Carmilla

Predating BRAM STOKER's DRACULA by a quarter of a century, CARMELLA by JOSEPH SHERIDAN LE FANU is an outstanding short read and a strangely overlooked masterpiece of Gothic horror.

In Carmilla, a young woman falls prey to a doting female vampire.

Much is made of this book as the fountainhead of a small pocket of literature and film dedicated to "LESBIAN VAMPIRES." (A fact I did not know until after reading the book.) I don't know how seriously to take this. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu writes into the work a complex motivation for his vampires that somewhat waters down the modern interpretation. Not only do vampires need to suck the life out of their victims, they need to prolong the experience by turning it into a mock courtship. Vampires long to earn affection and acceptance from their victims. In Carmilla, the relationship is focused on two women, and so there is a strong homo-erotic current in the novel. I would stop short of overtly referring to it as a novel about Lesbianism, though, because of the supernatural element in play. I feel like it is focused on a more universal theme about intertwining love and destruction. The book is about a "predatory" form of love and a projected bond between the hunter and the hunted. The aim of the vampire in the story is not to establish a loving relationship with a partner, it is to extract every ounce of delicious experience possible from her current meal.

On the other hand, this explanation is primarily added in the last chapter and may be Le Fanu's way of dissembling. Perhaps he intended to write a Lesbian love story, clothed in Gothic horror, and then carefully stirred up a veil of smoke around it so as not to expose himself to censorship or criticism.

In any case, I was surprised by the strong ideas in this book, even though I was a bit disappointed by the story's resolution. (It failed to address a number of loose ends and was less than satisfying, in my opinion.) Though not as good a "yarn" as Dracula, it is a more thorough tale in a psychological sense and a must-read for fans of Gothic horror.

I almost forgot to mention that I have also "read" this story as a free audiobook from LIBRIVOX.ORG. The narration by ELIZABETH KLETT is very good and lasts just a bit longer than three hours.

You will figure out who the vampire is long before the heroine does, but the mystery of how the story ends will keep you reading until the end. It's great fun.