Series Of Vampires Novels example essay topic

Anne Rice's Past in her novels Describing the mysterious societies of vampires, Anne Rice uses a flamboyant prose style, and her tragic past to draw readers into her novels. As a contemporary authors he has made many positive contributions to literature. From the Mayfair house on First Street to the deck of cards that Lestat uses to play Solitaire, things from Rice's life turn up everywhere in her books. Anne lived in both New Orleans and San Francisco for quite some time and is very fond of them, and is especially fond of New Orleans where she lives today. She brings her characters there because of both her fondness and familiarity with the towns. Also, the plots in many of her novels reflect a series of tragedies which occurred during her life.

Herm other drank herself to death when she was only fourteen. Her daughter Michele died of leukemia at the age of five. It was Michele's death that inspired Anne to write Interview With The Vampire (Kakutani 16). The character Claudia, who is the five year old vampire, was based on Anne's daughter.

In a way, Rice's novels have served as a cathartic outlet for her pain. As a modern author, Rice has contributed many works to literature. Her contribution to literature is vampire lore, which expands our knowledge with "facts' about vampires. These works are found in the Vampire Chronicles, a series of books written about vampires. These works include The Vampire Lestat, the second book Brazer 2 in the Vampire Chronicles, which assumes the form of an autobiography, taking the reader through a history of vampirism from its beginnings in ancient Egypt, to the Renaissance in Italy, to modern day New Orleans (Johnson 68). The third book, The Queen of the Damned, narrated by a chorus of vampires, opens before the second book, and answers many of the questions of how vampires were created (Johnson 68).

Rice also wrote Interview With The Vampire, which is the story of a nightlong interview WWI th a vampire who tells of how he came to live the endless life of a vampire. These works have received positive comments from critics who love her novels. Critics have been fascinated by Rice's use of vampires. Onc critic noted thats he had a fresh and powerful imagination which she brought to vampire lore (Milton 29).

These comments praise Rice's brilliant ideas which are portrayed through her originality. She has been described as a novelist so prolific that she needs two pseudonyms to distinguish the disparate voices in her books (Kendrick 91). She has won both critical acclaim and a vast amount of readers. Her novels are of great depth, research, and enchantment. Commenting on The Feast of All Saints, one critic noted that a book like this is rare, combining a real story with an excellent theme and exquisite literary grace (Miner 32). Rice's writing skill and her use of words draws readers into her novels, even if they are uninterested in the subject matter.

Despite positive comments by many critics, some write about her novels Brazer 3 negatively. Speaking of Rices's novel Lasher, one critic said the mose well educated readers will not go beyond the first chapter (West 38). These critics feel that Rice has a good style, but feel that she is wasting her time writing about vampires. These critics would prefer reading novels about humans.

Another critic said, "I like vampire literature such as Matheson's I Am Legend, but the catastrophes that occur in Interview With The Vampire are not as awful as the book itself ' (Ferraro 47). These critics, whom are fans of vampire knowledge, feel that Rice's novels don't match up to other vampire works. They claim her books are silly, hypocritical, and unappealing. Although her vampire works are loved by many, other critics feel her work sare dull and not well thought out. Rice excels in writing in that her style is appealing. Her work is describe by readers as an ornate prose style.

Her style of writing has been described as excessively ornate, both lurid and lyrical (Ferraro 48). Her novels are full of sensuous detail. She supports her fantasies with superb narrative in which there is a close attention to detail. Rice has an ability to create a "baroque' feeling in her books through her use of language. It's not just the subject matter of the books that make them feel this way, its Rice's sensibility and use of prose. For instance, instead of being able to say he's attracted to a certain female vampire Lestat says this: I think for one second the concept of eternity burned in me.

I knew then what immortality was. All things were possible with her, or so for that one moment it Brazer 4 seems. (Rice 91). It is intermittent passages like these that draw the reader further into Rice's novels.

It also explains why her novels are best-sellers and criticized positively. Also Rice's diction contributes to her novels greatly. In her novels, Rice must describe dark and dreary atmospheres because of the subject matter contained within them. She loves to sling around phrases such as "Children of Darkness' which contribute to the every feeling within the novels. Her choice of words are used to set a dark mood in her novels. She has fondness for words such as "chaos' and "death " which seem to create a sense of fear.

She also gives her characters romantic names such as Armand, Gabrielle, and Marius (Kakutani 16). These names contribute to the eroticism found in her novels. She describes scenes in her novels such as this: In a deep prison cell lay a heap of corpses in all states of decay, the bones and rotted flesh crawling with worms and insects. It is Rice's selection of words in these scenes that make them seem so dark and frightening.

Rice's diction contributes to her novels by creating a dark and depressing atmosphere in her books. One of Rice's best contributions to modern literature is Interview With The Vampire. In this novel, we find ourselves in a small room with the vampire, face to face, as he speaks. He pours out both shocking and moving confessions of his first two hundred years as one of the living dead. He speaks quietly and gently, . carrying us back to the night when he departed human existence as heir to a great Louisiana Brazer 5 plantation, and was inducted by the sinister Lestat into the "endless' life.

He first learns to sustain himself on the blood of rats caught in the streets of New Orleans, then on the blood of human beings. Then he begins moving away from his final human ties under the guidance of the hated yet necessary Lestat. He gradually embraces the habits, hungers, and feelings of vampirism: the detachment, the hardened will, and the "superior " sensual pleasures. He carries us back to the crucial moment in a dark New Orleans street when he finds the exquisite lost young child Claudia Not wanting to hurt but to comfort Claudia, he struggles against the last residue of human feeling within him. We see how Claudia in turn is made a vampire, and how all her passion and intelligence is trapped forever in a body of a small child. They become a dangerous alliance, thirsting for the beauty of death.

We see them joined against the envious, dangerous Lestat, embarking on a perilous search across Europe for others like themselves, desperate to discover the world they belong to, the ways of survival, to know what they are and why, where they came from, what their future can be. We follow them across Austria and Transylvania, encountering their kind in many forms. They then venture to Paris, where footsteps behind them, in exact rhythm with their own, steer them to the doors of the Theatre des Vampires, the magnificent theatre whose posters of penny-dreadful vampires at once mask and reveal the horror within. Finally they assemble with Armand, who brings them, at last, into in! tim acy with a whole society of vampires, and intimacy that becomes sudden terror when they are compelled to confront what they have feared and fled. Brazer 6 In conclusion, Anne Rice is a fascinating modern author who has earned respect as a great writer. Through her close attention to detail and her brilliant imagination, she has brought us a series of vampires novels.

Anne Rice has contributed to our lives the tales of mysterious creatures and fictitious societies that cause us to wonder if vampires exist..