Merrick or the vampire's fault
The novel Merrick or the guilt of the vampire (original title: Merrick ) by the American writer Anne Rice was published in 2000 and is the seventh book from the Chronicle of the Vampires .
The focus of the narrative is the witch Merrick Mayfair and the desire of the vampire Louis de Ponte du Lac to help him conjure a necromancy.
Content of the vampire novel
The vampire David Talbot, former colonel general of the secret organization Talamasca, approaches the witch Merrick Marie Louise Mayfair to ask her to call the ghost of the vampire child Claudia who was murdered in the 19th century for the vampire Louis de Ponte du Lac.
Here David reports how Merrick was accepted by Aaron Lightner as a young girl after the death of Big Nananne in the Talamasca order house in Oak Haven (on the outskirts of New Orleans ) and about her abilities as a witch. Merrick's first trip to Guatemala , which she took with her mother Cold Sandra, her stepfather Matthew Kemp and her sister Honey in the Sunshine and how she found Central American artifacts , is also discussed. As a young woman, she repeats this expedition with David, during which they find an antique jade mask and become intimate.
After Merrick pledges her help in conjuring Claudia, she meets with David and Louis at Big Nananne's house in a shabby neighborhood of New Orleans, where Louis falls into a strong affection for Merrick. With the help of personal items belonging to the vampire child Claudia, she manages to call her ghost, who hurts Louis and makes him serious.
After a few days, David, Merrick and Louis meet again; however, Louis then turned Merrick into a vampire and exposed himself to the sun, which, however, did not kill him. With the help of Lestat de Lioncourt, who had awakened from his lifeless and comatose state, they manage to heal Louis again. Afterward, Merrick confesses to binding both Louis and David to become a vampire. Then they receive a letter from the Talamasca, who now gives up her passive attitude and openly threatens Lestat, whereupon he reluctantly leaves New Orleans with David and Merrick.
Narrative situation and time level
For the first time in the Chronicle, a novel by David Talbot is described from the first-person perspective, whereby a distinction is also made in this work between frame and internal narration: The previous life story of the witch Merrick forms the core of the narrative, whereby a new character is introduced and her Character is described, and is outwardly framed by the plea to Merrick, the meeting of the three, the necromancy, and the conflict with the Talamasca.
References to the Chronicle
In David's account of the admission of young Merrick to the Talamasca, Merrick's relative Uncle Julien, who was a powerful warlock and belonged to the White Mayfairs of the Garden District, is mentioned several times.
This appears both in the novel Blackwood Farm Quinn Blackwood and in Song of Songs Lestat as a ghost and intervenes in the story through his actions.
References to the series "The Mayfair Witches"
Also by introducing the character of Uncle Julien, Rice links some aspects of her series "The Mayfair Witches" (1990-1994) with the novel about Merrick.
However, the connections between the white Mayfair witches and the black ones remain relatively vague and there is only overlap with regard to their common family origins.
Reviews
The New York Times criticized Rice for failing to provide enough background information on past narrative strands and characters for new readers, but praised the vampires, who were portrayed more beautifully than ever before.
Entertainment Weekly, on the other hand, only criticizes Rice's writing style, which would correspond to someone who would have learned English from a presumptuous foreigner a few centuries ago.
Text output
- Rice, Anne: Merrick or the Vampire's Fault. Hoffmann and Campe 2003, ISBN 3-455-06264-4 .
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Secondary literature
- Katherine Ramsland / Anne Rice. Prism Of The Night, A Biography of Anne Rice . New York: Penguin, 1994.
- Gary Hoppenstand / Ray B. Browne. The Gothic World of Anne Rice . Twayne Publishers, 1994.
- Jennifer Smith. Anne Rice - A Critical Companion . Westport: Greenwood Press, 1996.
- George E. Haggerty. "Anne Rice and the Queering of Culture". In: Novel: A Forum on Fiction 32.1, 1998, pp. 5-18.
- Erwin Jänsch. “Softie-Vampire Lestat” in: Das Vampirlexikon , Munich: Knaur, 2000, pp. 232–239.
- Rebecca Cordes. Anne Rice's "Vampire Chronicles" - Myth and History. Osnabrück: Der Andere Verlag, 2004.