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Happy World Dracula Day to all who celebrate!
This is the second episode of the Draculae miniseries, about a literary mystery which came to me via a meme: “Someone translated Dracula into Icelandic, and it took over 100 years for anyone to point out he just made a fanfic rewrite of what he wanted the story to be.”
In Draculae part 2, Ásgeir Jónsson explains how he got that Icelandic adaptation of Dracula back into print, to little fanfare - but then Dutch scholar Hans Corneel de Roos set about making an English translation. Following that: like me, Will Trimble also got meme-struck, and that propelled him to get a translation of the Swedish version that begat the Icelandic one.
Before listening to this, check out the first episode of the Draculae miniseries explaining the three versions of Dracula: Dracula published by Bram Stoker in 1897; the Icelandic version Makt Myrkranna by newspaper editor Valdimar Ásmundsson, serialised in his newspaper Fyallkonan in 1900-1901; and the Swedish version Mörkrets makter by an author known only as A—e, and serialised in a couple of Swedish newspapers 1899-1900.
EXTRA INFORMATION:
Hans Corneel de Roos’s English translation of Makt Myrkranna is available to read as a free ebook.
Rickard Berghorn’s limited edition English translation of Mörkrets Makter is sold out, but you can read his introduction.
Will Trimble’s translation of Mörkrets Makter is available as an ebook.
“The few Swedish scholars familiar with Mörkrets makter, for their part, had never cared to inform international scholars of Gothic fiction that Sweden possessed its own national variant of Dracula.”
Keep an eye out for the next World Dracula Congress.
Otherlusionists: there are several episodes about Icelandic, and I’m fond of this episode about translation. And, since we’re talking about mysteries in newspapers, check out Lacuna.
Support the show at theallusionist.org/donate and as well as keeping this independent podcast going, you also get behind-the-scenes glimpses about every episode, fortnightly livestreams with me and my dictionaries, and the Allusioverse Discord community.
YOUR RANDOMLY SELECTED WORD FROM THE DICTIONARY:
vorlage, noun
1a: Skiing: a position in which the skier leans forward without lifting the heels from the skis.
1b, in plural: skiing trousers.
2. An original version of a manuscript from which a copy is produced.
CREDITS:
Ásgeir Jónsson is the current Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland, and the author of books including Why Iceland? about Iceland’s economic crash.
Hans Corneel de Roos made the English translation of Makt Myrkranna, the Icelandic Powers of Darkness. Find more of his work at powersofdarkness.com.
Will Trimble orchestrated one of the English translations of Mörkrets Makter, the Swedish Powers of Darkness.
This episode was produced by me, Helen Zaltzman. Thanks to Martin Austwick, Stefán Jóhann Stefánsson and Valur Grettisson.
The original Allusionist music is by Martin Austwick. Download his songs at palebirdmusic.com and listen to his podcasts Song By Song and Neutrino Watch.
Find the Allusionist at youtube.com/allusionistshow, instagram.com/allusionistshow, facebook.com/allusionistshow, @allusionistshow.bsky.social… Essentially: if I’m there, I’m there as @allusionistshow.
Back in two weeks with the next episode of Draculae - HZ.
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