Powers of Darkness - Stoker, Bram

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Résumé :
Foreword by Professor Clive Bloom and with Emil ?berg's original illustrations. A unique version of Bram Stoker's seminal gothic masterpiece Dracula, this novel, from the turn of the nineteenth century, is a very early anti-fascist piece of literature, criticizing the Social Darwinism and scientific racism of the time. Powers of Darkness is also a splendid horror novel twice as long as Stoker's original. First published in Sweden 1899-1900, very little is known about its background. Who was the signature A--e? Did Bram Stoker himself have anything to do with the creation of this mysterious Dracula manuscript? In addition to elements of political satire and international conspiracy, this edition of the story is much more violent and erotic than Stoker's original from 1897. It should not be confused with a book of the same title published in 2017, which was an English translation of a severely abridged Icelandic version of the same novel, only about half the length of Stoker's Dracula. Count Draculitz (as he is called in the book) intends to spread vampirism throughout the world and conspires with kings and politicians to create a new world order with vampires as the master race -- propelling society into a ghastly future where pagan gods are worshipped in blood rites. Many of the characters are presented in new contexts, such as the fantastically beautiful white lady who walks the Count's castle, striving to lure the imprisoned lawyer Thomas Harker to his doom with her infernal kisses. Both fans of classic Dracula and new readers will have a very different story to delve into, one with a completely new ending. It is presented here by the discoverer of the novel, the author and publisher Rickard Berghorn. Here is also a gallery with Emil ?berg's original illustrations.

Biographie:
Irish author Bram Stoker (1847-1912), best known for writing Dracula (1897), studied mathematics at University of Dublin's Trinity College, graduating with honors in 1870. After a brief career at Dublin Castle as a civil servant with a side hustle as a theatre critic for the Dublin Evening Mail, Stoker became a long-time manager of the Lyceum Theater in London's West End as the personal assistant of Sir Henry Irving, a famous actor of that era. Stoker's first novel, The Primrose Path, was published in 1875, and his last, The Lair of the White Worm, in 1911. Stoker's fascination with Egyptology, mummification, and the supernatural is evident in The Jewel of Seven Stars, a Gothic horror story, the first edition of which had a somewhat ambiguous and tragic ending. When the second edition was published in 1912, Stoker had replaced the ending for a new happier one. Stoker died in London of exhaustion at sixty-four years old, leaving behind a wife, Florence, and son, Noel. His remains were cremated, and his urn is displayed at the Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum, keeping company with the likes of Sigmund Freud, Peter Sellers, and Keith Moon....