University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/36264 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. • DARK, ANGEL A STUDY OF ANNE RICE'S VAMPIRE CHRONICLES BY Jane Plumb (B. A. Hons) Ph.D Thesis Centre for the Study of Women & Gender University of Warwick January 1998 Jane Plumb CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Synopsis ii Abbreviations iii 1 The Vampire Chronicles:- Introduction - the Vampire Chronic/es and Bram Stoker's Dracula. 1 Vampirism as a metaphor for Homoeroticism and AIDS. 21 The Vampire as a Sadean hero: the psychoanalytic aspects of vampirism. 60 2. Femininity and Myths of Womanhood:- Representations of femininity. 87 Myths of womanhood. 107 3. Comparative themes: Contemporary novels:- Comparative themes. 149 Contemporary fictional analogues to Rice. 169 4. Conclusion:- A summary of Rice's treatment of genre, gender, and religion in 211 relation to feminist, cultural and psychoanalytic debates, including additional material from her other novels. Bibliography Jane Plumb ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS' I am especially grateful to Dr. Paulina Palmer (University of Warwick) for her unfailing patience and encouragement during the research and compiling of this work. I wish also to thank Dr. Michael Davis (University of Sheffield) for his aid in proof-reading the final manuscript and his assistance in talking through my ideas. I am also grateful to my family without whose support this thesis could not have been completed. Jane Plumb SYNOPSIS The international success of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and the release of the film Interview with the Vampire (based on her novel of the same name) has fueled an explosion of interest in the vampire genre, resulting in further incarnations of the vampire story in fiction and film. This study attempts to analyse Rice's development of the vampire narrative in relation to a body of novels and short stories which comprise a recognizable genre. The first chapter has three sections: an Introduction comprising a comparison between the Chronicles and Bram Stoker's Dracula,- a study of the Chronicles as a metaphor for homoeroticism and AIDS; and a study of the psychoanalytic aspects of vampirism linked with the concept of Rice's vampire as a Sadean hero. The second chapter has two sections: an analysis of Rice's representations of femininiiy; and a study of the myths of womanhood employed in the novels, together with the origins of these myths. The third chapter has two sections: a focus on the complex self-conscious and moral life of Rice's vampires in relation to contemporary consciousness and subjectivity; and a comparison of Rice's treatment of genre, historical romance and erotica with the vampire narratives of her contemporaries. The fourth and concluding chapter is a summary of Rice's treatment of genre, gender and religion in relation to evolving feminist, cultural and psychoanalytic debates, including reference to material from her other novels. In her self-conscious appropriation of the vampire tradition, Rice introduces a wider scope to the formulaic elements of the gothic genre, interweaving different genres with the gothic horror story. Her innovative approach to the vampire novel, with its complexity of intermingling issues, leaves many unanswered questions. It is the unresolved nature of the contradictions and paradoxes intrinsic to Rice's work that disturb and generate further debate. Jane Plumb in ABBREVIATIONS - Abbreviations used in the text are listed as follows:- IV Interview with the Vampire Rice, Anne Futura pb, 1977 MD Memnoch the Devil Rice, Anne Chatto & Windus hb 1995 Q D The Queen of the Damned Rice, Anne Futura pb 1988 TBT The Tale of the Body Thief Rice, Anne Chatto and Windus hk> 1993 VL The Vampire Lestat Rice, Anne Futura pb 1985 Jane Plumb 1 THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES INTRODUCTION - the 'Vampire Chronicles and Bram Stoker's .2)rnculn In the tradition of the genre of vampire fiction, vampires have been described variously as bestial creatures, Satanic/Byronic lords, femme fatales or unseen, psychic forces. Bram Stoker created the most enduring and fascinating image of the vampire in Dracufa, the novel from which subsequent fictional and film vampires have evolved. In this introductory section, I propose to analyse Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles in the context of the Vampire genre with particular reference to Dracula. One of the striking differences between Stoker and Rice in their approach to -- the vampire novel is in their narrative strategy and use of the gothic genre. Dracula and his vampire cohorts do not have a voice in the text; their part in the novel is reported second-hand to the reader. The story of Stoker's vampire, Dracula, is narrated from the viewpoint of Lucy, Mina and the Crew of Light. The author has structured the narrative(s) in letters, newspapers, journal extracts and the phonograph. The story unfolds for the reader as the other characters communicate to each other in writing or record their feelings and anxieties in journals or scientific reports. Although many of these 'extracts' take the form of first person narratives, the story presented to the reader is fragmented, thus Jane Plumb 2 producing a dislocation in the perception of time and space. This narrative strategy follows the pattern of many early gothic works including Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Indeed Stoker's novel incorporates most of the formulaic elements of the gothic genre: a disjointed narrative structure portraying a world of chaos, of transformations and of cruelty and fear. William Patrick Day argues that Gothic fiction represents: the space between the worlds of religion and myth and science, between romance and realism, between soul and psyche, between inner and outer life.' In the tradition of the genre Stoker's novel occupies this space with the narrative making its "own artificiality and fictiveness clear" and announcing from the outset its "discontinuity with the real world" (Day p. 13). However, Stoker's use of the genre and his exploration of the Gothic world has limitations. In direct contrast, Rice's novels have a wide scope, interweaving different genres with the gothic horror story. In this more complex approach she reworks earlier fiction of the Romance, travelogue and confessional narratives. The texts are constructed as self-referential works, mingling popular and 'serious' writing. They draw on philosophical, religious and literary works together with erotica, historical romance, horror and the family saga. Frequently, Rice parodies these ' William Patrick Day, In the Circles of Fear and Desire: A Study of Gothic Fantasy, (Chicago 1985) p.10. Jane Plumb 3 genres using the historical romance and family saga to depict the 'lives and loves' of her rogue vampires. In contrast to Dracula who has no voice of his own in Stoker's novel, Rice's vampires are the heroes of the stories, in effect constructing themselves through their autobiographies. The narrative strategy used by Rice can be found in the ready-formulated genres from the 1960s and 1970s in confessional stories. The self conscious subjectivity of the vampires' narratives follow the pattern of disclosure and public confession prevalent in personal experience narratives. In the Vampire Chronicles the narratives describe the experiences of cannibalistic, serial killers, of vampirism/homosexuality, of necrophilia, of sado-masochism and fetishism. Rice constructs a complex representation of subjectivity where the vampire speaks first-hand, blurring the reader's concepts of belief and disbelief, illusion and disillusion. The first novel of the Vampire Chronicles, Interview with the Vampire, utilises the roles of interviewer and interviewee in the respect that the hero, Louis, records his oral narrative on to tape. Rice allows the voice of 'the other' to speak directly to the interviewer/reader mesmerising his passive audience. Lestat's written autobiography occurs in response to Louis's story and represents a rebuttal. Lestat wants the reader to know the 'truth' of his experience and put the story 'straight' after Louis' 'lies'. The reader is therefore forced to chose between the narratives and puzzle out the 'facts' of vampirism. The vampire's narratives echo Jane Plumb 4 the personal experience narratives focusing on intimate experiences. These narratives have emerged from the early confessional stories and have evolved into a complex process of storytelling which is presented as 'fad' and presumed true. Ken Plummer discusses this process emphasising the way in which "the most personal and private narratives have become the most public property" 2. Rice's characters tell their stories for many of the reasons analysed by Plummer, because their lives have "become a source of suffering and anguish" and "the telling of a story is literally a coming to terms with it" (Plummer p. 34). In the Vampire Chronicles the storytelling of the heroes represents their quest for identity and exploration of vampirism. The process of storytelling involves a complex interplay of 'fact', invention and performance. Rice's construct of an expansive vampire narrative focuses on a plurality of different narrative strategies. This process is discussed by Plummer on his analysis of the personal experience narrative as follows: ...some of these stories are screamed aloud in intense rage, some are clouded in bitterly tearful silence, others are quietly told to a researcher with a tape recorder. (Plummer p. 76). 2 Ken Plummer, Telling Sexual Stories, (London 1995) p. 9- Jane Plumb 5 On account of the fad that they tell their own stories and recite their experiences to the reader, the vampires in Rice's novels can no longer be interpreted as entirely monstrous, alien or 'the other' despite the nature of their vampirism.