Scandinavian Transformations of Dracula

Abstract

A couple of years after the publication of Bram Stoker’s classic vampire novel Dracula, different versions were published in one Icelandic and two Swedish newspapers. The Icelandic version could be a translation of the shorter Swedish version. Both explore the Transylvanian part considerably. The longest version of Mörkrets makt was republished in Swedish in 2017. What is intriguing is that no English original has been found, and the question is whether an original exists or has existed or if the Swedish and Icelandic newspapers have expanded on the text, and whether this was done with Stoker’s consent or not? International copyright laws were not signed by these countries at that time, but there are hints that Stoker had accepted these new parts, but did he? The importance of copyright is still truly relevant, so this will be discussed briefly. Another significant aspect is that the ‘Scandinavian’ Dracula turns out to have fascistic ambitions. The intention here is to analyse the texts, compare them and see to what extent they coincide and if it is possible to see whether somebody else has written the new parts of Dracula or if it seems to be a homogeneous work by Stoker, where the author for some reason had chosen to leave out some parts or has added parts later.