by Hans De Roos
296 This remark about Gypsies is not included in the 1950 and 2011 editions.
297 In Dracula, the Count neither engages in polite conversation nor is there any mention of Tatars or Gypsies in England.
298 Icelandic: “með kostum og kynjum”—another alliterative phrase.
299 In ancient cultures, it was a sign of respect to kiss or touch the seam of someone’s robe.
300 A chivalric and biblical figure of speech: The Tatar leader refers to himself in the third person.
301 This scene appears to be a loose end, as Mary is not mentioned again in this novel. It gives us some background information, however, about the function and bad reputation of Prince Koromezzo, who plays a role in the last chapters of this novel. It also demonstrates that the Tatars indeed have supernatural powers, although the visions they show in their crystal ball can have a misleading and manipulative effect: Lucia is led to believe that Arthur has a paramour, while in fact, he is greeting his own sister.
302 Icelandic: “… og talaði oft við hana,” lit.: “… and often spoke with her.” Again, this is a major deviation from Dracula, where the Count remains almost invisible after Harker’s adventures in Transylvania. Stoker’s preparatory notes, however, mention the Count as a sickbed visitor, next to “the Texan” (Quincey Morris).
303 To avoid confusion, I have in some cases replaced “doctor” with “professor” to indicate Van Helsing.
304 In Dracula the servants are merely drugged with laudanum.
305 Icelandic: “toku til starfa,” lit.: “started working.” The text of Dracula is more precise: “Lucy’s heart beat a trifle more audibly to the stethoscope, and her lungs had a perceptible movement.”
306 Again, a suggestion that women who leave the house alone after dark may be witches, criminal or suspect.
307 In Dracula, the police play no active role at all in investigating any of the Count’s crimes.
308 In Dracula, Lucy sees “the head of a great, gaunt grey wolf.” It is the Norwegian wolf Bersicker, which had escaped from the London Zoo. During this horror-filled night, he was accompanied by a large bat. See Dracula, Chapters 11 & 12. It is curious that the Bersicker episode is left out here. For Valdimar, it would have been an opportunity to link the story with the Norse wolf-skinned Berserker warriors mentioned in Chapter 3 of Dracula: “We Szekelys have a right to be proud, for in our veins flows the blood of many brave races who fought as the lion fights, for lordship. Here, in the whirlpool of European races, the Ugric tribe bore down from Iceland the fighting spirit which Thor and Wodin gave them, which their Berserkers displayed to such fell intent on the seaboards of Europe, ay, and of Asia and Africa too, till the peoples thought that the were-wolves themselves had come.” Equally, Dracula’s description of Arthur as “a figure of Thor” (Chapter 16) is absent in the Icelandic version.
309 Tellet neither appears in Dracula nor in Stoker’s notes. See the Introduction for a possible explanation of the name. He is described as a “sendimaður,” in this context an agent or messenger working for Hawkins.
310 Probably a reference to Szolyva, a Hungarian town 185 km north of Bistritz, today named “Svalyava” in Ukraine.
311 Who is this English investigator? Tellet does not embark on a new search, at least not on his own: He leaves for Bistritz with Wilma. Instead, the person who wrote the official reports must have been meant here.
312 Barrington is another new character; he may correspond to Inspector Cotford mentioned in Stoker’s early notes. See my Introduction for a possible explanation of the name.
313 Icelandic: “gamli greifinn Drakúla.” In Icelandic, “gamall” (“old”) is frequently used for any older person, without a patronising connotation. In the Icelandic press of the last two centuries, we thus find “Metternich gamli,” “gamli Wellington,” “Napoleon gamli,” “Disraeli gamli,” “Gladstone gamli,” “gamli Bismarck,” “Vilhjálmur gamli,” “gamli Kruger,” “Roosevelt gamli,” “Hitler gamli,” “Stalin gamli,” “Churchill gamli,” “Nixon gamli,” “Clinton gamli,” etc.
314 Icelandic: “Hawkins gamli málaflutningsmaður”—see previous note.
315 For “spyrja til” + genitive, modern dictionaries only give “to enquire about,” but Cleasby/Vigfússon, 1874, still lists “to receive intelligence about,” which makes more sense in combination with “believed.”
316 Icelandic: “að gamni sínu,” lit.: “to entertain themselves.” In this context, with Thomas still unheard from and false rumors still lingering about, and with Castle Dracula being deserted, this passage probably refers to their travelling under the pretense of pleasure.
317 There actually is a nunnery in the Borgo Pass, at Piatra Fântânele, on a hill just opposite of the Hotel Castel Dracula. At night, the hotel is lit in glaring red, while the monastery is marked by a gigantic white neon-lit crucifix. In the bar of Hotel Castel Dracula, many impious jokes have already been cracked about the sign of the cross having been placed there by the good nuns in order to protect themselves from the forces of evil.
318 In Fjallkonan, Valdimar used the word “heilafeber” (in quotation marks), which is the literal translation of Stoker’s term “brain fever”—the word “feber” being borrowed from Norwegian, Danish or Swedish. The Icelandic word for “fever” is “sótthiti,” while in Faroese, “fepur” is still in use. In the 1901 edition, Valdimar opted for “heilasjúkdómi,” meaning “brain disease.”
319 Icelandic: “vélabendu.” Again, “véla” is used in its archaic sense here (“trick” or “deceit”).
320 Icelandic: “að gera það samt fyrir sín orð,” an expression already found in Eyrbyggja Saga, relating to the events in Snæfellsnes in the 10th century: “Arnkell bað hann gera fyrir sín orð og bæta honum heyið” (Chapter13).
321 Hansom or hansom cab: a light horse-drawn carriage—the Victorian equivalent of a taxi. In Dracula, the girl is waiting in a victoria (another type of carriage) and receives a small parcel from Guiliano’s, a famous jeweler at 115 Piccadilly. See Klinger, 2008, p. 255, note 37; the “dark stranger” merely stares at her and then hails a hansom in order to follow her; Jonathan and Mina decide to sit down in Green Park, opposite 138 Piccadilly—a property identified as the Count’s town house by Bernard Davies, co-founder of the London Dracula Society.
322 In the Transylvanian part of the story, Harker mentioned an iron cross, not a brass cross.
323 Lit: “borrowed the text.” The Icelandic does not know the word “please” and mostly uses the imperative to make a polite request: “Give me the butter” instead of “Could you please give me the butter?”
324 Icelandic: “að Tómas hefði aftur fengið minnið,” lit.: “that Thomas had regained his memory.” In fact, this recovery is a gradual process that has only just started—as we will see at the start of Chapter 15.
325 Icelandic: “þar sem þau Vilma áttu heima.” This is probably an error in the text, as the pronomen “þau” (“they”) corresponds with the plural “áttu eiga” (“they lived”), while “Vilma” is singular. At this point, Wilma and Thomas are already married and live in Hawkins’s house together; in the first line of this paragraph, however, only Wilma is mentioned. Maybe Valdimar had noticed that this was awkward and intended to correct it in the second line, but forgot to cross out “Vilma” there.
326 Icelandic: “að Tómas hefði fengið minnið aftur,” echoing the words of Professor Van Helsing. See footnote 323.
327 Icelandic: “sem hrífa oss til góðs eða ills.” The expression “færa til góðs eðr ílls” is already used in the Gragas, the Grey Goose Laws of the 13th century. Cleasby/Vigfússon, 1874, translates it as “to turn to good or bad account,” describing the effect caused by the original actor; in combination with “ad hrífa” (“to affect,” “move,” “touch,” “stimulate,” “stir into a passion,” “enchant,” “inspire”) it could also mean that these beings incite humans to act in a good or evil way − an idea picked up some paragr
aphs later.
328 Icelandic: “eftir því sem verkast vill.” A standard expression, meaning “depending on how the situation develops.” In this context, it is up to the will of these invisible beings to determine which direction we may be influenced.
329 Icelandic: “þótt þær deyi,” lit.: “although they die.” This only makes sense in past or perfect tense.
330 Today, “draugur” is translated as “ghost,” “phantom,” “spectre,” “spirit” or “spook,” but I assume that the text refers to the Old Norse “draugr.” While ghosts today are mostly depicted as pale, semi-transparent apparitions, hovering weightlessly in the air, the revenants from Norse mythology are revived corpses, blackened, decaying and swollen; they have superhuman strength, can increase their size at will and crush humans with their weight. They also kill by drinking their victim’s blood or by driving people mad. Like vampires, they can die a “second death” when their bodies are burned or dismembered. The “haugbuí” watching over the grave mounds are a special sub-category: They mostly stay in their mound or its immediate neighborhood. See Jakobsson, 2011.
331 As in Dracula, the characteristics of the un-dead are only named at the end of the story—albeit here without using the word “vampire”; only Thomas Harker uses the term, once, to describe the London fog. Lucia’s neck shows no fangmarks, nor does she ever bite children; Wilma is never bitten nor forced to drink the Count’s blood; even Quincey’s remark on the Argentinian vampire bat is omitted. During the ceremony in the castle’s vault, it is not the Count who drinks the victim’s blood but the ape-like brute. In Dracula, Harker over time understands that the vampire women follow a special diet: “[…] nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who were—who are—waiting to suck my blood.” See Dracula, Harker’s Journal entry of 16 May. In Makt Myrkranna, however, the intentions of both the Count and his cousin remain obscure—for never are they caught with their fangs in someone’s neck.
332 Icelandic: “sem fundust eftir Seward,” a somewhat cryptic phrase: “found by Seward,” “found to be written by Seward,” “found after Seward’s death” are some of the suggestions I discussed with my team. As we know with certainty that Seward wrote these papers (see end of Chapter 14), and that they must have been found by others, I finally opted for “written by Seward.”
333 Icelandic: “ráð og rænu,” another example of alliteration.
334 Icelandic: “að hún var vön að falla í öngvit.” This part of the sentence has been omitted in the 1950 and 2011 editions.
335 The phenomenon of people speaking with a voice seemingly not belonging to them was a central element of Spiritism; attending séances where a (mostly female) medium would speak in “voices from beyond” was a popular pastime in Victorian higher circles. Between 1870 and 1900, neuro-physiology, hypnotical experiments and research on telepathy, clairvoyance and spirit communication still belonged to the same scientific field. The Society for Psychical Research (S.P.R.), the Metyphysical Club and the Ghost Club had numerous high-ranking members, many of them friends with Bram Stoker. Valdimar had an interest in the subject as well: on 9 September 1890, he dedicated his complete front page to the work and writings of the S.P.R. See Introduction.
336 Icelandic; “núning,” lit.: “friction” or “rubbing.” This refers to the act of rubbing the limbs of the patient in order to stimulate the blood circulation. Klinger, 2008, p. 182, note 38, informs us that Victorian doctors avoided visual examination of their female patients, as it was considered inappropriate. Strangely enough, tactile manipulation and massage—underneath the garments or from behind closed curtains—seemed to be consented to, even to the point of stimulating female patients to “paroxysmal convulsions” in order to treat “hysteria,” as reported by medical historian Rachel F. Maines in The Technology of Orgasm (1998) and the UK movie Hysteria (2011, directed by Tanya Wexler).
337 As we know from the Whitby chapter, Prince Koromezzo is the Austrian Ambassador in London with a bad reputation.
338 Prince Koromezzo means here the evening of the next day, as the Countess had previously agreed upon with Dr. Seward.
339 Chloral is an aldehyd. Mixed with water, it forms chloral hydrate, with sedative and soporific qualities. Like laudanum (containing opium), it was often used in the Victorian Age. Makt Myrkranna copies this detail from Dracula but omits Seward’s chivalrous qualms: “I am weary to-night and low in spirits. I cannot but think of Lucy, and how different things might have been. If I don’t sleep at once, chloral, the modern Morpheus—C2HCl3O. H2O! I must be careful not to let it grow into a habit. No, I shall take none to-night! I have thought of Lucy, and I shall not dishonour her by mixing the two. If need be, to-night shall be sleepless…” See Dracula, Chapter 8, Dr. Seward’s Diary of 19 August.
340 Intriguingly, in Bram Stoker’s early notes for the novel, a dinner party at Dr. Seward’s house was planned, the Count arriving as the last guest. In Makt Myrkranna, Seward takes on the role of a guest. Even though the Count is the owner of Carfax, he still arrives to the party as the last participant. If we do not accept this as coincidence, this means that Stoker’s original ideas for Dracula show up in Makt Myrkranna again.
341 The person whom Harker believed he saw in a corridor of the castle was also described as short and stocky.
342 Icelandic: “sér gegnum holt og hæðir,” lit.: “to see through hills and hillocks.” People with “skyggn” can see ghosts, goblins and elves that otherwise are invisible (“huldufólk”), and perceive things in the distance or that are otherwise obstructed from normal sight.
343 Icelandic: “Hún […] veit óorðna hluti,” lit.: “She […] knows things that have not happened yet.” In The Mystery of the Sea (1902) and The Lady of the Shroud (1909), Bram Stoker extensively dealt with the gift of second sight, which—both in Scandinavian and in Scottish popular belief—included precognition.
344 Marquis Rubiano is here referring here to their previous conversation about the experiment.
345 Icelandic: “kroppinbakurinn”: “the hunchback.” The only character fitting this description is the short, stocky man who previously talked to Seward about the evening programme. The Icelandic “rekinn saman” used for this stocky person literally means “compressed.”
346 The reason for this cry is never revealed. Perhaps another sacrificial ceremony, or a snack for the guests?
347 Previously, Morris has been described as a friend of Arthur Holmwood.
348 In Dracula, Stoker’s vampire is a human who has survived bodily death, but can appear in animal shape, e.g. the form of a bat. The vampire’s predatory behavior also points to his animalistic qualities.
349 Icelandic: “að flytja búferlum”: lit.: “take down one’s tents (and pitch them elsewhere)”, mostly translated as “to move,” “to migrate.” In this case, I suspect a temporary relocation: Thomas could not simply close down his law firm in Exeter. In Dracula, the whole team lodges in Dr. Seward’s asylum, next to Carfax.
350 In Stoker’s earliest notes for Dracula, Dr. Seward is typified as a “mad doctor.” In Bram Stoker’s Notes for Dracula, editors Robert Eighteen-Bisang and Elizabeth Miller state that “this discrepancy [between the original ‘mad doctor’ and the later ‘Doctor of a Madhouse’] raises the question of whether Seward was originally as insane as his ‘mad patient.’” The fact that, of all characters in Makt Myrkranna, Seward is the one to go mad, once more suggests that Makt Myrkranna may be based on Stoker’s early ideas for the plot.
351 This echoes the burning of the diaries by the Count in Chapter 21 of Dracula while the Count is raiding Seward’s house. Holmwood reports: “He had been there, and though it could only have been for a few seconds, he made rare hay of the place. All the manuscript had been burned, and the blue flames were flickering amongst the white ashes; the cylinders of your phonograph too were thrown on the fire, and the wax had helped the flames.” Here I interrupted. ‘Thank God there is the other copy in the safe!’” See D
racula, Dr. Seward’s Diary of 3 October.
352 In confessing to protect Van Helsing, Morris, as in Dracula, takes on the role of the martyr—in Stoker’s original he is killed in the final battle with the Count’s men. That the police accept a confessed murder without consequences could mean that they have also been informed about the supernatural goings on of late. This also lends itself to the preface, which alludes to the police and secret service being confronted with irresolvable, supernatural riddles.
HANS CORNEEL DE ROOS is the author of The Ultimate Dracula (2012) and numerous articles on Stoker’s masterpiece. He is a recipient of the Research Award of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula and since 2013 has acted as the editor of the Society’s newsletter. He initiated the Fourth World Dracula Congress that was held at Trinity College, Dublin, in October 2016. De Roos studied Political and Social Sciences in Amsterdam and Berlin, graduating cum laude in 1982. Over the past three decades, he has lived in Munich as an artist, photographer, and art historian, specializing in art and literature of the late nineteenth century. He is setting up an art school project on Bantayan Island, Philippines, and organizing a new series of international Dracula conferences in Brasov, Romania.
ABRAHAM “BRAM” STOKER (1847–1912) is best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel, Dracula.
VALDIMAR ÁSMUNDSSON (1852–1902) was the founder, owner, and editor of the Icelandic newspaper, Fjallkonan (Lady of the Mountains).
DACRE STOKER is a Canadian-American writer, athlete, and filmmaker. He is the author of Dracula: The Un-Dead and is the great-grand-nephew of Bram Stoker.
JOHN EDGAR BROWNING is a Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is internationally recognized for his horror, Dracula, and vampire scholarship and is the author of numerous books and shorter works.
Printed in the United States of America Copyright © 2017 The Overlook Press
Front jacket design by Becki Kozel