Conversation with a vampire
The novel Interview with a Vampire (original title: Interview with the Vampire ) was written in 1973 by the American author Anne Rice and published for the first time in 1976 . It is the first book from the Chronicle of the Vampires and deals with the life of the vampire Lestat. The supporting actors in this work, expanded to the main roles, turn out to be recurring characters in the course of the historical chronicle.
action
First part
In 20th century San Francisco , a young man who is only referred to in the novel as "the boy" and whose name Daniel Molloy will only become known in The Queen of the Damned speaks to the vampire Louis in a bar and makes an interview with him.
Louis came to Louisiana with his family from France to set up an indigo plantation near New Orleans on the Mississippi . One night in 1791 , he was attacked by a vampire who sucked almost all of his blood out of him and visited Louis a second time that night to turn him into a vampire with his consent.
Then Louis and Lestat live with his father in the house of the plantation until the slaves grow suspicious in 1795 and they rebel against them. In New Orleans, they discover a little five-year-old girl in a room next to her mother's decayed body and make her their vampire daughter. After 65 years of living together, Claudia and Louis want to leave Lestat. However, Claudia tries to kill Lestat, but fails, and both flee to Europe.
Second part
Now they hope to be able to clarify the questions in Eastern Europe that Lestat never wanted to answer. Here they meet the first vampire, who, however, turns out to be a senseless creature. They have to have the same experience in the other villages.
third part
After the disappointment, Claudia and Louis moved to Paris , where they stayed at the Hôtel Saint Gabriel. Here he meets other vampires for the first time and receives an invitation to the Théâtre des Vampires on the Boulevard du Temple .
Here they are talking to the vampire Armand, who reveals to Louis that he needs someone to explain and understand the age in which he lives, otherwise he would be lost. In their hotel, the three of them are attacked by Armand's group and taken to the theater, where after years they see Lestat again, who wants Louis back as his companion. However, this is locked in a coffin and only later released by Armand. Meanwhile, Claudia and her friend Madeleine were killed by the vampires. After burning down the theater, Louis and Armand leave Paris.
fourth part
In New Orleans in the early 20th century , Louis meets Lestat again, who had become a pathetic figure. Despite the pleading, Louis leaves him and returns to Armand, from whom he has also distanced himself emotionally. Louis becomes a loner and leaves town to escape memory.
Louis ends his story here. The boy, who was fascinated by his stories, now asks Louis to turn him into a vampire too, but Louis refuses and attacks the boy. The next morning he wakes up in the room, makes a note of the address of Lestat's hiding place, packs up his tape recorder and disappears.
construction
The novel contains elements of a travel , adventure and development novel . At the beginning of the story, the protagonist undergoes an internal as well as external change, namely the transformation into a vampire, whereby he is alienated from his everyday environment and has to cope with this task. Related to this is the travel character of the novel, which only begins in the second part and continues until the end of the work. The search for answers about the vampires, which motivates the journey, but cannot be realized during the first stage (journey to Eastern Europe), is concise. Only the second section of the journey (stay in Paris) can the search end, although the intention of the journey is not fully realized, since the longed-for answers are not given here either. Furthermore, a development of the protagonist can be traced during the plot. At the beginning of the novel, Louis is caught in a self-destructive process that he himself describes as "[...] desire for self-destruction, [...] desire for total damnation" (p. 21). Furthermore, his new form of existence leads to a collapse of his moral values . This only comes back together in the course of the action, as he learns in a continuous process of cognition to accept his person and the needs connected with it.
The pace of the action is increased by some tension frequencies and climaxes (revolt of the slaves, attempted murder of Lestat and the killing of Claudia), whereby these sections are followed by a longer narrative phase. The tension reaches its climax during Louis imprisonment (see p. 257) and then falls continuously, making the transition to the present and thus to the interview in Louis' room run smoothly.
background
The novel is based on a short story that Rice wrote in the 1960s and expanded into a novel in 1973. Originally, it was also intended as a single work and was only continued due to its success with The Prince of Darkness in 1985, which ultimately resulted in a chronicle. Only in the later volumes were Louis and Lestat given the names Louis de Pointe du Lac and Lestat de Lioncourt; in the first novel, both were named by their first names.
The representation of the vampires and their properties is largely based on the other vampire novels that Bram Stoker's Dracula had coined. The vampires of the Chronicle also sleep in coffins, drink human blood, have an appearance that distinguishes them from humans and avoid the sun. In addition, more influenced by romantic vampire novels, a sensual aspect is ascribed to them, which is particularly evident in the drinking of blood, which is described as ecstasy (see p. 73). However, Rice also added new elements, such as insensitivity to crosses , garlic and stakes.
interpretation
The novel was written shortly after the death of Rice's daughter in 1972 and is also characterized by the desire to learn to accept a new phase of life (for Louis it is the transformation into a vampire). This developmental character of the novel has already been explained. The intention here was to create a life-affirming design based on the development of the protagonist and thus also to represent the process of self-acceptance.
In a long dialogue between Louis and Armand (see pp. 206–211) and in shorter passages of the work, the author also deals with the stereotypical approach to evil. Armand in particular helps to make Louis understand that evil can never be absolute and always exists in various forms, and that both the origin and the result of what society perceives as evil can only be based on one's own personal morality. and beliefs can be tested. This imposes self-responsibility on the protagonist for his actions, which should be free from social and religious norms.
Compared to later volumes, there is something very dreary, ominous and melancholy about vampirism in the first volume. The pain of life, despair and cold feelings determine the atmosphere. This also happens in the later course of some characters, but not in such a depressive severity. Lestat is a very cynical, sadistic and immoral antagonist here, later he gets more positive and humorous traits. This is explained by the fact that he “lives a life” at that point in time, with all the associated consequences.
Narrative situation and time level
The novel is written from the perspective of the first-person narrator, whose role is played by the vampire Louis: "'I understand ...' said the vampire thoughtfully and left [...]" (p. 9). This narrative situation creates a feeling of identity between the recipient and the narrator and lets him participate directly in the action. However, the narrator describes what happened from a time interval, namely almost 200 years, which makes him more mature and experienced than his "experiencing self". Particularly with regard to his impressions of Lestat, Louis comes to a well thought-out judgment: “'To be a vampire meant revenge for him, revenge on life itself'” (p. 47).
Louis tells his story on the time level of his present in 1975. Within his narrative of the past, which extends from 1791 to the early 20th century, there is, in contrast to the later novels, no flashback ( analepse ), which again makes the plot temporal runs linearly.
Historical references
Despite the fact that this is also a historical novel , few references to the past are made. The urban description of New Orleans (cf. pp. 69 ff. And 183) and Paris (cf. pp. 184 f.) As well as references to events at the time are therefore relatively rare in the historical context. However, the location of the Théâtre des Vampires on the Boulevard du Temple (see p. 193) corresponds to the importance of the square as a venue for entertainment theaters at the time.
Cinematic implementation
The book was made into a film in 1994 (German title: Interview with a Vampire ), in which Brad Pitt (Louis), Tom Cruise (Lestat) and Kirsten Dunst (Claudia) play the leading roles.
Text output
- Interview with the Vampire . New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1976. (Original edition)
- Conversation with a vampire . From the American by Karl Berisch and CP Hofmann. Goldmann 2004. ISBN 3-442-45791-2
literature
- Jennifer Smith. “Interview with the Vampire” in: Anne Rice - A Critical Companion . Westport: Greenwood Press, 1996, pp. 21-43.
- George E. Haggerty. "Anne Rice and the Queering of Culture". In: Novel: A Forum on Fiction 32.1, 1998, pp. 5-18
- Candace R. Benefiel. "Blood Relations: The Gothic Perversion of the Nuclear Family in Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire ". In: The Journal of Popular Culture 38.2, 2004, pp. 261-273.