The Vampire Chronicles
From The Black Vault Encyclopedia Project
The Vampire Chronicles is a series of novels by Anne Rice that revolves around the character Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman made into a vampire in the 18th century.
The chronicles have gained a large fanbase since the publication of the first volume in the 1970s. The first five books, which feature Lestat prominently, are especially popular; the later books have been criticized as having lost some of the sparkle and vitality of the earlier works.
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Books in the series
The Vampire Chronicles
- Interview with the Vampire (1976)
- The Vampire Lestat (1985)
- The Queen of the Damned (1988)
- The Tale of the Body Thief (1992)
- Memnoch the Devil (1995)
- The Vampire Armand (1998)
- Merrick (2000)
- Blood and Gold (2001)
- Blackwood Farm (2002)
- Blood Canticle (2003)
New Tales of the Vampires
- Pandora (1998)
- Vittorio, the Vampire (2001)
Vampire properties
Anne Rice's vampires are different in several ways from classic vampires like Dracula. Rice's creatures are not affected by the usual weapons against classic vampires: garlic, crosses or silver, and they cannot be killed with wooden stakes.
They need blood, but not every day. Human blood is preferred as it is more nutritious, but animal blood is also used. They do not age physically, but vampires younger than a thousand years old can usually be killed by exposure to sunlight or fire.
They do not possess stereotypically "vampiric" magical powers, such as changing into bats or casting spells, but some of the stronger, older ones do have the power to fly. Most of them also have the power to read thoughts of mortals and weaker vampires. They have other physical abilities: they can move very quickly (faster than human eyes can see), possess great strength and extremely keen senses. Very old vampires or ones who have been made or strengthened by feeding on blood that is close to the root of the vampiric mother may have additional gifts like the ability to move matter with the mind (Mind Gift) and the ability to set things ablaze by the force of will (Fire Gift). They have many artistic talents, like singing, painting and acting.
The main characteristic of Rice's vampires is that they are all excessively emotional and sensitive, being easy prey to intense emotional suffering and aesthetic passions. They are usually very beautiful, as older vampires avoid making new ones out of old or ugly mortals.
Synopses
The Vampire Chronicles
Interview with the Vampire
The first book in the series, it tells the story of Louis de Pointe du Lac, a French nobleman living on a Louisiana plantation in the late 18th century. In the 20th century, Louis allows himself to be interviewed by a reporter and tells the tale of his transformation. He was made into a vampire by the charismatic Lestat de Lioncourt, the central hero of Rice's Vampire Chronicles. Lestat and Louis lived together for almost a century in New Orleans, along with the child vampire Claudia; but Louis, discontented with his new immortal life, eventually sought to escape from the influence of Lestat....
The Vampire Lestat
The story of Lestat de Lioncourt in "his own words". Lestat writes his autobiography and tries to convince us that, not only is he not just a character in a story, but that he is very different from the Lestat portrayed in Interview With The Vampire. It covers his life from growing up in France and his "making" as a vampire, to his life in New Orleans and eventual rock stardom. The narrative takes several long detours to include the background of Armand, a character from Interview, and introduce several other ancient vampires, such as Marius and Pandora. It also goes into detail on the vampire origins by introducing the Mother and Father: Akasha and Enkil.
The Queen of the Damned
The Tale of the Body Thief
Memnoch the Devil
The Vampire Armand
Merrick
Blood and Gold
Blackwood Farm
Blood Canticle
New Tales of the Vampires
Pandora
Vittorio, the Vampire
Themes and Concepts
Blood
Blood is seen as the ultimate relief. Through blood-taking, the vampires experience the only relief and rapture that they can know. It may also be seen as a substitute for sex and other mortal pleasures that are not available to vampires, a tradition that has many precedents in vampire literature. In particular, vampires who are in love (e.g., Marius and Pandora) exchange their blood in a manner that suggests sexual intercourse.
With the taking of the blood, it is also possible for the vampire to learn about the lives of their victims; a kind of instant life review, the vampire can experience the key parts of the victim's life.
Emotional Effects of Time's Passage
Many of the vampires remain on cordial terms with their colleagues, even when they have done horrible things in the past. The reason - as related by Marius - is that the passage of time dulls anger and desires for revenge. As a result, many of the vampires become emotionally stunted, which is sometimes interpreted as sociopathy.
Practically all the vampires have counterparts that a normal person would not be able to abide. Louis remains with Lestat despite his many abusive actions towards him. Talbot proves incapable of hating Lestat for making him into a vampire against his will. Marius even forgives Santino for trying to kill him and kidnapping Armand (another vampire takes revenge on his behalf). However, the older the vampire, the less likely they are to show strong emotion, as in the long run, such things become unimportant.
An unfortunate side effect of this is that the vampires find it hard to experience "good" emotions, such as love, as well as bad emotions. For example, Marius and Pandora spent several centuries as lovers; after that long together, Pandora no longer wants anything to do with Marius. Likewise, it isn't until Blood Canticle that Lestat can even experience love in the conventional sense.
Purpose
Many of the vampires struggle to find some "higher purpose" in their existence. Lestat and Armand turn to religious revelation. Talbot becomes a chronicler, attempting to write the histories of all the vampires. Marius, for most of his time on earth, was the custodian of Those Who Must Be Kept.
Even more jaded characters, as the Chronicles progress, find some belief they want to cling to. Only a handful (such as Pandora) have actually embraced their entire nature, and are able to kill innocent people for blood without remorse.
Hedonism
Practically all the vampires are extremely materialistic, and revel in expensive houses, clothes, technology, cars, entire islands, etc. One exception would be Louis, who constantly criticizes Lestat for his crass consumerism. However, Louis is also rather unhappy with himself.
Copyright
"Original data received from Wikipedia on April 23, 2006. Credit given to original authors can be seen Here."
