"Fog is the main drawback of London. It smothers the town like a vampire sucking the blood and bone marrow of its citizens, poisoning the blood and lungs of the children, and resulting in countless diseases."
-- Jonathan Harker dampens Count Dracula's enthusiasm in Powers of Darkness (p. 10)
This isn’t the strangest book I’ve read for the Classics Club (that's a tough call, but it's possibly the Florence Nightingale book), but the whole concept of an English translation of an Icelandic translation of a British classic is a bit of a mind-bender.
Apparently written with Stoker's input, and possibly access to his notes and earlier drafts, Powers of Darkness (originally published in 1901 as Makt Myrkanna, English version published in 2017) is far from a straightforward translation. Its focus is on Jonathan Harker's stay in Transylvania, which is noticeably expanded, and everything after that -- the vampire's journey to England, the fates of Lucy and Mina (here called Lucia and Wilma), and the efforts to stop his killing spree -- take place in a truncated section, almost an afterthought. The first part takes up 172 pages, and the second, packed with multiple new characters and incidents, is only 46.
Where the vampire women in the original novel are background characters, the single one here plays a major role in the story. Harker has numerous interactions, and almost a full-on relationship. with her, and it's strongly suggested that she was Dracula's wife, with whom he shared "a love as biting as the bitterest hatred, with kisses that burn like glowing iron" (119). Unfortunately, he makes the "great and punishable mistake" (120) of feeling jealousy over her affair, when "her husband should have understood that and let her live her life the way she needed to" (ibid).
The depiction of Dracula as a lascivious being, almost an immortal dirty old man, makes this version a kind of bridge from the ur-text of the 1897 Dracula to the numerous later versions, which bring sexuality more overtly into the storyline.
Another notable edition is a scene that seems ripped from a Hammer horror film, when Harker ventures to an underground vault and finds a mysterious ritual in process, made up of "a mass of people ... 150 people altogether" (183).
There's also a fascinating conspiracy subplot, in which the Count seems to be traveling in aristocratic social circles that he is gathering together for some kind of unspecified world domination, based on his ideas "that the strong must prevail and conquer the world," which Harker refers to as "Darwin's law fluttering vaguely through" his mind (125). "Those of mankind who are 'chosen' have suffered far too long under the unbearable oppression, bigotry, and the shame of majority rule" (191), he writes to his recruits, and it's this anti-democratic endeavor, as much as his vampirism, that Harker and his companions need to stop.
Jam-packed with supporting material, and beautifully designed, Powers of Darkness is something I can highly recommend. It's exciting to see a new, fresh perspective on Dracula after all these years and multiple readings!
Stoker, Bram and Valdimar Ásmundsson. Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula. Overlook Press, 2016.
-- Jonathan Harker dampens Count Dracula's enthusiasm in Powers of Darkness (p. 10)
This isn’t the strangest book I’ve read for the Classics Club (that's a tough call, but it's possibly the Florence Nightingale book), but the whole concept of an English translation of an Icelandic translation of a British classic is a bit of a mind-bender.
Apparently written with Stoker's input, and possibly access to his notes and earlier drafts, Powers of Darkness (originally published in 1901 as Makt Myrkanna, English version published in 2017) is far from a straightforward translation. Its focus is on Jonathan Harker's stay in Transylvania, which is noticeably expanded, and everything after that -- the vampire's journey to England, the fates of Lucy and Mina (here called Lucia and Wilma), and the efforts to stop his killing spree -- take place in a truncated section, almost an afterthought. The first part takes up 172 pages, and the second, packed with multiple new characters and incidents, is only 46.
Where the vampire women in the original novel are background characters, the single one here plays a major role in the story. Harker has numerous interactions, and almost a full-on relationship. with her, and it's strongly suggested that she was Dracula's wife, with whom he shared "a love as biting as the bitterest hatred, with kisses that burn like glowing iron" (119). Unfortunately, he makes the "great and punishable mistake" (120) of feeling jealousy over her affair, when "her husband should have understood that and let her live her life the way she needed to" (ibid).
The depiction of Dracula as a lascivious being, almost an immortal dirty old man, makes this version a kind of bridge from the ur-text of the 1897 Dracula to the numerous later versions, which bring sexuality more overtly into the storyline.
Another notable edition is a scene that seems ripped from a Hammer horror film, when Harker ventures to an underground vault and finds a mysterious ritual in process, made up of "a mass of people ... 150 people altogether" (183).
There's also a fascinating conspiracy subplot, in which the Count seems to be traveling in aristocratic social circles that he is gathering together for some kind of unspecified world domination, based on his ideas "that the strong must prevail and conquer the world," which Harker refers to as "Darwin's law fluttering vaguely through" his mind (125). "Those of mankind who are 'chosen' have suffered far too long under the unbearable oppression, bigotry, and the shame of majority rule" (191), he writes to his recruits, and it's this anti-democratic endeavor, as much as his vampirism, that Harker and his companions need to stop.
Jam-packed with supporting material, and beautifully designed, Powers of Darkness is something I can highly recommend. It's exciting to see a new, fresh perspective on Dracula after all these years and multiple readings!
Stoker, Bram and Valdimar Ásmundsson. Powers of Darkness: The Lost Version of Dracula. Overlook Press, 2016.
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