Powers of Darkness () is an Icelandic gothic horror novel by Valdimar Ásmundsson serialised in 1900–1901 that claims to be a translation of the English-language novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Instead, it was in fact based on an earlier Swedish adaptation of Dracula, even with the same title — Mörkrets makter ("Powers of Darkness"), by "A—e", specifically the shortened version. Both adaptations differ significantly from Dracula, and are believed to have used an early draft of Stoker's novel as partial basis for the translation.
From January 1900 to March 1901, Dracula was serialized in the Reykjavík newspaper (Lady of the Mountain) under the title (Powers of Darkness). Valdimar, credited as the Icelandic translator, was the husband of Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir, the editor of Fjallkonan at the time. In 1901, Valdimar published in Reykjavík with the publisher being listed only as ("various publishers"). It remains unknown who actually published the book. Part one of , consisting of pages 5–167, concerns the visit of Thomas Harker (as Jonathan Harker is renamed here) at Castle Dracula in Transylvania while part two, consisting of pages 168–210, concerns the rest of Dracula. Included in was a preface that claimed to be written by Stoker dated August 1898, more than a year after the publication of Dracula in England in May 1897.
Author's preface The author's preface (Icelandic: ) claims that the novel is based upon a "mysterious manuscript" and the events of Dracula were in fact real with the names of the characters changed only to protect their privacy. The preface was ignored by international scholarship until 1986, when the scholar Richard Dalby discovered it and translated it into English. The preface to had been quoted in articles but had never been included in any of the English editions of Dracula before 2017. The preface describes the murders committed by Jack the Ripper (in the preface: ) between 1888 and 1891 as having happened within "the public's memory". Dalby's translation compares these to the work of another criminal who "came into the story a little later". Hans de Roos's translation reverses the order of these events: "This series of crimes ... created ... as much horror ... as the infamous murders by Jack the Ripper which occurred a short time later." Later in the story, the Count mentions "slaughtered women found in sacks, drifting in the Thames," an allusion to the Thames Torso Murders between 1887 and 1889.
The author's preface reads:
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 consider 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 of 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 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.
... 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 having 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 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 his accomplishments, though they adhere to his views of 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, August 1898."
Reception of in Iceland In Iceland, 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. "" 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. Benedikt 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.
Despite the lack of positive reviews, became a household name in Iceland after Dracula with Bela Lugosi (1931) had been shown in a Reykjavík cinema in 1932, becoming the generic name for a whole series of vampire movies.De Roos, Hans Corneel. Introduction to Powers of Darkness. New York: Overlook, 2017: 22.
The Icelandic Nobel Prize Laureate Halldór Laxness (1902–1998) was heavily impressed by the Icelandic edition of Dracula: "And do not forget (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." It has been suggested that Halldór's own novel (1968) was based on .
The buzz around the 2017 English translation by De Roos has also sparked new interest in the novel in Iceland.
Discovery In 2014, the Dutch scholar Hans Corneel de Roos first noticed that the Icelandic version of Dracula was in fact not a translation, but was rather a very different novel from Stoker's version. In 2017, De Roos translated into English under the title Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula. The discovery of the differences between the novels sparked much debate, with three theories being offered for the discrepancies: Valdimar changed the story of Dracula as he translated it into Icelandic. Stoker provided Valdimar with a first draft of Dracula that he chose not to use for the version that was published in 1897. Supporting the "first draft theory" is the fact that Stoker's widow had an obsession for suing people who used Dracula without her permission, yet Valdimar was never sued despite the differences between and Dracula. A synthesis view holds that is the result of both Valdimar's changes to the book and the use of a rejected first draft of Dracula.
Differences between Dracula and The plot of is essentially the same as Dracula, though the differences between Dracula and have been much commented upon. Many of the characters had different names, the book was shorter, and there was much more emphasis on the characters' sexuality in . 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." In Dracula, Stoker has the count speak favorably of the Viking berserkers from Iceland as bloodthirsty warriors who were the terror of Europe, Asia and Africa, which Valdimar removed. Stoker also gave Dracula the ability to shape-shift into any animal he pleased, which Valdimar removed, even though the inspiration for this power of Dracula's came from Icelandic folklore, which Stoker had learned about from reading The Book of Were-Wolves by Sabine Baring-Gould, who had lived in Iceland for a time.
Despite the fact that the author's preface spoke of his "friend" Jonathan Harker, in , he is called Thomas Harker. Mina Harker becomes Wilma Harker and Lucy Westenra is renamed Lucy Western. Only Count Dracula is not renamed. Wilma Harker is described as having gone to Vienna to be treated by Dr. Sigmund Freud, an aspect of her background story that does not appear in Dracula. Dracula is an epistolary novel; by contrast has an omniscient narrator in part two. The American novelist Colin Fleming has argued that the frequent references to Norse mythology and Scandinavian literature in were Valdimar's contribution to the story rather than Stoker's. 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. , conversely, could have had the subtitle Lust in a Cape". In , Harker has an obsession with breasts as he speaks frequently of the "bosom" of various women he encounters in Transylvania.
One of the principal differences between Dracula and is that the bulk of the latter concerns Harker's stay at Castle Dracula while the story that makes up the majority of Dracula appears only in a very abridged form. Harker's visit to Transylvania takes up 80% of . In a review, the Canadian novelist Michael Melgaard described as being more of a "slow burn" because Harker takes much more time to realize that he is Dracula's prisoner. By contrast, in Dracula, he realizes almost immediately that he is a prisoner. Harker's experiences at Castle Dracula are more visceral and intense in . For an example, in Dracula, Harker finds the ruins of a chapel that he describes as having "evidently been used as a graveyard," which becomes a room full of rotting corpses and occult markings in . Other experiences for Harker not found in Dracula include finding the body of a dead peasant girl killed by Dracula and watching the Count perform a black mass that ends in human sacrifice.
Lord Arthur Holmwood in has a sister named Mary who does not appear in Dracula. The Brides of Dracula do not appear in ; Dracula has only one female companion, the beautiful and alluring Josephine. One of the heroes of Dracula, Dr. John Seward, goes insane in as a result of the horrors Dracula committed. Seward's deranged patient, Renfield, does not appear in . Dracula is more developed as a character in and is in contact with various governments in what is hinted at is a bid for world domination. In , 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 to make the entire world "bow before the strong ones". Social Darwinism was a popular ideology in the 1890s, and much of the rhetoric Dracula uses in reflects Social Darwinist themes, as he repeatedly declares his contempt for the weak who exist only to serve the strong—in this case literally as Dracula and his fellow vampires live off the blood of humans too weak to defend themselves. In , Dracula does not flee back to Transylvania, but he is instead killed at his London home by a band of heroes led by Dr. Van Helsing.