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UMI Universite de Montreal Unholy Transubstantiation: Christifying the Vampire and Demonizing the Blood par Maureen-Claude LaPerriere Departement de Litterature comparee Faculte des arts et des sciences These presentee a la Faculte des etudes superieures en vue de l'obtention du grade de PhD en Litterature option Litterature comparee mai, 2008 Maureen-Claude LaPerriere, 2008 Grade < a Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-55664-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-55664-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. ••• Canada 2 Universite de Montreal Faculte des etudes superieures Cette these intitulee Unholy Transubstantiation: Christifying the Vampire and Demonizing the Blood Presentee par: Maureen-Claude LaPerriere A ete evalue par un jury compose des personnes suivantes: Eric Savoy president rapporteur Terry Cochran directeur de recherche Amaryll Chanady membre du jury Mcola Nixon examinateur externe Andre-A. Lafranee representant du doyen de la FES These acceptee le 19 septembre 2008 3 Resume La representation du vampire, a la fois en tant que revenant et de monstre fictif, est sans doute celle qui, a travers l'univers et les ages, a inspire au plus haut degre la peur, la crainte, le respect et, enfm, le desir passionnel. Des les premiers rapports scientifiques d'exhumations de revenants ayant pour but d'expliquer l'etrange phenomene associe aux maladies, aux epidemies et a la mort, jusqu'aux representations du 21e siecle, le vampire, en tant qu'etre omnipotent, creature sexuelle torturee, a toujours joui d'une relation ambivalente avec ceux parmi lesquels il vivait, evoluant dans l'imagination collective parmi les interstices de l'existence humaine qui dissimulent les pulsions et les instincts les plus noirs de l'inconnu chez rhumain. La decouverte et l'explication de Freud de la lutte constante entre les pulsions de vie et les pulsions de mort constituent la plus eloquente representation du vampire. Cette representation, issue d'une comprehension mystique, fut associee a travers les ages a diverses symboliques. Le symbole le plus souvent associe au vampire, qui l'a nourri et qui lui a confere sa veritable raison d'etre comme monstre de la peur, est le sang. Aussi, parce que cette substance, associee au sang trans-substantiel du Christ fut un des pivots de l'Eglise chretienne, 1'insertion de la representation du vampire dans les paradigmes de la Chretiente en est une extension logique. En vertu du fait qu'il soit percu comme antagoniste a la doctrine de l'Eglise, le vampire aura reussi a etre en avance sur elle, en dehors de ses pouvoirs de representation. Et pourtant le sang ne va pas sans ses difficultes de figuration. Avant sa metaphorisation a titre de symbole chretien de l'expiation des peches et de la redemption de l'humanite, le sang existait en tant que substance en soi relie a son passe heroi'que, visible dans toute valeureuse effusion. Cependant, avec 1'apparition des maladies des temps modernes, 1'association sang-mort est devenue moins manifeste sous 1'aspect perte du sang qu'en tant qu'agent sournois, propagateur de la mort, a la facon des maladies sanguines fatales qui se multiplient sans cesse. Aussi, parce que ces maladies sanguines etaient pour la 4 plupart transmises sexuellement, leur association au vampire, derobeur et transporteur de sang par excellence allait s'imposer d'evidence. Sous l'egide de l'esprit de l'epoque romantique, la representation du vampire, tout comme celle du sang, subirent leur plus important renversement de la perception qu'ils suscitaient. Afin de montrer la pleine ampleur de ce renversement, je me suis appuyee sur la representation du chiasme optique, figure qui, bien qu'elle represente clairement 1'opposition, dans leur nature, du vampire et du sang, illustre en meme temps leur constante proximite et correspondance; et ce, a partir du Moyen-Age ou le revenant est a la fois objet de crainte et d'abomination alors que le sang, lui, est sanctifie et adore, jusqu'au 21e siecle ou le vampire est venere et le sang soumis a des siecles de transmission souillee. La deification du vampire et, simultanement, Phumanisation de Jesus-Christ devaient a la longue provoquer un croisement des traditions vampiriques et chretiennes, creant ainsi une intersection ou s'incarne de fa9on transcendante et immanente le symbole du sang. Mots cles : Anne Rice, chiasme, christianisme, gothique, Lestat, transsubstantiation, religion, revenant, sexe, simili-mort 5 Abstract The vampire figure, both as revenant and as fictional monster, is doubtless the one which has, across space and time, inspired the most fear, trepidation, respect and finally, lust. From the first scientific reports of "revenant" exhumations which aimed at explaining the strange phenomena associated with disease, epidemics and death, to the 21st-century representations of the vampire as omnipotent, tortured sexual creature, the vampire has always enjoyed an ambivalent relationship with those amongst whom he lived, dwelling in the collective imagination in the interstices of human existence which conceal the darkest drives and instincts of the human unknown. Freud's discovery and explanation of the death drive in constant struggle with the drive to live represents to the fullest degree the figure of the vampire. This figure of mystical understanding has, through time, been associated with divers symbolic economies. The emblem most often amalgated with the vampire, which has afforded him sustenance as well as his raison-d'etre as fearsome ghoul, is the blood. And because this substance, both as Jesus Christ's literal and transubstantiative blood, has been a mainstay of the Christian Church, the vampire figure's insertion within the paradigms of Christianity is a logical extension. By virtue of being perceived as antagonistic to church doctrine, the vampire has always managed to stay a step ahead of it, outside its representational clutches. Yet the blood is not without its figurative difficulties. Before blood was a Christian metaphor for expiating sins and redeeming humankind, it existed as a substance on its own with a heroic past, visible in the tradition of valorous bloodshed. However, with the advent of modern-day disease, the association between blood and death became less manifest as blood loss than as a propensity to kill from within, as escalatingly fatal blood diseases. And because these blood diseases were largely sexual in transmission, their association with the vampire, purloiner and transporter of blood par excellence, was obvious. Under the aegis of the spirit of the Romantic age, the vampire figure, along with the blood, underwent their greatest reversals in common perception and representation. In order to fully represent the magnitude of this reversal, I have resorted to the figure of the optic chiasma, a structure which, although it clearly represents the oppositional nature of vampire and blood, also depicts their constant proximity and correspondence, from the .middle ages where the revenant is both feared and loathed and the blood is sanctified and worshipped, to our 21st"century spacetime where the vampire is revered and the blood has been subjected to centuries of sullied transmission. The simultaneous deification of the vampire and humanization of Jesus Christ would eventually meld the vampiric and Christian traditions, creating an intersection where resides the blood symbol, in both its transcendent and immanent incarnations. Keywords: Anne Rice, chiasma, Christianity, gothic, Lestat, transubstantiation, religion, revenant, sex, undeath 7 Table of Contents Figures 8 Dedication 9 Acknowledgements 10 Preface As It Was in the Beginning 11 Chapter 1 a) Him They Compelled to