Carmilla | REVIEW

This is my review of Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. It was published in 1872, twenty-six years before Dracula. It is one of the earliest pieces of vampire literature involving queer characters. And, how beautiful is the kindle cover? Gorgeous!

Ratings:
World - 2.5
Characters - 3
Representation - 3.5
Plot - 3
Pace - 2
Writing Style - 3.5
Satisfaction - 3
OVERALL - 2.9 STARS

[DavidMacDowellBlue]

I edited THE ANNOTATED CARMILLA with 400+ footnotes. I mention this because of the point I want to make--namely that it is written for a 19th century audience who would read every word carefully over and over again (lacking radio, t.v., movies, etc.). LIkewise some of the ambiguity is lost, simply because we don't think of Austria the way folks in 1871 did--i.e. as a police state. BTW, careful examination of the text reveals Laura is lying for a fair amount of time. It is not however a story focused on plot, but on the situation and the characters. We tend to over-emphasize plot over all other factors because of how dramatic media (movies, t.v., etc) emphaize plot because it is more obviously visual. IMHO.

[izzycorn]

I actually don't mind that Laura is 'dumb' because she's specifically supposed to be naive in order to set up her literal and allegorical sexual awakening through vampirism

[johnwhelan]

I enjoyed listening to this review, though I did not agree with half of it. You're certainly right, though, about it being a mystery tale. Modern publishers market by spoiling it ("she's a vampire", is, of course, the "spoiler"). Of course, it also gets marketed as a lesbian erotic romance, which inevitably leads to disappointment. The only "lesbian" element in the tale is a quasi-erotic red herring about Carmilla possibly being a cross-dressing man, and her weird emotions that are like (but also unlike) those of erotic love. But the mystery of Carmilla's strange "passion" for Laura is fully solved when she is exposed as a hungry predator who likes to savor her food. It was weird to hear you praise the villain of the story merely for being powerful and independent. You realize that this is a serial killer of women and children?

Carmilla does not come down at 1 p.m. because she is a strong and independent woman. She comes down at 1 p.m. because, in Calmet's THE PHANTOM WORLD, which was Le Fanu's main source text on vampire folklore, it is said that vampires MUST stay in their coffins from midnight til noon. So she doesn't have a choice. Moreover, she makes excuses for herself by playing the roles of victim and wilting, fainting, Victorian quasi-invalid. She pretends to be afraid of ghosts, etc., like a typical Victorian female, and deceives those around her by appealing to their pity and protection.

If you thought this was too long and slow, then I bet you can't make it through UNCLE SILAS.

[Ekrea]

I have never read Carmilla but I always wanted to since Elizabeth from booksandpieces did a Sassy Reads on it. I read Dracula a few years back because I wanted to familiarize myself with older vampire stories. So I really want to do the same with Carmilla.

Have you seen the web series based off Carmilla? If yes, would you recommend it? I was thinking about watching it once I read the book. I heard that it was a pretty good web series but I wanted to know your opinion on it (if you've seen it).

[merlin]

Ofc it's predictable xD it was written before Dracula which was hundreds of years ago or so, modern people are somewhat used to this kinds of stories compared to back then.

[jdoe]

I liked the review but I can´t understand why you´d count the fact that it features a female character on the less bright end of the spectrum to be a point against it. We can´t ever have women displaying negative characteristics because of what? Feminism? If that were the case, I´d say a lot of them would end up being pretty one note and uninteresting

[tonygourley]

I could not disagree more . Bob.G.