227. Draculae part 1: Enter the Castle
The Allusionist
Helen Zaltzman
4.7 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 11 May 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A literary mystery 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 this first instalment of a short series about three versions of Dracula, we familiarise ourselves with the plots of 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.
Visit theallusionist.org/draculae1 for more information about the topics in this episode plus a transcript.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the illusionist in which I, Helen Zaltzman, stuff myself with garlic to keep language away. |
| 0:09.9 | At time of recording, it's May 26. May is Dracula month, because the novel Dracula starts in early May. |
| 0:17.2 | It begins in the form of journal entries and the first is dated the 3rd of May. |
| 0:22.1 | When does it end? |
| 0:29.5 | Some 160,000 words later, by which I had aged quite considerably. This is the first part for short series about a Dracula mystery. And if you don't know Dracula, no problem. If you |
| 0:35.9 | don't care about Dracula, no problem. Just come with me |
| 0:38.4 | upon a quest. On with the show. |
| 0:44.7 | A literary mystery about the novel Dracula came to me via a meme, just as Dracula came to Whitby in a box |
| 0:55.0 | of soil in a ship. The meme said something like, someone translated Dracula into Icelandic, |
| 1:01.1 | and it took over 100 years for anyone to point out, he just made a fanfic rewrite of what he |
| 1:06.9 | wanted the story to be. It's hard to point to the origins of this observation. |
| 1:11.4 | The meme resurfaces every year or two, |
| 1:13.5 | but it only reached me mid-20205, |
| 1:16.1 | amid the usual torrent of Instagram dachshunds and foods that look like other foods |
| 1:19.7 | that my husband sends me while scrolling in the bathroom. |
| 1:22.4 | But about this meme, he said, |
| 1:24.4 | Have you seen this? |
| 1:25.5 | Might be interesting for the illusionist. |
| 1:27.2 | Do-bidi-do. |
| 1:28.8 | The meme sent me on a journey. |
| 1:31.7 | Like Dracula running back to Transylvania with another box of soil, |
| 1:35.0 | only I didn't really go anywhere physically, |
... |
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