Powers of Darkness


Powers of Darkness 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 of an earlier Dracula variant serialized in the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladets Halfvecko-Upplaga in 1899–1900. The annotated English translation of Makt myrkranna by Hans Corneel de Roos was released on 7 February 2017. The Swedish text of Mörkrets makter was published as a book in Sweden in November 2017 by Rickard Berghorn's Aleph Bokförlag, based on a longer variant serialized in the newspaper Dagen and republished in the magazine Tip-Top.

''Makt myrkranna''

The first variant of Powers of Darkness to receive international attention was Makt myrkranna. In 1986, literary specialist Richard Dalby published a translation of the foreword to Makt myrkranna . He believed the Iclandic book edition by publisher Nokkrir Prentarar to be the first foreign translation of Bram Stoker's vampire novel, which had been released in London on 26 May 1897. 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, later that year published in book form. Dalby characterised the Icelandic text as a strongly 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 all 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.
In January 2014, the Dutch literary researcher Hans Corneel de Roos unearthed the original text of Makt myrkranna as originally serialized in Fjallkonan. He discovered that the Icelandic version was no 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, 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.

''Mörkrets makter''

Although six months older than Makt myrkranna, the Swedish Dracula adaptation remained unknown to international scholars until after Powers of Darkness by De Roos was published on 7 February 2017, with a preface by Dacre Stoker. The book attracted international attention, and ten days later, De Roos and Stoker were contacted by Swedish fantasy fiction specialist Rickard Berghorn, who claimed that Makt myrkranna must be based on an earlier serialization in the Swedish newspaper Dagen under the title Mörkrets makter, from 10 June 1899 to 7 February 1900. In his 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. Checking these claims against scans he obtained directly from Stockholm, De Roos established that there must have existed two different Swedish variants. It soon turned out that the second serialization of Mörkrets makter, in the tabloid Aftonbladets Halfvecko-Upplaga, 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. Dagen, the sister paper Aftonbladet, and the Aftonbladets Halfvecko-Upplaga were owned by the same publishing company with the same editor, Harald Sohlman; Dagen was a daily Stockholm newspaper while Aftonbladets Halfvecko-Upplaga was a tabloid published twice a week for rural areas.
As the structure of the Icelandic version corresponded to that of the abridged Halfvecko-Upplaga variant, De Roos concluded that Ásmundsson must have used the latter as his source text, replacing various cultural references with hints to Icelandic sagas, while shortening the text even further, to ca. 47,000 words.

Differences between ''Dracula'' and ''Powers of Darkness''

The plots of the two Swedish variants and the Icelandic version are essentially the same, and all differ from Stoker's Dracula, especially after the section describing Harker's stay at the Count's castle. In the Dagen and the Halfvecko-Upplaga variants, this first section is identical, and even was printed from the same print stock. In the Dagen variant, the following sections, maintaining the diary style of Part I, are rather wordy, while the Halfvecko-Upplaga variant, switching to a conventional narrative style, contains less dialogue and details. In the Icelandic version, Part I is only slightly shorter than in the two Swedish variants. In Part II, Makt myrkranna follows the Halfvecko-Upplaga variant, but reduces the text by more than 50%. As noticed by De Roos, this causes some loss of detail. In the Italian edition of Powers of Darkness, de Roos has added extra notes to explain such details.
The main differences between Dracula on the one hand, the Swedish and Icelandic variants on the other hand are:
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.
About Makt myrkranna, the shortest variant, De Roos wrote: "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". 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. 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.

The Swedish Count as a Social Darwinist

Already in his 2014 essay, De Roos noted that in Makt myrkranna, the Count strongly expressed elitist and Social-Darwinist opinions. While discussing his family portraits at the gallery with Harker, he explains how the strong have the right to rule over the weaker and exploit them.
In his analysis of November 2017, Berghorn elaborates on this observation, explaining that the völkisch movement had emerged as a major force in Germany by the 1890s and already some of the völkisch leaders were advocating killing the mentally and physically disabled as their very existence threatened the purity of the Herrenvolk. Putting such Social Darwinist and racist language into the mouth of Count Dracula was a way of caricaturing the popularity of Social Darwinism with elites in both Europe and the United States in the 1890s. Before he goes insane, Dr. Seward thinks after reading a newspaper about the state of the world:
"By the way, the telegram section of the newspaper announces several strange news – lunatic behavior and deadly riots, organized by anti-Semites, in both Russia and Galicia as well as southern France – plundered stores, slain people – general insecurity of life and property – and the most fabulous tall tales about "ritual murders," abducted children and other unspeakable crimes, all of which is ascribed in earnestness to the poor Jews, while influential newspapers are instigating an all-encompassing extermination war against the "Israelites." You would think this is in the midst of the Dark Ages!...Now, once again, it seems that a so-called "Orlean" conspiracy is tracked down – while at the same time the free Republicans in France are celebrating with exaltation the exponent of slavery and despotism in the East...It is a strange time in which we live, that is sure and true.---Sometimes it seems to me as if all the insane fantasies, all the crazy ideas, the whole world of crazed and scattered notions, into which I, as a madhouse doctor, for years have been forced to enter in the care of my poor patients, now begin to take shape and form and gain practice in the course of the world's major events and tendency".
Passages such as this, Berghorn believes, reflect the widespread mood of pessimism in fin de siècle Europe as the 19th century closed and the 20th century began, as many in Europe believed that civilization was rotten to the core, and all that was left for European civilization now was the apocalypse.

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. 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.
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 adaptation.

The Icelandic preface

The translation of the Icelandic preface by Joel H. Emerson, published by Richard Dalby in 1986 and again in 1993, over the years has caught the attention of several Dracula scholars, especially as it seemed to suggest a link with the Ripper murders.
“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 series 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.”
Emerson's 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 appearances of the Ripper in the original text of Dracula, and other links between Bram Stoker and the Whitechapel murders of 1888. 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 "his series of crimes 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 "his series of crimes 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.
In his introduction to Powers of Darkness, De Roos addressed a number of other errors in the Emerson/Dalby translation.

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. Berghorn objected that the Swedish word for "editor" is redaktör. A few weeks later, De Roos followed up with an interview in Vampirisme.com, in which he proposed Anders Albert Andersson-Edenberg, 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." 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. In Spring 2018, De Roos summarized his findings on Andersson-Edenberg in the online magazine Vamped.org.

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 actually was authored by Stoker. 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. 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? Why would "A-e" have used a Hamlet quote - a stage play Stoker knew by heart?

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. 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" 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, 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. 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."
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.

''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 as a "wild frontier" region of Britain. In the Victorian era, the East End was a center of poverty, disease and crime, especially prostitution. 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.
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.
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 had 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. 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.
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, 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.
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.

Awards

In 2018, Hans Corneel de Roos received Special Recognition Award from the Lord Ruthven Awards for his translation and scholarly research for .

Crowdsourced translation

As de Roos did not speak Icelandic when he discovered the complete text of Makt myrkranna, he split the text in 25 parts of ca. 2,000 words and set up a team of Icelandic native speakers, who translated these sections to English: Aldís Birna Björnsdottir, Anja Kokoschka, Arna Sif Thorgeirsdottir, Ásdís Rut Guðmundsdóttir, Hafrún Kolbeinsdóttir, Ingibjörg Bragadóttir, Hans Ágústsson, Herbert Pedersen, Hildur Lofts, Hjörtur Jónasson, Lára Kristín Pedersen, María Skúladóttir, Sigrún Birta Kristinsdóttir, Sigrún Ósk Stefánsdóttir, Sædís Alda Karlsdóttir, Tinna María Ólafsdóttir, Vilborg Halldórsdóttir and Vildís Hallsdóttir. After checking the reults of the first round, De Roos organized a second one, then collected the remaining translation problems, which he resolved with the help of further volunteers, the Cleasby & Vigfusson Old Norse to English Dictionary and the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. Pienette Coetzee and Lounette Loubser helped giving the English result a native English flow. Further rounds of editing followed with the help of Allison Devereux and John Edgar Browning. In this sense, this was an example of a crowd-sourced translation. In each stage, however, De Roos kept the final say.

Citations