TA TALKS BACK: A TWILIGHTERS THOUGHTS ON “INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE”
TA fan Ashley shares her thoughts on “Interview with a vampire”, which she started reading after Twilight:
I had never read a vampire novel until I found Twilight. In fact, I wouldn’t touch anything in the supernatural genre with a ten-foot stick. After succumbing to Stephenie Meyer’s vision with such ease and willingness, it only seemed natural to test other vampire literature, already knowing full well that the Cullens were a breed apart from the archetypal undead. Thus, I began Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice, whose long-standing domination in the vampire corner of bookstores is well known. What I discovered was something eerily familiar, yet somewhat repellant. I am hesitant to say I recommend the read, but if you’re curious about other vampire theories, it’s worthwhile. For those who want the bare-bones, Cliffsnotes version for Twilighters, this is it.Interview with the Vampire is really just that—an interview with the vampire Louis by a young newsboy. While written in third person, Louis talks for the majority of the novel, detailing his vampiric transformation in 1795 and life since then. As a Twilighter whose only first-person accounts of a vampire comes from the terribly brief draft of Midnight Sun, this honest flow of thought from a vampire is greatly appreciated, though it took me less than two minutes to be appalled by the fact that Louis wears a cape and has slightly pointed canines; how cliché. Nevertheless, Louis’s early story captivated me, reeling me in with the juicy details of his transformation and the essentials of what it means to be an Anne-Rice vampire. These supernatural beings and the vampires of Stephenie Meyer’s fictional world differ greatly in some respects, yet are remarkably similar in others (for simplicity’s sake, we will refer to Meyer’s breed of vampires as “the Cullens†and those of Anne Rice’s novels as “Louisâ€). Like the Cullens, Louis has icy, marble-like skin, pale and gleaming in the light, but there is no mention of sparkling in the sunlight—I take it this is only because Louis never goes out in the daytime, believing that lie (undoubtedly promulgated by the Volturi) that the sun will kill him; Louis only comes out at night, sleeping (and dreaming, interestingly) in a coffin during the day. Louis is very fast, moving so quickly that humans scarcely see him pass, so I am guessing that his speed is comparable to that of the Cullens. As for his mortality, Louis believes he can be killed by the sun, fire, starvation, and a stake through the heart (he doesn’t mention silver bullets); however, the vampire who created him, Lestat, was twice “killed†(once by a knife through the heart, and once by fire), yet he returned to life, so even these vampires are not certain about the limits, or lack thereof, to their immortality. The Cullens are able to drain blood out of their victims anywhere on their body, yet the only place Louis drinks from is the neck, and he must be very careful not to drain everything from his victim, for if he holds onto his dinner till death, he too will perish. (And Louis does try to become a vegetarian, but he ends up becoming so thirsty he “kills†a little girl). There is a certain eroticism to the feeding process for Louis, no doubt emphasized by a writer trying to capitalize on the sensuality of the vampire myth; in a nutshell, while the sexual passion is closeted in Meyer’s novels, Rice is more overt in the connection between drinking and sex—there is no sex in Interview with the Vampire, but Rice makes it more than clear that in lieu of “smashing houses†(which they seemingly do not do), her vamps fulfill their carnal desires via drinking blood.
The transformation process is also somewhat sensual; Lestat drains Louis of blood, almost to the brink of death, before slitting his own wrist and having Louis drink from his wound. There is no writhing pain or death-like state. Louis simply becomes a vampire, his senses becoming immediately heightened, much like Bella’s “awakening†in Breaking Dawn. It does require 24 hours before Louis’s body is purged of his human liquids, a somewhat uncomfortable sensation, and Lestat refers to this as the dying process. Obviously, having vampire venom invade one’s body and transform every single cell would be a painful experience, necessitating the three-day purgatory each of the Cullens experienced. Louis’s transformation seems much more primitive and basic.
Primitive seems an accurate word for describing Louis, Lestat, and all of Rice’s vampires compared to the Cullens—at least if we are considering humans to be the most primitive of the creatures here. There would be no contest between Emmett and bad-boy Lestat. If one wants to “believe†in both types of vampires, one would have to imagine that, somewhat like the mutant genes in X-Men, the Cullens and their breed emerged from a super strain of “vampire gene,†more evolved and stronger than whatever biological material creates vampires like Louis. A knife can pierce Louis’s skin as easily as that of a human—nothing less than vampire or werewolf teeth can harm a Cullen, clearly a sign of evolutionary advancement in my book.
Some have criticized the Twilight saga for being boring, but save for the interaction between Louis and Lestat, the transformation details, and some bits with Claudia that reminded me of Renesmee, Interview with a Vampire was terribly dense and slow. And if you think Edward is brooding, he’s got nothing on contemplative, philosophic, moping Louis. Besides being unbelievably awesome, the Cullens are much more interesting than these pitiful vampires who do nothing but delve into a life of debauchery and murder or ponder the meaning of their existence by candlelight. Interview with the Vampire was a good read, do not get me wrong, and I can understand its popularity and the acclaim it has received over the years. I simply prefer Twilight—I mean, Louis doesn’t even play baseball.
Talk Back to us….what do you think?
