On the Polidori point, that really is where modern vampire fiction started as it was published in 1819, predating even Carmilla by 50 years but is also technically a short-story, so you are correct to refer to Carmilla as the first vampire book. Also, Polidori's story has similar homoerotic elements, the main character, Count Ruthven, directly based on the flamboyantly bisexual Lord Byron.
The even more og vampire story would be Polidori's The Vampyre. Also, as a saphic woman myself, I really love Carmilla. Yes, it has overt homophobic elements to it but it is in a way extremely relatable (the childhood dreams about women, the intimicy between the characters, Laura missing Carmilla after her death), it honestly makes me kind of feel seen.
Oooh okay now I have to check that out! And thank you for sharing, I've been confused in the past when hearing lesbian women praising Carmilla because of the homophobic undertones but this makes a lot of sense :)
There's also Varney the Vampire from 1847, which is ponderously long and not well written (so not recommended), but it was (I think) the first story of a vampire who hated his own condition. Every time he died, the universe (or some power) conspired to bring him back to life, seemingly to make him suffer longer. Of course, everyone around him suffered too. (The first half of the book has a lot of filler, but it improves somewhat in the second half.) Carmilla is also somewhat reminiscent of Christabel by Samuel Coleridge, an earlier poem about a woman who seems like a vampire (she can't cross the threshold to a house under her own power), but the story was unfinished, so it never revealed what sort of creature she was.
Yess! So psyched to hear you talking about Carmilla, Ana. Given the original Carmilla was published in 1870s, it was quite obviously written for the old timey's male gaze. Carmilla is the embodiment of female sexuality/lesbianism in the story, and the fact that all the male characters see her as this evil that needs to be exorcized, speaks volumes. While I love the OG Carmilla, I agree with you that there are a lot of problematic themes when it comes to racism, sexuality, etc. I actually published a Carmilla retelling for the female gaze while staying true-ish to the original. I say true-ish because there is explicit spice that the OG didn't veer into (though I was hoping it might lol) and the racist undertones are not in this one obv. If you're interested in taking a gander, it's called My Carmilla: A Sapphic Vampire Romance. Happy reading xoxo
I haven't read Carmilla in a while but my recollection is that I enjoyed it. I loved how even in its brevity it managed to establish some gorgeous imagery and evocative prose, while telling a lean, efficient story. I don't recall the sapphic tones directly, but vaguely I remember thinking that their treatment was surprisingly less harsh than I would've expected from a book it's age - it seemed less openly condemning of the actual sapphic qualities and more so of the vampirism. Id have to reread it of course to confirm/deny, but yea. Overall I remember liking it and being inspired to write a vampire piece because of it.
I completely agree! I assumed the laxer sapphic tones were meant to show us that Laura the protagonist was falling prey to the seduction, but I could have completely misinterpreted the author's intentions. Maybe he was intending to push the envelope, who knows 🤷🏻♀️
@@BookandHearth indeed! Would be interesting to know just what the authors intentions were with that aspect. Regardless, Carmilla is a fascinating piece of goth literature history - and I had the Castlevania TV series for thank for discovering it!
Vampires appeared in poetry before novels - The Bride of Corinth (1797) and Der Vampir(1748). The same year as Polidori's Vampyre (1819) was The Black Vampire: A legend of St.Domingo by Uriah Derick D'Arcy. Also, Wake not the dead (1823) by Ernst Raupach.
Great topic. Truth be told, most people think Dracula started it all, but not true. Carmilla's story is so rich with original lore that you just don't see modern vampire stories. Thanks for making this video! Great timing with Halloween fast approaching.
Just ordered a copy, so thank you for this! I'm firmly in the camp of Tell rather than Show. I like words. I like language. I like how authors use both to create vivid pictures in my mind. I enjoy reading and don't need to be distracted from the fact that I am, indeed, reading. Reading is a pleasurable activity for its own sake and I resent modern trends that insist good writing only encompasses what is currently valued. I think the reason so many people have such problems with classic literature is because they're not raised with a more expansive view of what has constituted literature over time. Of course, I'm a double-lit major, so possible echo chamber, etc. But I'm largely okay with that.
I've written my own retelling of Carmilla, using ideas from other vampire stories as well One major difference is I've drained the sexual aspect of the story for various reasons. The relationship does remain an obsessive one. Suicide is also an issue for both the characters involved.
I wish they went into Carmilla's character and opinions more in the book. I wanted to know more about how she became a vampire and how she feels about living that life! Her death seemed so sudden without hearing any final words or goodbyes from her.
I read this for the first time recently but thankfully I read the version edited by Carmen Maria Machado who goes into some very interesting and, I believe, essential history of the inspiration behind the novel, as well as pointing out the prejudice injected by the author. I highly recommend reading that version. Also, there’s some gorgeous illustrations in it as well.
I just read it and I honestly didn’t realize her intro was a frame story at first, I’m not used to modern authors using frames at all and I didn’t pick up on the hints/references until I found a blog post about it! But yeah it’s a fictional history for Le Fanu’s writing of the book with another “found letters” story encompassing his own “found letters” setup that’s specifically written to point the reader in the direction of his biases, like the homophobia and lack of agency for Laura. It’s very weird and to me it sounds so convincing to the point it’s a little disorienting because of how straight she plays it with a ‘perfectly normal introduction here’ format. Maybe that’s how readers felt when the found-letters frame was a new shiny trope?
Hot take: Carmilla's possessive and selfish love for Laura (which slowly kills Laura) is a mirror of Laura's father selfish love for his daughter, which also slowly kills Laura. I can't tell with certainty, but the idea that suicides can turn into vampires might actually come from real folklore.
Carmilla is frighteningly deep. Emphasis on frightening, for as a character, she is more than what she says and does. Laura too possesses this quality, and it is why her account is so fascinating to read. Because they are, each of them, phenomenally interpretable characters. But Laura is rarely seen as in-moral-contention or contrition (read: not my take of our victim, not in the least. She is a slothful, capricious, and passive person with little will or patience. Laura is not utterly devoid of traits in the outlined situation depicted by the novel that shine upon her in a negative light). Her counterpart’s character on the other hand, is very much in question, and by the vast majority. Carmilla is, after all, the resurrection-man who steals her own corpse. Her Vampirism is a fact of her existence, whether she enjoys it or very much otherwise. She is Evil, in being an unnatural immortal monster what preys by-necessity or by-its-near-neighbor-want upon the living. That does not mean she is also Immune From Suffering. That does not mean the endless passing of centuries weighs not upon her shoulders, nor the loneliness, nor the poisonously cruel company she keeps. That the ‘mother’ character would repeatedly abandon her in different feeding grounds, an evidentially routine happenstance, cannot be regarded kindly. The other one comes off as more directly unpleasant, and leaves one to wonder if the disgusted look is for Laura…. Or Carmilla. (which some seem to read as racism… idk, a very distant maybe? I never read it as such. Their otherness for me came in the scary snarl upon their face as they glared out the carriage window; them being black was merely a strange curiosity for me as the depiction of the Schloss did not lend itself to my mind as being remotely close for any persons of ‘recent’-African-descent to have accessed in the timeframe it is suggested the story was written, let alone the year itself. If the author was profoundly racist, I didn’t feel it through any of my readings of the text, and I do not regard the author as so incapable a wordsmith to be unable to descriptively demonstrate their worldview should that have been their aim. I’m pretty sure the character in question is a woman, slightly interesting for a man of said time to have written. Either I am incredibly underinformed of narrative trends of the time (very possible and I should love to be enlightened otherwise, because there’s some far-more-serious racism (and other *very fun* things) in Robinson Crusoe and Around The World In Eighty Days.)), or Ugly-Black-Woman-Maybe-Monster wasn’t trending (contrast with Baba Yaga, a hideous monster woman character who happens to be Slavic in origin, and I don’t think a single description of Yaga(‘s true face, the one she wears when she isn’t pretending to be someone else to lure in prey (read: children) compares kindly compared to the briefly mentioned black woman in Carmilla). A Journey Of Black and Red, a modern Vampiric work set in the American South before its Civil War: profoundly captures the spirit of what I should think this particular form of racism depicted by a competent author might look like. More important than something one can easily miss due to how small of a part it has: Carmilla. Where one person might easily see a selfish love that cares not for consent and the well-being of their ‘target of affection’, and draws parallels with two of the greatest crimes committable: Another can easily see a boundless love unwilling to allow any bondage laid upon it, even time and life, and a desperate prayer that the other is as equally consumed by passion and ardor as they. Because Carmilla confesses her love to Laura through those very words, and finds a reception of both reciprocation and repulsion. Just when Carmilla reads Laura as ready to go further, she finds rejection in Laura’s reluctance. I strongly suggest a reread of those passages, considering them in that particular context. Carmilla is more than what she says and what she does: she is also why she says it, and how earnest she means it. This facet of her character shines through in all ways. For an enigmatic murderous monster entirely possessed by lust and personal gratification: Carmilla spends a disproportionate amount of time through the novel dealing with very human feelings. She is at times staggeringly depressed, and even scared of Laura; refusing to open the door for her as their love deepens, even escaping through the window rather than confronting what she fears. It is during this time that the first deaths start occurring in the town if I remember correctly. Falling in love with a person you cannot stop yourself from killing cannot be interpreted as anything less than tragic. Falling deeply in love with someone who has rejected you or otherwise not accepted you is painful. If Laura was not so very taken with Carmilla, then it would not be a tragic love story, but just one more story of man vs monster. And though Carmilla/Mircalla is dead and gone forever: Laura still loves that monster, and she will never love again.
"Many of us have heard of Bram Stokers Dracula, but not many of us have heard of the book before and inspired Dracula and Carmilla, John Polidori's The Vampyre. And anyone into Vampire literature should know all these names..."
If a book reflects its own culture of its time, judging it by todays standards Would be wrong imo. I realised something so Simple the moment you said it was a good book. thanks you.
Just read this a while ago and the vampires I imagined being Ana! No joke! She makes the perfect person to represent Carmella because she is young smart charismatic and seems kind, no one would expect her to be a vampire.
@@BookandHearth here are some of my faves: Blood and Roses (1960) , an earlier b&w film Vampyros Lesbos (1970) The Blood Spattered Bride (1972) Alucarda (1977) from Mexico Daughters of Darkness (1971) Fascination (1979) Some of these are trashier than others, but they’re all a pretty fun watch
GIRL…. I am studying psychology but my dream is to be an author. PLEEEAAASEEE make a video on how you managed to do both.. and in such a short time??? You cannot be over 25 years old I SWEAR
It’s nice to come across another book lover such as yourself! Carmilla is a great book! There’s something so seductive and enticing about spooky vampires! I think the fangs look sexy! I actually had one of my girlfriends wear fangs for Halloween one year, and uhhhh god, what a heart throb! I was always a fan of the lost boys from the 80s. I’ve got some old comic books kickin around. Vampires everywhere!! Wooo!! Spooktober is here! 🐈⬛ 🎃🎃
Some references and fun facts: The Land Beyond the Forest by E. Gerard (1888) was a book referenced by Bram Stocker during his writing of Dracula. The Vampire by Rudyard Kipling (Poem - 1897) Varney the Vampire by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest (1845) The Vampyre by John William Polidori (1819) Jure Grando Alilović (1578-1656) - a villager from Istria who was a real person described as a vampire. Also there's an Old Russian text from 1047, which used the term "upir". The word "upir" may have meant "the thing at the feast or sacrifice" and was a euphemism to avoid saying the creature's name. The word "vampire" first appeared in English in 1732.
I wonder if the shift from telling to showing has to do with the explosion of visual media in the last century or so? The Victorians didn't have film or animation in the modern sense, and certainly not on any large scale. Even comics were still in their infancy, so the only wide-spread sequential visual mediums were things like the zoetrope, which could only show a few seconds' worth of motion. And single static images can include a surprising amount of visual storytelling, but nothing like the scope of a novel or movie. So before all that was invented, the only real way to tell a story was....to *tell* the story, as though the characters were telling the reader about something that happened to them, as opposed to now where we watch a story unfold as though we're present for it.
i think the original vampires were women converting and preying on men, i heard this from a woman too, this resonates with me bcus "Yin energy" tends to be more feminine and primal
1. The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories contains some of the early vampire lit. mentioned in the comments below, and includes "Carmilla." 2. It's hard to think of these stories as explicit warnings. The written warnings you read aloud are brief enough to be perfunctory in light of how much time the authors subsequently spend on the erotic elements of the story. These guys wrote hot stories to make pulses race. They probably wanted to sell books without getting into too much hot water. 3. Perhaps they did subscribe to the mores of the day, Christian or otherwise, and were xenophobic and racist. However as vampires stories are still going strong - though we are obviously still xenophobic and racist - I don't think it's the othering in these stories that make them compelling... it's our own fantasies. This is erotic fiction. It was surely popular in its day as erotic fiction for all who enjoyed it. 4. I do think both tales function as an implicit warning about narcissism as well as the devouring aspect of immature love (as you stated). The promiscuous "warnings" in the stories serve more to break taboo for the purpose of arousing the reader. If the authors were worried about promiscuity they wouldn't have written these books. 5. Apples and Oranges comparison, but it's hard to fault Bram Stoker for shamelessly stealing from Carmilla any more than we blame Disney for profiting far more from The Little Mermaid than Hans Christian Andersen. The story doesn't belong wholly to either. It's reasonable to assume Carmilla, being folkloric in origin (as commenters below have stated or implied), was not entirely Le Fanu's creation. 6. Thank you for making this thoughtful video, and for celebrating the season in an intelligent way that generates discussion.
Thank you for your thoughts!! And yeah I agree that vampires are also erotic, particularly in modern times. I've also seen them be used as metaphors for addiction, personality disorders, etc.
Thank *you*. Yes, I see the addiction angle. I hopped over to your other channel after I wrote. I'm "stoked" 🦇 you & husband made it out of Seattle. Inspired. I live there now and agreed with everything you said. Wonderful for you both to be closer to friends and family.
I love your review, but must point out you are imposing a view of homosexuality that did not exist circa 1870. I'm not saying that era was no homophobic, but rather its view of such things was very different from our own. Not so much viewing someone as "gay" for example as seeing such acts as a sin to which some people are prone, akin to lying or theft or sex outside marriage or not attending Mass. I would also note CARMILLA feels very akin to a tale of faerie from Le Fanu's homeland, Ireland. In those tales a human has an intimate encounter with someone Fey, and even if they return to the human world afterwards are never the same. The fact that all the vampire hunters are servants of what was viewed at the time (rightly) as a tyranny adds to the ambiguity imho. And I feel I must point out Le Fanu was literally describing actual vampire lore, and even gives us the titles of the books he used for research. That IS the lore. As for why the dark skinned woman could be seen in the carriage--I myself think it was to suggest the parallels between CArmilla and Laura, that each have two older women around them. Laura has her governesses and Carmilla the Countess and this other person who may be the "Moksa" she asks for when she wakes. Lots of details within the story are never explained, but portraying a black woman as ugly because she actually has ugly features does not strike me as inherently racist. It can be taken so, and reasonably so. But I think of it as a startling otherworldly detail (along with the question of who these allies of Carmilla are, and what are they doing?) Thank you so much for your video! I have shared it with some vampire groups on Facebook!
I love CARMILLA so much I have adapted it twice. Once for the stage and once as an audio drama. Both are built around a central premise that Laura is an unreliable narrator and had fallen in love with Carmilla. I see their relationship as real, doomed in some way, but they made each other happy for at least some time. But not at all "sweet" or "wholesome" or "nice." Real passion often is not, especially on the edges of life and society. Just a little bit of Heathcliff and Cathy to them.
Yes, suicide is a theme in this book, first referenced in the painting of Cleopatra with the adders at her bosom. And Carmilla, by seeking Laura's quasi consent to her own murder, is trying to make her something akin to a suicide. Le Fanu does not seem to have any particular antipathy towards suicides, but yes, he is a Christian, and he does think suicide is a sin. In other words, don't do it kids! He is also accurately describing vampiric lore in which he really does have a genuine interest.. Strange that this makes you so angry. Do you think the kids SHOULD kill themselves? Yes I agree that factors such as illness or madness can deprive a person of choice, but that goes for any prohibition. Including murder. And Le Fanu explores these themes too. Both Carmilla and Laura are victims, acted upon by forces beyond their control. It is you who are being ideological. Do you really think that no person who ever killed himself ever had a choice? Seems to me that there may have been countless people who have resisted a temptation to suicide because they did not want to offend God. Can you give them a better reason? Medication? Psychiatric confinement?
Interesting. When I talk about a religion's values, though, I'm mainly talking about those espoused by the people practicing that religion, not the holy texts per se. You can interpret holy texts any which way, but the culture's interpretation is the one to analyze.
On the Polidori point, that really is where modern vampire fiction started as it was published in 1819, predating even Carmilla by 50 years but is also technically a short-story, so you are correct to refer to Carmilla as the first vampire book. Also, Polidori's story has similar homoerotic elements, the main character, Count Ruthven, directly based on the flamboyantly bisexual Lord Byron.
The even more og vampire story would be Polidori's The Vampyre. Also, as a saphic woman myself, I really love Carmilla. Yes, it has overt homophobic elements to it but it is in a way extremely relatable (the childhood dreams about women, the intimicy between the characters, Laura missing Carmilla after her death), it honestly makes me kind of feel seen.
Oooh okay now I have to check that out! And thank you for sharing, I've been confused in the past when hearing lesbian women praising Carmilla because of the homophobic undertones but this makes a lot of sense :)
this is what i was thinking, didn’t know about carmilla but i know Polidoris story, i remember lord bryon being upset that it was based around him
There's also Varney the Vampire from 1847, which is ponderously long and not well written (so not recommended), but it was (I think) the first story of a vampire who hated his own condition. Every time he died, the universe (or some power) conspired to bring him back to life, seemingly to make him suffer longer. Of course, everyone around him suffered too. (The first half of the book has a lot of filler, but it improves somewhat in the second half.)
Carmilla is also somewhat reminiscent of Christabel by Samuel Coleridge, an earlier poem about a woman who seems like a vampire (she can't cross the threshold to a house under her own power), but the story was unfinished, so it never revealed what sort of creature she was.
Thanks for this info! I don't know if I'll be reading them based on this, but that's really interesting to know
Yess! So psyched to hear you talking about Carmilla, Ana. Given the original Carmilla was published in 1870s, it was quite obviously written for the old timey's male gaze. Carmilla is the embodiment of female sexuality/lesbianism in the story, and the fact that all the male characters see her as this evil that needs to be exorcized, speaks volumes. While I love the OG Carmilla, I agree with you that there are a lot of problematic themes when it comes to racism, sexuality, etc. I actually published a Carmilla retelling for the female gaze while staying true-ish to the original. I say true-ish because there is explicit spice that the OG didn't veer into (though I was hoping it might lol) and the racist undertones are not in this one obv. If you're interested in taking a gander, it's called My Carmilla: A Sapphic Vampire Romance. Happy reading xoxo
That's so awesome of you!!! Thanks for sharing :)
I haven't read Carmilla in a while but my recollection is that I enjoyed it. I loved how even in its brevity it managed to establish some gorgeous imagery and evocative prose, while telling a lean, efficient story. I don't recall the sapphic tones directly, but vaguely I remember thinking that their treatment was surprisingly less harsh than I would've expected from a book it's age - it seemed less openly condemning of the actual sapphic qualities and more so of the vampirism. Id have to reread it of course to confirm/deny, but yea. Overall I remember liking it and being inspired to write a vampire piece because of it.
I completely agree! I assumed the laxer sapphic tones were meant to show us that Laura the protagonist was falling prey to the seduction, but I could have completely misinterpreted the author's intentions. Maybe he was intending to push the envelope, who knows 🤷🏻♀️
@@BookandHearth indeed! Would be interesting to know just what the authors intentions were with that aspect. Regardless, Carmilla is a fascinating piece of goth literature history - and I had the Castlevania TV series for thank for discovering it!
I was shocked how early this was written and that it had a sapphic tone even though she didn’t have the best intentions lmao
Right?? I thought it was a smoother read than Dracula in many ways!
Vampires appeared in poetry before novels - The Bride of Corinth (1797) and Der Vampir(1748). The same year as Polidori's Vampyre (1819) was The Black Vampire: A legend of St.Domingo by Uriah Derick D'Arcy. Also, Wake not the dead (1823) by Ernst Raupach.
Thanks for this!!
Amazing!!!! I had never heard of this story before!!
Great topic.
Truth be told, most people think Dracula started it all, but not true.
Carmilla's story is so rich with original lore that you just don't see modern vampire stories.
Thanks for making this video! Great timing with Halloween fast approaching.
I really enjoyed this video and I'm excited that you are making more like it!
I'm so glad! :)
Just ordered a copy, so thank you for this! I'm firmly in the camp of Tell rather than Show. I like words. I like language. I like how authors use both to create vivid pictures in my mind. I enjoy reading and don't need to be distracted from the fact that I am, indeed, reading. Reading is a pleasurable activity for its own sake and I resent modern trends that insist good writing only encompasses what is currently valued. I think the reason so many people have such problems with classic literature is because they're not raised with a more expansive view of what has constituted literature over time. Of course, I'm a double-lit major, so possible echo chamber, etc. But I'm largely okay with that.
Agreed, telling can really work with the voice of the writing! And sometimes it *is* still immersive where you forget you're reading
I've written my own retelling of Carmilla, using ideas from other vampire stories as well One major difference is I've drained the sexual aspect of the story for various reasons. The relationship does remain an obsessive one. Suicide is also an issue for both the characters involved.
You should also read Le Fanu's short stories, especially the collection In a Glass Darkly. Great gothic work.
I'll check it out, thanks!!
I wish they went into Carmilla's character and opinions more in the book. I wanted to know more about how she became a vampire and how she feels about living that life! Her death seemed so sudden without hearing any final words or goodbyes from her.
Love the bookshelf
Thank you! :)
Wow I didn't know of the book but it sounds sooooo interesting! I'm definitely going to read it very soon
I read this for the first time recently but thankfully I read the version edited by Carmen Maria Machado who goes into some very interesting and, I believe, essential history of the inspiration behind the novel, as well as pointing out the prejudice injected by the author. I highly recommend reading that version. Also, there’s some gorgeous illustrations in it as well.
Ahh that would've been good, I didn't have that version!
I just read it and I honestly didn’t realize her intro was a frame story at first, I’m not used to modern authors using frames at all and I didn’t pick up on the hints/references until I found a blog post about it! But yeah it’s a fictional history for Le Fanu’s writing of the book with another “found letters” story encompassing his own “found letters” setup that’s specifically written to point the reader in the direction of his biases, like the homophobia and lack of agency for Laura. It’s very weird and to me it sounds so convincing to the point it’s a little disorienting because of how straight she plays it with a ‘perfectly normal introduction here’ format. Maybe that’s how readers felt when the found-letters frame was a new shiny trope?
Hot take: Carmilla's possessive and selfish love for Laura (which slowly kills Laura) is a mirror of Laura's father selfish love for his daughter, which also slowly kills Laura.
I can't tell with certainty, but the idea that suicides can turn into vampires might actually come from real folklore.
Aw really? I thought her dad was pretty sweet! What made you feel his love for her was selfish?
Carmilla is frighteningly deep. Emphasis on frightening, for as a character, she is more than what she says and does.
Laura too possesses this quality, and it is why her account is so fascinating to read.
Because they are, each of them, phenomenally interpretable characters.
But Laura is rarely seen as in-moral-contention or contrition (read: not my take of our victim, not in the least. She is a slothful, capricious, and passive person with little will or patience. Laura is not utterly devoid of traits in the outlined situation depicted by the novel that shine upon her in a negative light).
Her counterpart’s character on the other hand, is very much in question, and by the vast majority.
Carmilla is, after all, the resurrection-man who steals her own corpse. Her Vampirism is a fact of her existence, whether she enjoys it or very much otherwise.
She is Evil, in being an unnatural immortal monster what preys by-necessity or by-its-near-neighbor-want upon the living.
That does not mean she is also Immune From Suffering. That does not mean the endless passing of centuries weighs not upon her shoulders, nor the loneliness, nor the poisonously cruel company she keeps.
That the ‘mother’ character would repeatedly abandon her in different feeding grounds, an evidentially routine happenstance, cannot be regarded kindly.
The other one comes off as more directly unpleasant, and leaves one to wonder if the disgusted look is for Laura…. Or Carmilla. (which some seem to read as racism… idk, a very distant maybe? I never read it as such. Their otherness for me came in the scary snarl upon their face as they glared out the carriage window; them being black was merely a strange curiosity for me as the depiction of the Schloss did not lend itself to my mind as being remotely close for any persons of ‘recent’-African-descent to have accessed in the timeframe it is suggested the story was written, let alone the year itself. If the author was profoundly racist, I didn’t feel it through any of my readings of the text, and I do not regard the author as so incapable a wordsmith to be unable to descriptively demonstrate their worldview should that have been their aim. I’m pretty sure the character in question is a woman, slightly interesting for a man of said time to have written. Either I am incredibly underinformed of narrative trends of the time (very possible and I should love to be enlightened otherwise, because there’s some far-more-serious racism (and other *very fun* things) in Robinson Crusoe and Around The World In Eighty Days.)), or Ugly-Black-Woman-Maybe-Monster wasn’t trending (contrast with Baba Yaga, a hideous monster woman character who happens to be Slavic in origin, and I don’t think a single description of Yaga(‘s true face, the one she wears when she isn’t pretending to be someone else to lure in prey (read: children) compares kindly compared to the briefly mentioned black woman in Carmilla).
A Journey Of Black and Red, a modern Vampiric work set in the American South before its Civil War: profoundly captures the spirit of what I should think this particular form of racism depicted by a competent author might look like.
More important than something one can easily miss due to how small of a part it has: Carmilla.
Where one person might easily see a selfish love that cares not for consent and the well-being of their ‘target of affection’, and draws parallels with two of the greatest crimes committable:
Another can easily see a boundless love unwilling to allow any bondage laid upon it, even time and life, and a desperate prayer that the other is as equally consumed by passion and ardor as they.
Because Carmilla confesses her love to Laura through those very words, and finds a reception of both reciprocation and repulsion.
Just when Carmilla reads Laura as ready to go further, she finds rejection in Laura’s reluctance. I strongly suggest a reread of those passages, considering them in that particular context.
Carmilla is more than what she says and what she does: she is also why she says it, and how earnest she means it.
This facet of her character shines through in all ways. For an enigmatic murderous monster entirely possessed by lust and personal gratification:
Carmilla spends a disproportionate amount of time through the novel dealing with very human feelings. She is at times staggeringly depressed, and even scared of
Laura; refusing to open the door for her as their love deepens, even escaping through the window rather than confronting what she fears. It is during this time that the first deaths start occurring in the town if I remember correctly.
Falling in love with a person you cannot stop yourself from killing cannot be interpreted as anything less than tragic.
Falling deeply in love with someone who has rejected you or otherwise not accepted you is painful.
If Laura was not so very taken with Carmilla, then it would not be a tragic love story, but just one more story of man vs monster.
And though Carmilla/Mircalla is dead and gone forever:
Laura still loves that monster, and she will never love again.
"Many of us have heard of Bram Stokers Dracula, but not many of us have heard of the book before and inspired Dracula and Carmilla, John Polidori's The Vampyre. And anyone into Vampire literature should know all these names..."
I love the vibes of this video so much
Your next book will be the next trend setter.
If a book reflects its own culture of its time, judging it by todays standards Would be wrong imo. I realised something so Simple the moment you said it was a good book. thanks you.
Just read this a while ago and the vampires I imagined being Ana! No joke! She makes the perfect person to represent Carmella because she is young smart charismatic and seems kind, no one would expect her to be a vampire.
LOL
I recommend watching the vampire lovers, it’s a movie based on this book.
Thanks for the recommendation! I always need new spooky movies to watch
Looking forward to more book reviews! I don't know of any vampire books besides Twilight 🤪
I love thus book
I’m a big fan of all the lurid and trashy European vampire films from the 1970’s inspired by Carmilla
Any recommendations?
@@BookandHearth
here are some of my faves:
Blood and Roses (1960) , an earlier b&w film
Vampyros Lesbos (1970)
The Blood Spattered Bride (1972)
Alucarda (1977) from Mexico
Daughters of Darkness (1971)
Fascination (1979)
Some of these are trashier than others, but they’re all a pretty fun watch
GIRL…. I am studying psychology but my dream is to be an author. PLEEEAAASEEE make a video on how you managed to do both.. and in such a short time??? You cannot be over 25 years old I SWEAR
I say this unapologetically, Carmilla is FAR superior to Dracula!
It’s nice to come across another book lover such as yourself! Carmilla is a great book! There’s something so seductive and enticing about spooky vampires! I think the fangs look sexy! I actually had one of my girlfriends wear fangs for Halloween one year, and uhhhh god, what a heart throb!
I was always a fan of the lost boys from the 80s. I’ve got some old comic books kickin around. Vampires everywhere!! Wooo!! Spooktober is here! 🐈⬛ 🎃🎃
Some references and fun facts:
The Land Beyond the Forest by E. Gerard (1888) was a book referenced by Bram Stocker during his writing of Dracula.
The Vampire by Rudyard Kipling (Poem - 1897)
Varney the Vampire by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest (1845)
The Vampyre by John William Polidori (1819)
Jure Grando Alilović (1578-1656) - a villager from Istria who was a real person described as a vampire.
Also there's an Old Russian text from 1047, which used the term "upir". The word "upir" may have meant "the thing at the feast or sacrifice" and was a euphemism to avoid saying the creature's name.
The word "vampire" first appeared in English in 1732.
Thank you so much!
I wonder if the shift from telling to showing has to do with the explosion of visual media in the last century or so? The Victorians didn't have film or animation in the modern sense, and certainly not on any large scale. Even comics were still in their infancy, so the only wide-spread sequential visual mediums were things like the zoetrope, which could only show a few seconds' worth of motion. And single static images can include a surprising amount of visual storytelling, but nothing like the scope of a novel or movie. So before all that was invented, the only real way to tell a story was....to *tell* the story, as though the characters were telling the reader about something that happened to them, as opposed to now where we watch a story unfold as though we're present for it.
Really good point! I think you might be right
congrats on 6.66k subs on october’s start
It's 6,666 as I write this 😼
@@BookandHearth and someone was 2/3’s the way through clicking subscribe by the time that published
i think the original vampires were women converting and preying on men, i heard this from a woman too, this resonates with me bcus "Yin energy" tends to be more feminine and primal
Isn’t this also a web series??
Yes, i think i had to watch it during my uni years( I studied literature haha)
Are you Romanian?! (A Romanian😊🤣)❤️
Yes! :)
@@BookandHearth that is awesome!!!😊❤️
1. The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories contains some of the early vampire lit. mentioned in the comments below, and includes "Carmilla."
2. It's hard to think of these stories as explicit warnings. The written warnings you read aloud are brief enough to be perfunctory in light of how much time the authors subsequently spend on the erotic elements of the story. These guys wrote hot stories to make pulses race. They probably wanted to sell books without getting into too much hot water.
3. Perhaps they did subscribe to the mores of the day, Christian or otherwise, and were xenophobic and racist. However as vampires stories are still going strong - though we are obviously still xenophobic and racist - I don't think it's the othering in these stories that make them compelling... it's our own fantasies. This is erotic fiction. It was surely popular in its day as erotic fiction for all who enjoyed it.
4. I do think both tales function as an implicit warning about narcissism as well as the devouring aspect of immature love (as you stated). The promiscuous "warnings" in the stories serve more to break taboo for the purpose of arousing the reader. If the authors were worried about promiscuity they wouldn't have written these books.
5. Apples and Oranges comparison, but it's hard to fault Bram Stoker for shamelessly stealing from Carmilla any more than we blame Disney for profiting far more from The Little Mermaid than Hans Christian Andersen. The story doesn't belong wholly to either. It's reasonable to assume Carmilla, being folkloric in origin (as commenters below have stated or implied), was not entirely Le Fanu's creation.
6. Thank you for making this thoughtful video, and for celebrating the season in an intelligent way that generates discussion.
Thank you for your thoughts!! And yeah I agree that vampires are also erotic, particularly in modern times. I've also seen them be used as metaphors for addiction, personality disorders, etc.
Thank *you*. Yes, I see the addiction angle.
I hopped over to your other channel after I wrote. I'm "stoked" 🦇 you & husband made it out of Seattle. Inspired. I live there now and agreed with everything you said. Wonderful for you both to be closer to friends and family.
Woo!! 😀
I love your review, but must point out you are imposing a view of homosexuality that did not exist circa 1870. I'm not saying that era was no homophobic, but rather its view of such things was very different from our own. Not so much viewing someone as "gay" for example as seeing such acts as a sin to which some people are prone, akin to lying or theft or sex outside marriage or not attending Mass. I would also note CARMILLA feels very akin to a tale of faerie from Le Fanu's homeland, Ireland. In those tales a human has an intimate encounter with someone Fey, and even if they return to the human world afterwards are never the same. The fact that all the vampire hunters are servants of what was viewed at the time (rightly) as a tyranny adds to the ambiguity imho.
And I feel I must point out Le Fanu was literally describing actual vampire lore, and even gives us the titles of the books he used for research. That IS the lore.
As for why the dark skinned woman could be seen in the carriage--I myself think it was to suggest the parallels between CArmilla and Laura, that each have two older women around them. Laura has her governesses and Carmilla the Countess and this other person who may be the "Moksa" she asks for when she wakes. Lots of details within the story are never explained, but portraying a black woman as ugly because she actually has ugly features does not strike me as inherently racist. It can be taken so, and reasonably so. But I think of it as a startling otherworldly detail (along with the question of who these allies of Carmilla are, and what are they doing?)
Thank you so much for your video! I have shared it with some vampire groups on Facebook!
I love CARMILLA so much I have adapted it twice. Once for the stage and once as an audio drama. Both are built around a central premise that Laura is an unreliable narrator and had fallen in love with Carmilla. I see their relationship as real, doomed in some way, but they made each other happy for at least some time. But not at all "sweet" or "wholesome" or "nice." Real passion often is not, especially on the edges of life and society. Just a little bit of Heathcliff and Cathy to them.
That's fair, thanks for sharing!
Yes, suicide is a theme in this book, first referenced in the painting of Cleopatra with the adders at her bosom. And Carmilla, by seeking Laura's quasi consent to her own murder, is trying to make her something akin to a suicide. Le Fanu does not seem to have any particular antipathy towards suicides, but yes, he is a Christian, and he does think suicide is a sin. In other words, don't do it kids! He is also accurately describing vampiric lore in which he really does have a genuine interest.. Strange that this makes you so angry. Do you think the kids SHOULD kill themselves? Yes I agree that factors such as illness or madness can deprive a person of choice, but that goes for any prohibition. Including murder. And Le Fanu explores these themes too. Both Carmilla and Laura are victims, acted upon by forces beyond their control. It is you who are being ideological. Do you really think that no person who ever killed himself ever had a choice? Seems to me that there may have been countless people who have resisted a temptation to suicide because they did not want to offend God. Can you give them a better reason? Medication? Psychiatric confinement?
Encounter that man's work...Encounter the real article. Fanu was m r james go to ghost 👻 guy.
are you carmilla?
The Bible doesn’t actually say that it’s a sin to commit suicide.
Interesting. When I talk about a religion's values, though, I'm mainly talking about those espoused by the people practicing that religion, not the holy texts per se. You can interpret holy texts any which way, but the culture's interpretation is the one to analyze.
@@BookandHearthdoes this mean That The interpretations of people are more popular than Actual details of The text?
@@aniran3612 they actually are yeah.
@@aniran3612 Yes, in large religious institutions it's all about power anyways...