I believe a little background information is in order.
Growing up, I was a horror movie junkie. While other kids were playing with dolls, I
was hanging out with my imaginary friend – who happened to be Larry
Talbot. I’m betting most of you don’t
recognize that name. Larry Talbot was
the name of the man who eventually became The Wolf Man. Played by Lon Chaney, Jr. in several films in
the 1940’s, most notably the original, Talbot was my favorite of a number of
horror movie characters, including Bela Lugosi’s Count Dracula and, of course,
Frankenstein’s Monster, as portrayed by Boris Karloff.
While most pre-teens were spending their allowance on candy or toys, I spent a good part of mine on horror model kits and issues of my favorite magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland. (Exciting news – in researching the magazine just now, I find it is actually still being published! This has made me inexplicably happy.)
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| The latest issue! |
So it should come as no real surprise that my favorite novel
of all time is a “horror” story. And not
just any horror story, I dare say. My
favorite novel of all time is Anne Rice’s first – and best – book, “Interview
With the Vampire.”
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| Bottom right is the original 1977 paperback. |
As you probably know, there have been numerous sequels to
the book. Some of them weren’t bad. But none came even close to the original,
which stands on its own as a terrific read, and a great piece of horror fiction.
Now, as you may recall from previous blogs, I have a
Bachelors Degree in English. I read a
lot. So, in answer to your unasked
question, no, I am not foolish enough to think that this is some sort of
literary masterpiece. That status, I
reserve for other “favorites,” like “Wuthering Heights,” “Great Expectations” or
“Lord of the Flies.” But when it comes
to characters and storyline, as well as originality and imagination…”Interview”
is hard to beat.
I first read the book in 1977 when the paperback came
out. I remember loving it so much that
the first thing I did was to run out and buy another copy to mail to my best
friend, who was living in New York.
While she didn’t love it quite as much as I did, we did have many
interesting philosophical discussions about it.
And, to this day, I still believe she’s wrong about the one thing we
argued most passionately about - the ending of the book is perfect, and, in
fact, is the only possible ending.
Before we get into the reasons for my love affair with Louis
and Claudia, a word about the film. You
know, the one with Tom Cruise as Lestat, and Brad Pitt as Louis. I, of course, saw it on opening night. I could barely contain my excitement, and
dragged Mike with me. He had never read
the book. He liked the movie. To this day, I maintain that I could have
done it much, much better. And the
casting? Horrendous. One small observation, which should give you
some idea of how ludicrous the overall casting was. Armand is about 15-16 years old physically,
is beautiful in an overtly feminine way, and has auburn hair. So really, who better to portray him
than…Antonio Banderas? Seriously? Good grief.
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| Good casting takes a holiday. |
But I digress. Since
that first reading, I’ve read the book at least a dozen times, probably more. I am always horrified, enthralled and
completely taken with it. The story
never fails to captivate me.
So, let’s talk about the five good reasons why “Interview
With the Vampire” is the greatest novel of all time. (Be forewarned – if you’ve never read the
book, and think there is a chance you’ll want to after reading this, be
careful, because I’m likely going to give away the ending…since the ending is
so damn perfect.)
1. The Story
A young man with a tape recorder encounters a
stranger in a bar, and strikes up a conversation with him, hoping to
convince him to share his life story.
This man claims to have a life story worth sharing, and invites the boy
up to his room to hear it. He then
claims he is a vampire. The boy is
skeptical to say the least, but agrees to record his story.
That story takes us from the plantations and townhouses of
eighteenth century New Orleans, through nineteenth century Paris, and on to
twentieth century San Francisco. The
story is a fascinating account of a man’s struggle with his morality as, thanks
to a shallow and lonely vampire, he becomes an unwilling member of the undead, and
encounters everything from a 5 year old child who is also made into a vampire,
to a group of mindless Eastern European revenants, and finally to a band of
cruel but sophisticated vampires in Paris, who have created the Theatres des
Vampires, where mortal men and women come to watch what they assume are
“plays,” but are actually real death scenes orchestrated by the theater troupe,
in which they (seen as actors by the unsuspecting audience) openly torture and
kill beautiful young victims in front of a full house each night. Through it all, Louis continues to question
his own nature, and fights against the basest urges to try to retain some of
his humanity.
As he tells his story, we see the boy’s attitude slowly
change from suspicious to enchantment.
By the time Louis de Pointe du Lac finishes his life story, there is not
a shred of doubt in the mind of Daniel Molloy that what he has just heard is
true.
2. The Characters
For my money, the characters created by Anne Rice for
“Interview With the Vampire” are among the most original, enthralling and
imaginative characters in the history of fiction.
Louis de Pointe du Lac is a handsome young man in his
twenties, part of a plantation family in eighteenth century New Orleans. He is a philosophical and romantic man, a
lover of art and literature. After the
death of his brother, a religious zealot given to “visions,” Louis is left to
care for his sister and mother. He never
forgives himself for his brother’s death, and the guilt drives him to take
foolish chances. After drinking too much
one night, he encounters Lestat de Lioncourt, a beautiful blond vampire, in a
dangerous area of the city. Lestat
attacks him and eventually makes him into a vampire.
While the later novels focus on a somewhat re-invented
Lestat, the Lestat of the first novel is, to me anyway, neither interesting nor
sympathetic. He is a lonely, not
particularly intelligent young man, driven to create a companion for himself by
not only his loneliness, but by a need for money and wealth as well. He himself is not clever enough to gain these
on his own, and must manipulate Louis into providing them for him.
Louis, on the other hand, is completely fascinating. Upon becoming a vampire, he embarks on a
mission to save the life and reputation of a woman he has admired from afar in
his mortal life. He has moral and
ethical issues with the need to feed on blood, and for many years, makes do
with the blood of rats and other small animals.
Louis begs Lestat to share the secrets of the vampire world
with him, eventually coming to realize that Lestat knows next to nothing about
his own origins. Eventually, much later
in the story, Louis meets up with Armand, a 400 year old vampire in Paris, who
appears to be everything Lestat is not.
But first he is “given” a companion by Lestat, who, fearing he is about
to be left alone again, creates a vampire out of a starving, orphaned 5 year
old girl. The child, who they name
Claudia, becomes Louis’ companion and foil for many years.
Claudia. Rice’s piece
de resistance. Imagine, a 5 year old
child vampire! And then imagine that
this child eventually becomes an intelligent, passionate and cruel woman…but
only on the inside. On the outside, she
is forever doomed to reside in the body of a 5 year old girl. My God, the horror, the shock – and above
all, the utter brilliance of this!
Claudia is Louis’ match in intellect and Lestat’s match in cruelty. The combination is both horrifying and
magnificent.
3. The Settings
There are two main locales in which the story takes place,
and both hold a lot of meaning for me.
The book opens in 1791 New Orleans.
New Orleans might very well be my favorite city in the world. I’ve been there numerous times, and I pretty
much love everything about it. I’d move
there in a millisecond, but my practical husband has these silly ideas about
unbearable heat and humidity as well as high crime rates, so, sadly, we
probably won’t be living in a big old house in the Garden District any time
soon. (I did, however, see Anne Rice’s
Garden District home once, many years back.)
The latter part of the book takes place in nineteenth
century Paris. Ah, Paris. A city I have long wished to see. So far, the closest I’ve come to realizing
that dream is to enjoy a croissant while walking along the cobblestone path at
the Paris hotel and casino in Las Vegas.
I’m led to understand the real Paris is even better.
Both locations work beautifully in the context of the
storyline. If you know NOLA at all, it
is remarkably easy to envision the characters walking along the Vieux Carré at
night, feeding off their human prey in the alleys, or gazing into the little
shops and cafes. It's just as easy to imagine the grand Pointe du Lac plantation, and the townhouse where the three main characters eventually set up residence. (The latter is
based on the Gallier House, at 1132 Royal Street. Just looking at it can put me into a trance,
imagining the three of them up there.)
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| 1132 Royal Street...is that Claudia in the window? |
The Paris of the nineteenth century comes alive in the book
as well. Even without having ever seen
the city, I have very little trouble imagining the streets and buildings as
described by Rice. My only complaint is
that she glosses over Louis and Armand’s nighttime visit to the Louvre. Now, that would have been fascinating to read
about!
4. The Homoerotic Undertones
Even though (in Rice’s novels, anyway) vampires cannot make
love, there are enough homoerotic references in the book to make for a whole
other blog.
There are very few female characters in the book. Claudia, of course, is a child, at least physically. Madeleine, although a young woman, is
portrayed as a mother figure. Celeste,
one of the Parisian vampires at the Theatres des Vampires, is seen as beautiful
but cold and cruel. The males, on the
other hand, are uniformly fascinating, physically attractive and sensual. And, I mean, come on, they flirt with one
another like nobody’s business!
What exactly is going on with Louis’ initial enchantment
with Lestat? At one point, very early in
the story, Louis describes Lestat’s movement as “so graceful and so personal
that at once it made me think of a lover.”
Later, in Paris, Armand talks about the love between himself and the
vampire who made him, and later tells Louis, “I want you. I want you more than anything in the world.”
I imagine a lot more could be made of this whole thing if
the novel were written today. But for a
story written in 1976, or possibly earlier, since it was originally a short
story, this is pretty amazing stuff!
5. The Ending
As I’ve said, as far as I’m concerned, there was only one
possible way to end the story. Have you
guessed what it is? If you haven’t, and
you don’t want to know, I would highly recommend you stop right here, and run
out and read the book. Trust me, it will
be time well spent.
As I read the book for the first time, all I could think
about was how completely amazing it must be to be a vampire. At least a vampire as portrayed by Anne
Rice. Yes, I would no doubt miss food
and sex, but living forever seemed to me to be a more than adequate
tradeoff. To see the changes in society
and in the world over the years, to be able to travel pretty much unencumbered,
can you even imagine!?
So when, at the conclusion of Louis’ story, Daniel begs him
to make him into a vampire, my immediate response was, “yes, of course!” Louis’ response, predictably, was shock and
disbelief. “This…after all I’ve told
you…is what you ask for?”
Daniel answers him perfectly. “You don’t know what human life is like!”
I’m older and wiser now.
I’m not entirely sure I’d take the offer if it were somehow to be
made. But I’m not that much older, and
definitely not that much wiser.
Because I still think I might.
