Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula
SynopsisPlot
In 1900, Icelandic publisher and writer Valdimar Ásmundsson set out to translate Bram Stoker’s world-famous 1897 novel Dracula. Called Makt Myrkranna (literally, Powers of Darkness), this Icelandic edition included an original preface written by Stoker himself. Makt Myrkranna was published in Iceland in 1901 but remained undiscovered outside of the country until 1986, when Dracula scholarship was astonished by the discovery of Stoker’s preface to the book. However, no one looked beyond the preface and deeper into Ásmundsson’s story. In 2014, literary researcher Hans de Roos dove into the full text of Makt Myrkranna, only to discover that Ásmundsson hadn’t merely translated Dracula but had penned an entirely new version of the story, with all new characters and a totally re-worked plot. The resulting narrative is one that is shorter, punchier, more erotic, and perhaps even more suspenseful than Stoker’s Dracula. Incredibly, Makt Myrkranna has never been translated or even read outside of Iceland until now.
Story
About this book
In 1897, Bram Stoker published Dracula. Three years later, Icelandic publisher and writer Valdimar Ásmundsson began what appeared to be a straightforward translation of the novel into Icelandic. The result, titled Makt Myrkranna, was published in Iceland in 1901 and included a preface written by Stoker himself. For decades the book circulated only within Iceland. In 1986, scholars outside the country first learned of Stoker's preface, but no one examined the rest of the text closely.
That changed in 2014, when literary researcher Hans de Roos studied the full Icelandic text and found that Ásmundsson had not simply translated Dracula. He had rewritten the story substantially, introducing new characters and reshaping the plot into a shorter, more compressed narrative with a notably different tone. Whether Ásmundsson worked from an early Stoker draft, collaborated with the author, or freely adapted the novel on his own remains a question scholars continue to discuss.
This English-language edition presents the first translation of Makt Myrkranna for readers outside Iceland. It includes annotations that provide literary, cultural, and historical context for both the Icelandic text and its relationship to Stoker's original novel.
