no more than I. But in our times it ought to be clear to all serious-thinking men that

"there are more things in heaven and earth

than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

London, ____ Street

August 1898,
B. S

A second translation was commissioned by Robert Eighteen-Bisang in 2014 and created by Silvia Sigurdson from Canada. Relating to Jack the Ripper, her text reads:

Many people remember the strange series of crimes that comes into the story a little later – crimes which, at the time, appeared to be supernatural and seemed to originate from the same source and cause as much revulsion as the infamous murders of Jack the Ripper![34]

The Emerson/Dalby rendering suggests that Jack the Ripper will actually play a role in the Icelandic story. And as Makt myrkranna was believed to be an abridged translation of Dracula, some readers started looking for (concealed) appearances of the Ripper in the original text of Dracula, and other links between Bram Stoker and the Whitechapel murders of 1888.[26][9] De Roos's essay of February 2014 established that Emerson's translation was incorrect: the Icelandic text indicated that the Ripper Murders "happened a little later", that is, later than "[t]his series of crimes [that] has not yet passed from the memory." As the Count in his conversations with Harker later mentions "these murdered women, these people found in sacks in the Thames," De Roos suspect that "[t]his series of crimes [that] has not yet passed from the memory" refers to the unsolved Thames Torso Murders of 1887-89, that started somewhat earlier than the Whitechapel homicide spree.[26]

In his introduction to Powers of Darkness (2017), De Roos addressed a number of other errors in the Emerson/Dalby translation.[9] One of the most obvious errors is that he translated Harker's surname, given as "Tómas" in both the Icelandic preface and the novel itself, with "Jonathan."

The translation by Sylvia Sigurdson is not correct either, as she translates the relative clause (in Icelandic: "sem komu litlu seinna til sögunnar") the same way as Emerson did. Moreover, she misplaces it, so that the meaning of the Icelandic sentence is reversed.[36]

One of the most obvious "liberties" in both translations is that Harker's surname, given as "Tómas" in both the Icelandic preface and the novel itself, is translated as "Jonathan."[36]

In 2014, the Icelandic book collector John Moore, Dublin, claimed to have made a longhand transcript of Stoker's English original manuscript for the Icelandic preface. Moore purported to have copied it from the 1897 Donaldson typsecript for Dracula in the 1980s, while he visited book collector John K. McLaughlin, California, at that time the owner of the manuscript. When Mclaughlin had the manuscript auctioned at Christie's, New York on 17 April 2002, this alleged preface had disappeared. In his essay "Bram Stoker's Original Preface Revealed?" De Roos demonstrated that the text presented by Moore was identical with the Sigurdson translation (with only three tiny differences) and thus showed the same translation errors and omissions; it would be impossible that Ásmundsson would have translated the text as presented by Moore to Icelandic and that Sigurdson, more than a century later, would have translated it back, returning the allegedly original English text.[36]

Publication of the annotated translation; possible scenarios how Dracula may have come to Iceland

The annotated translation of Makt myrkranna by De Roos was published as Powers of Darkness -The Lost Version of Dracula on 7 February 2017, with a preface by Dacre Stoker and an afterword by John Browning.[9] The book attracted international attention; the announcement in Literary Hub was clicked 30,000 times in the first days. It quoted de Roos with the following words: "Although Dracula received positive reviews in most newspapers of the day...the original novel can be tedious and meandering....Powers of Darkness, by contrast, is written in a concise, punchy style; each scene adds to the progress of the plot."[37]

In his 2014 essay, De Roos had offered different scenarios how Dracula may have come to Iceland. In his book introduction "Makt Myrkranna - The Forgotten Book," he discussed these possible scenarios again:[38]

Ásmundsson could have worked from the 1897 Constable edition, and - with Stoker's permission - could have changed the story of Dracula as he translated it into Icelandic. Stoker then would have provided a matching preface.[39]
Stoker may have provided an early or alternative draft for Dracula, plus a preface that matched its content.[39] Possibly, this draft would contain passages rejected by Otto Kyllman, Stoker's editor at Constable.Especially, Stoker could have authored a more provocative version of Dracula, considered too risqué for prudish Britain, and had used far-away Iceland to publish it and establish a copyright in it.[40]
Alternatively, Stoker could have sent Ásmundsson an early or alternative draft, which the Icelandic editor modified, with or without Stoker's permission.[41]
Ásmundsson, working from a Dracula copy obtained from England, could have created a pirate version, without ever informing Stoker;[42] Iceland joined the Berne Convention only in 1947.[43]

Newspaper reviews

The dazzling possibility that Stoker might have "parked" a lost alternative draft of his epochal vampire novel in Iceland, where it survived for more than a century without being noticed by English-speaking readers, sparked a stream of previews, reviews and commentaries.[44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][15][16][17]

Although most of these comments expressed a positive opinion on De Roos's book, a few also contained misunderstandings. In her article "Dracula in Iceland," Frída Ìsberg refers to the blonde vampire girl as "Josephine."[52] In fact, in Powers of Darkness, De Roos explains that elements of the girl's life - or rather that of her great-grandmother - seem to be inspired by the biography of Joséphine de Beauharnais.The girl herself, however, remains nameless.[59] She aptly notes, though, that Seward's patient has been eliminated from the story, and that In Makt myrkranna, Dracula displays strong Nietzschean tendencies as he speaks of his contempt for Christianity for venerating the weak instead of the strong, and declares his intention is make the entire world "bow before the strong ones".[52]

In The Guardian, Colin Fleming noted that in Dracula, Stoker worked in subtle sexual references to serve as metaphors for "...deeper, dark concepts: the idea of an antichrist, the blood-sucking serving as a compelling, hellish inversion of communion. Makt Myrkranna, conversely, could have had the subtitle Lust in a Cape".[51]

The Canadian novelist Michael Melgaard in a review described Makt Myrkranna as being more of a "slow burn" as Harker takes much time to realize that he is locked up; in Dracula, by contrast, he realizes almost immediately that he is a prisoner:

The extended [Transylvanian] episode is, with respect to the original, a much more fleshed-out and intense experience. In Dracula, Harker almost immediately realizes he's been trapped. The renamed Thomas Harker of Powers of Darkness is slower to grasp the gravity of his situation. Though uneasy, he finds many excuses for the Count's behaviour – perhaps the Count is merely an eccentric; perhaps he's worried about theft? This Harker is perhaps a bit more dimwitted than the other, but his inability to see what's going on builds a level of tension the original never attains.

Rather than the empty prison of the original, the Castle Dracula of Powers of Darkness is filled with the undead and other horrors described in grisly detail: a ruined chapel described in Dracula as having "evidently been used as a graveyard," becomes a room full of half-decomposed bodies and mysterious occult markings. Harker stumbles around secret passages, weathers attacks from unknown assailants and is stalked unendingly by Dracula's bride. It's Castle Dracula in full house-of-horrors form.

The Count himself is more alive, as a character. He brings Harker into a kind of confidence, seemingly happy to have someone living to talk with. He speaks of love and jealousy and the choices he made that caused bitterness to overwhelm him. It's an origin story, of sorts, for the Count, and one that makes him a more sympathetic character – which makes him all the more frightening.[50]

The Swedish connection

The most consequential of all comments De Roos received was a message sent by Swedish fantasy fiction specialist Rickard Berghorn, who claimed that Makt myrkranna must be based on an earlier serialization in the Swedish newspaper Dagen (The Day) under the title Mörkrets makter (equally meaning Powers of Darkness), from 10 June 1899 to 7 February 1900.[60] In an interview with De Roos, Berghorn stated that Mörkrets makter was much longer than the ca. 160,000 words of Stoker's English Dracula, and - unlike Makt myrkranna - upheld the epistolary style known from Dracula throughout the novel.[61][62] Checking these claims against scans he obtained directly from Stockholm, De Roos established that there must have existed two different Swedish variants.[63] It soon turned out that the second serialization of Mörkrets makter, in the tabloid Aftonbladets Halfvecko-Upplaga (Evening Paper's Half-Weekly), from 16 August 1899 – 31 March 1900, as first obtained by De Roos, had been shortened to ca. 107,000 words, while dropping the diary style after Part I.[1] Dagen, the sister paper Aftonbladet, and the Aftonbladets Halfvecko-Upplaga were owned by the same publishing company with the same editor, Harald Sohlman;[64] Dagen was a daily Stockholm newspaper while Aftonbladets Halfvecko-Upplaga was a tabloid published twice a week for rural areas.[65]

Berghorn's message en the ensuing correspondence forced de Roos to change the focus of his research. To the Icelandic journalist Anna Margrét Björnsson, he told:

No one saw it coming. Neither my research colleagues nor my publisher nor my friend Simone Berni from Italy, who is a specialist for the early translations of Dracula. For more than a hundred years, Makt Myrkranna, the Icelandic adaptation of Dracula, has not been known outside of Iceland, except for the preface apparently authored by Bram Stoker himself. Evidently, those in Iceland who were familiar with Valdimar Ásmundsson's modifications, did not recognize their significance for Dracula Studies in the UK or in the US. And the other way round, English-speaking researchers never cared to try and read the Icelandic text. I had to learn Icelandic, only to get to the gist of the matter. Now it turns out that the same has been happening in Sweden. Several Swedish experts already were familiar with an early version of Dracula, that has been serialized in the Swedish newspapers Dagen and Aftonbladet from 10 June 1899 on. But no one ever paid attention to it, until Rickard Berghorn read about my English translation of Makt myrkranna and realized that this – still older – Swedish version bore an identical title. Mörkrets makter, as is the title of the Swedish serialization, means exactly the same as Makt myrkranna: Powers of Darkness. That is how he made the link between the Swedish and the Icelandic version. First he assumed that Makt myrkranna would be a straight translation of the Swedish publication, but then he found out that the Swedish text is more complete and contains scenes neither described in Dracula nor in Makt myrkranna. And the madman Renfield is still in the story, among others.[66]

The anonymous Swedish editor/translator

Directly under the title, both the Dagen and the Halfvecko-Upplaga variants present the story as a "novel by Bram Stoker," then explicate that it is a "Swedish adaptation by A-e." To understand how Dracula came to Sweden and what role Stoker actually played in the creation of the Swedish variants, identifying "A-e" is a crucial step. As a "first guess," De Roos in his correspondence with Berghorn suggested that "A-e" might stand for "Aftonbladets editor," that is, Harald Sohlman.[67] Berghorn objected that the Swedish word for "editor" is redaktör.[65] A few weeks later, De Roos followed up with an interview in Vampirisme.com, in which he proposed Anders Albert Andersson-Edenberg (1834-1913), a senior journalist and drama translator who cooperated with Harald Sohlman within the framework of Publicistklubben, the Swedish Publicists' Association; he frequently used the pseunonym "A.-E."[68] During the course of 2017, De Roos published around two dozen similarities between Mörkrets makter and articles Andersson-Edenberg had previously published in Svenska Familj Journalen.[2][69] In Spring 2018, De Roos summarized his findings on Andersson-Edenberg in the online magazine Vamped.org.[70]

Who wrote Mörkrets makter? The "early draft" thesis

In his 2014 essay, De Roos was the first to demonstrate the parallels between Makt myrkranna and Stoker's early notes. But the Dutch author also was the first to question whether Makt myrkranna (and thus the Swedish variants from which it turned out to be derived) actually was authored by Stoker.[26] In this 2014 text and in his introduction to the annotated translation, he extensively discussed the chance that Ásmunddson had radically modified Dracula, possibly even without Stoker's consent.[9] But as the Icelandic preface showed traces of a translation from another language, these essays finally supported the idea that at least the preface had been supplied by Stoker, while Ásmundsson may have had a hand in modifying and shortening the narrative. Even after the link with Mörkrets makter had become evident, De Roos writes, the Icelandic prefaces continues to contain some riddles, now regarding the role of the Swedish translator/editor: How could "A-e" have learned about the Thames Torso Murders, that were hardly mentioned in the Swedish press? Why did "A-e" single Van Helsing out as a "real person," just as Stoker had done in his interview with Jane Stoddart?[71] Why would "A-e" have used a Hamlet quote - a stage play Stoker knew by heart?[72]

David Skal's support for the "early draft" thesis

Echoing De Roos's discovery of parallels between Makt myrkranna and Stoker's early notes, Stoker biographer David J. Skal mentioned that Stoker's notes list the character of a police inspector. As no such police inspector is featured in Dracula, Ásmundsson could have only learned about him from using an early draft of Dracula as his source, Skal claimed. Similarly, he believed the Count's deaf and mute housekeeper to be taken from such a draft.[73] By now, the discovery of the link between Makt myrkranna and Mörkrets makter has rendered Skal's suspicions about Ásmundsson's role obsolete. But as Makt myrkranna was based on the Swedish Halfvecko text, in turn derived from the Dagen serialization, these parallels now apply to all three Nordic variants, and raise the question whether "A-e" (instead of Ásmundsson) was familiar with Stoker's early ideas for the plot, or even had received an early draft from England.

The relationship with Dracula's Guest

In his analysis of December 2017, Berghorn pointed to the short story Dracula's Guest (published posthumously in 1914), claiming that Dracula's Guest originally was a chapter from Dracula, but was removed from the final draft. Although this theory is disputed, Berghorn adopted the idea that Mörkrets makter was based upon an abandoned early draft of Dracula. Especially, he believed that the mysterious blond vampire girl from Mörkrets makter/Makt myrkranna is based on the Countess Dolingen of Gratz, and on the blonde vampire bride from Dracula. He further argues that the ornate, flowery style of Dracula's Guest, written in 1892, resembles more closely the style of Mörkrets makter than that of Dracula. He concludes that Mörkrets makter was based upon a draft Stoker may have written in the early 1890s.[65] The argument of a "flowery style," however, might well apply to the rather verbose Dagen version, but does not fit the shortened Halfvecko-Upplaga variant.

The "early draft" thesis and chronological arguments

Berghhorn further proposed that "A-e" modified Stoker's text as he or she translated it, and noted that Stoker picked the names for his main characters already between 1890–92; the same names, with minimal variations, appear in Mörkrets makter. Berghorn also noted that in the account of the black mass and human sacrifice performed by Draculitz in Mörkrets makter, the scene is described as being lit by flames similar to the flickering lights of a cinematograph, the first film projector only invented in 1895 and not used commercially until 1896. On chronological grounds, Berghorn felt that the reference to a cinematograph was added in by "A-e" rather being based upon an early draft by Stoker from the early 1890s. Along the same lines, he concluded that several topical political references in Mörkrets makter such as the anti-Semitic riots in France caused by the Dreyfus affair; the Franco-Russian alliance, which was signed in 1894; and the 1898 "Orlean" conspiracy" for a royalist coup de etat in France must have been the work of "A-e". Other elements of Mörkrets makter, according to Berghorn, must have been come from Stoker himself, such as the highly favorable references to William Ewart Gladstone, who was Stoker's political hero. As to how an early draft of Dracula might have ended up in Sweden, Berghorn presented his "very strong working hypothesis" that the writer Anne Charlotte Leffler and her mathematician brother Gösta Mittag-Leffler, both of whom were friends of the Stoker family, had "something to do with it."[65]

To further support his theory, Berghorn copied the parallels with Stoker's early notes, as first worded by De Roos, to his own his essay of November 2017, adding a further example regarding Lucy's brooch.[65]

Dracula's connection with the London East End

In his book contribution "Dracula and the Psychic World of the East End of London," Clive Bloom noted that the Dracula of Makt myrkranna is more closely associated with the East End of London than he is in Dracula, which he argued was meant to link the Count to Jack the Ripper, and to the East End.[74] In the Victorian era, the East End was a center of poverty, disease and crime, especially prostitution.[75] Given the preexisting popular image of the East End as a place of crime and sexual depravity, the "Jack the Ripper" murders of 1888 with five prostitutes gruesomely murdered caught the public's imagination as a symbol of "sexual danger" associated with London and above all the East End.[76]

Bloom also noted that the popular descriptions of the exotic "Oriental" Ashkenazi Jewish prostitutes from Eastern Europe, whose "voluptuousness" and dark looks made them popular with johns on the East End, matched the descriptions of the Count's female followers in both Makt myrkranna and Dracula. Bloom further argued that the description of the eroticism of Lucy after she is turned into a vampire by Dracula in both Dracula and even more so in Makt Myrkranna closely resembled the descriptions of the eroticism of the stereotype of the exotic "Oriental" Jewish prostitute found in contemporary Victorian accounts.[74]

Still unaware of the "Swedish connection" at the time he wrote his book contribution, Bloom argued that the way in which Makt Myrkranna echoed British fears and fascination with the "frontier" of the East End supports the "early draft" theory. In his eyes, it was unlikely that an Icelander like Ásmundsson would have been as interested in the East End as Stoker was.

Newest developments: parts of the Swedish preface plagiarized from the memoirs of a pastor

In May 2018, De Roos set out to create an English and German translation of the Swedish preface, which - unlike the Icelandic preface - continued after the Hamlet quote. He discovered that especially the last part, omitted from Makt myrkranna, was almost literally copied from the memoirs of a Lutheran pastor, Bernhard Wadstörm. This part of his memoirs thad been released in March 1899, three months before the preface to Mörkrets makter appeared in Dagen. Furthermore, De Roos identified various elements in the main text of Mörkrets makter that seemed to be inspired by Wadström's memoirs, such as the appearance of a "White Lady" and the viewing of a fiery sky from a gallery placed on the top floor. As De Roos deems it highly improbable that Bram Stoker himself would have inserted these elements from a Swedish publication, or would have consented to such a plagiarism, he raises severe doubts whether Bram Stoker ever was aware of the Swedish serializations.[77] Based on this discovery and the similarities with Andersson-Edenberg's articles in Svensk Familj Journalen, he now is open to the possibility that Mörkrets makter was a piracy production, with its own literary qualities.[72]

As Mörkrets makter and Makt myrkranna change Lucy's surname from "Westenra" to "Western," just like in the announcements of the first American serialization of Dracula in the newspaper Chicago Inter Ocean (7 May-4 June 1899), in May 2017 De Roos suggested that "A-e" may have seen the American newspaper text or even may have used it as a source text for creating his/her own adaptation, instead of a copy of the British Constable edition.[78]

In a conference presentation in October 2018, De Roos outlined the possible links between the Hungarian, the Swedish and the US newspaper serializations, based on an analysis of growing international press cooperation in the 1890s.[79]

Awards

In August 2014, when De Roos had published his first essay on Makt myrkranna and was working to put the complete translation together, he was handed the Research Award of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula, consisting of an especially designed watch. During the 25 years of the society's existence, this award had been granted only to one other scholar, Prof. em. Eilzabeth Miller from Toronto.

In March 2018, the Lord Ruthven Assembly, affiliated with the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA), granted de Roos the Lord Ruthven Award in the category "Special Recognition," both for his translation and his background research concerning Makt myrkranna.

References

De Roos, Hans Corneel; Vladkergan (22 March 2017). "Corneel de Roos, Hans. Interview avec le (re-)découvreur de Powers of Darkness". Vampirisme.com.
De Roos, Hans Corneel (1 April 2017). "Graaf Dracula als de Nieuwe Cagliostro – De Hoofdredactie in Gesprek met Hans Corneel de Roos,". T'is Fris: 1–9.
De Roos, Hans (26 May 2017). "Next stop: Chicago! Earliest U.S. Serialisation of Dracula Known so Far Discovered" (PDF). Vamped.org.
De Roos, Hans Corneel (April 2017). "The Origin of the First Dracula Adaptation". Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov, Series IV: Philology and Cultural Studies (published September 2017). 10: 131–146.
De Roos, Hans (2017). Dracula- An International Perspective. London/New York: Palgrave Macmillan/Springer. pp. 113 fn 36. ISBN 9783319633664.
De Roos, Hans Corneel."Early Serializations and Translations of Dracula, and the Internationalization of the Press 1890-1900. Keynote presentation at the Children of The Night International Dracula Conference, Brașov, Romania, October 2018.
De Roos researched the backgrounds of Nokkrir Prentarar in an unpublished research dossier, dated 27 September 2014.
Berni 2016, p. 42.
De Roos, Hans Corneel (2017). Powers of Darkness. The Lost Version of Dracula. New York: Overlook/Abrams. ISBN 978-1468313369.
See notes 3, 15, 125, 284, 296 and 334 in the annotated translation by Hans Corneel de Roos, Powers of Darknes (New York: Overlook Press/Abrams, 2017)
Jónsson, Ásgeir (ed.) (30 October 2011). Makt myrkranna: sagan af Drakúla greifa. Reykjavik: Bókafélagið. ISBN 9789935426093.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
From "Nokkur orð um bókmentir vorar," in Skírnir, 1 December 1906: 344 and 346. Translated from the Icelandic by Hans Corneel de Roos. Quoted from De Roos, Hans Corneel. Introduction to Powers of Darkness. New York: Overlook, 2017: 21.
De Roos, Hans Corneel. Introduction to Powers of Darkness. New York: Overlook, 2017: 22.
From Í túninu heima, part I, Reykjavík: Helgafell, 1975: 208. In an excerpt from Og árin líða (1984), published in Lesbók Morgunblaðsins of 7 January 1984: 4-7, Halldór called Makt Myrktranna "one of the best Icelandic novels imported from abroad." Translation from the Icelandic by Hans Corneel de Roos. Quoted from De Roos, Hans Corneel. Introduction to Powers of Darkness. New York: Overlook, 2017: 23.
Björnsson, Anna Margrét (7 February 2017). "Dracula's lost Icelandic sister novel".
Björnsson, Anna Margrét (13 February 2014). "The Powers of Darkness: On Dracula's sister version in Iceland". Iceland Monitor.
Björnsson, Anna Margrét (15 February 2014). "Hollywood TV series based on Dracula's Icelandic sister novel". Iceland Monitor.
Dalby, Richard (1986). A Bram Stoker Omnibus. The Lair of the White Worm. London: Foulsham.
Dalby, Richard (1993). "Makt myrkranna - Powers of Darkness". Bram Stoker Society Journal, Dublin. 5: 2–3.
Berni, Simone (4 July 2015). "Dracula, di Bram Stoker – Il mistero dell'edizione ungherese del 1898". Cultora.
Crișan, Marius (2018). Dracula, an International Perspective. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 4.
De Roos, Hans Corneel (30 June 2016). "Buda-Pesth Seems a Wonderful place: How a Hungarian Newspaperman Produced Dracula's Very First Translation and Serialisation". Letter from Castle Dracula: 2–11.
Farkas, Jenő (2010). Drakula és a vámpírok. Budapest: Palamart.
Berni, Simone (2016). Dracula by Bram Stoker The Mystery of The Early Editions. Morrisville: Lulu Press. ISBN 1326621793.
De Roos, Hans (26 May 2017). "Next stop: Chicago! Earliest U.S. Serialisation of Dracula Known so Far Discovered" (PDF). Vamped.org.
De Roos, Hans Corneel (4 February 2014). "Makt Myrkranna – Mother of All Dracula Modifications?". Letter from Castle Dracula: 3–19.
All differences quoted from De Roos, "Makt myrkranna: Mother Of All Dracula Modifications?" (4 Febr. 2014) and his introduction to Powers of Darkness (Febr. 2017).
First noted by De Roos in his annotation of Powers of Darkness (2017), note 308. Notes on references to Icelandic sagas added by Ásmundsson can be found throughout his detailed annotation.
Underwood, York (31 October 2018). "The Strange Tale of Iceland's Dracula". Now Guide to Iceland. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
In the English translation by De Roos: Lucia, Wilma and Thomas respectively. For the name of the Count, De Roos opted to return to "Dracula," like in the 1950 and 2011 Icelandic book editions of Makt myrkranna.
Eighteen-Bisang, Robert (ed.); Miller, Elizabeth (ed.) (2008). Bram Stoker's Notes for Dracula - A Facsimile Edition. Jefferson, NC, and London: McFarland. ISBN 9780786434107.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
Colavita, Jason (15 February 2017). "Why the Icelandic "Dracula" Adaptation Is Probably Not Evidence for a Lost Original Version of Bram Stoker's Classic Vampire Novel". Jason Colavito Blog.
The Icelandic text speaks of "Jakob kviðristara," which literally means "Jacob the Disemboweller." To translate it this way is not correct, however; Ásmundsson obviously referred to Jack the Ripper.
Eighteen-Bisang, Robert (July 2005). "Dracula, Jack the Ripper and A Thirst for Blood". The Ripperologist. 60 – via https://www.casebook.org/dissertations/rip-thirst.html.
Davison, Carol Margaret: "Blood Brothers: Dracula and Jack the Ripper in Bram Stoker's Dracula," in Sucking Through the Century 1897-1997 [sic], Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1997:147-172;
De Roos, Hans (18 April 2014). "Bram Stoker's Original Preface Revealed?". Letter from Castle Dracula: 3–19.
De Roos, Hans Corneel (6 February 2017). "On Dracula's Lost Icelandic Sister Text - How a Supposed Translation Proved to Be Much More". Literary Hub.
The four following scenarios were already contained in De Roos's essay of 4 February 2014.
As De Roos already noticed in his 2014 essay, the preface mentions a series of crimes, that abhorred the public; in Dracula, no such series of crimes is mentioned. The Icelandic preface also mentions the Secret Police, and a group of foreigners that would have played a dazzling role in London's high society: In Dracula, no corresponding scenes can be found. See De Roos, Hans Corneel (4 Febr. 2017). "Makt Myrkranna – Mother of All Dracula Modifications?": 7ff.
See De Roos, Hans Corneel (4 February 2017). "Makt Myrkranna – Mother of All Dracula Modifications?":13, esp. footnote 36.
See De Roos, Hans Corneel (4 February 2017). "Makt Myrkranna – Mother of All Dracula Modifications?":12ff
See De Roos, Hans Corneel (4 February 2017). "Makt Myrkranna – Mother of All Dracula Modifications?":13.
See De Roos, Introduction to Powers of Darkness: 39, esp. footnote 46.
Gold, Eleanor (23 January 2017). "Powers of Darkness – Bram Stoker & Valdimar Ásmundsson". Full Stop. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
Sweeney, Toni V. (January 2017). "Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula". New York Journal of Books.
Telander, Alex (December 2016). "Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula". San Francisco Book Review. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
Williams, John (3 February 2017). "New Life for Dracula". New York Times. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
Williams, John (5 February 2017). "New Life for an Immortal Story". New York Times Book Review.
Eschner, Kat (19 May 2017). "The Icelandic Translation of 'Dracula' Is Actually a Different Book". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
Melgaard, Michael (13 March 2017). "Counted out: An alternative version of Dracula with an obscure preface appears over a century later". The National Post. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
Fleming, Colin (19 April 2017). "The Icelandic Dracula: Bram Stoker's vampire takes a second bite". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
Ísberg, Frída (5 April 2017). "Dracula In Iceland. Fríða Ísberg on a lost version that complicates our understanding of the classic". Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
[Editorial] (31 October 2016). "Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula (Book required, appropriately, on Halloween, 2016)". Biblioklept. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
M. Bartley, Seigel (January 2017). "From The Overlook Press, Powers of Darkness by Bram Stoker and Valdimar Ásmundsson". The Watchlist / Words without Borders. Retrieved 28 January 2017.
Colebrook, Martyn (3 March 2017). "OUT NOW: POWERS OF DARKNESS: The Lost Version Of Dracula by Valdimar Ásmundsson". The Lady. Retrieved 7 March 2017.
Young, Joe (13 March 2017). "Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula". Ginger Nuts. Retrieved March 2017. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
Crow, David (7 February 2017). "Unearthing the Lost Version of Bram Stoker's Dracula". Den of Geeks.
White, Ian. "Powers of Darkness". Starbust.
See De Roos (7 February 2017) Introduction to Powers of Parkness: 25, and notes 36,89, 129, 132 137 and 141 in his annotation. According to the Count, the girl believes to be identical with her own great-grandmother at shown in the big portrait on the gallery. See Powers of Darkness: 99, and note 129 in the annotation
Email from Berghorn to De Roos, 17 February 2017.
De Roos, Hans (5 March 2017). "Sweden's Mörkrets Makter: The Source of Valdimar Ásmundsson's Makt Myrkranna? A New Surprising Discovery May Reveal the True Backgrounds of the Icelandic version of Dracula" (PDF). Children of the Night Congress Bulletin: 2–7.
De Roos, Hans Corneel (5 March 2017). "Mörkrets Makter: Exclusive Interview with Swedish Literary Scholar Rickard Berghorn" (PDF). Children of the Night Conference Bulletin: 8.
Various emails from De Roos to Berghorn and others, 11–13 March 2017
Emails from De Roos to Rickard Berghorn, Dacre Stoker and others, 3 March 2017.
Berghorn, Rickard (November 2017). "Dracula's Way to Sweden". Weird Webzine. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
Björnsson, Anna Margrét (6 March 2017). "Icelandic version of Dracula, Makt myrkranna, turns out to be Swedish in origin". Iceland Monitor. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
Email from De Roos to Berghorn, 3 March 2017
De Roos, Hans Corneel (27 March 2017). "Corneel de Roos, Hans. Interview avec le (re-)découvreur de Powers of Darkness [addendum". Vampirisme.com.
De Roos, Hans Corneel (April 2017). "The Origin of the First Dracula Adaptation". Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov, Series IV: Philology and Cultural Studies. 10: 131–146.
De Roos, Hans Corneel (26 March 2018). "Was Albert Anders Andersson-Edenberg the First Author to Modify Dracula?" (PDF). Vamped.org.
Stoddart, Jane (1 July 1897). "Mr. Bram Stoker. A Chat with the Author of Dracula". British Weekly.
De Roos, Hans Corneel, updated introduction "Makt Myrkranna—non c'è due senza tre" (Makt Myrkranna—A triplet comes seldom alone) in the Italian translation of Powers of Darkness. Milan: Carbonio Editore, 2019:21-56. The annotation was equally updated. Written in April 2017, last updated 9 October 2018.
Skal, David (2016). Something in the Blood. New York: Liveright/Norton. p. 338.
Bloom, Clive (2018). Dracula - An International Perspective. London: Palgrave Gothic. pp. 124–125.
Walkowitz, Judith (1992). City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London. Univ. of Chicago Press. pp. 81–83.
Walkowitz, Judith (1992). City of Dreadful Delight: Narratives of Sexual Danger in Late-Victorian London. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press. pp. 2–3.
De Roos, Hans Corneel (26 May 2016). "Was the Preface to the Swedish Dracula Written by a Priest?". Vamped. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
De Roos, Hans (26 May 2017). "Next stop: Chicago! Earliest U.S. Serialisation of Dracula Known so Far Discovered" (PDF). Vamped.org.
De Roos, Hans Corneel."Early Serializations and Translations of Dracula, and the Internationalization Of The Press 1890-1900. Keynote presentation at the Children of The Night International Dracula Conference, Brașov, Romania, October 2018.