Carmilla

August 15, 2024 5:15 PM

A young woman in an isolated house gains a friend who is just a little too attached to her in one of the first English language vampire stories.

Free at Gutenberg and various other places.

posted by mark k (4 comments total)

I finished this last night as background reading for a Night's Black Agent game. It's a short novella, though for the modern reader steeped in vampire lore could probably be even shorter. There's also an almost comical exposition dump in the last few pages to explain to the reader what the core mythology is. Although it's not an exposition dump that bothers to explain who Carmilla's two servants are.

Those complaints aside, I quite liked this and it's worth a read to anyone with an interest in early horror. The vulnerability, isolation and naivete of the narrator invoked a feeling of rising dread throughout the book, and there generally didn't seem any path to safety.

I'd argue this is the template for many modern vampire stories in a way that Dracula is not. There really is mutual attraction, and (especially given the same-sex setup) functions as someone struggling with feelings they do not understand and can't talk about. Carmilla clearly feels an drawn to Laura in some twisted version of romance; Stoker's Dracula is simply asserting power.

Also reminded me of what Coleridge's Christabel might have explored, if he'd had the courage to finish it.
posted by mark k at 5:28 PM on August 15 [3 favorites]

Oh I looooooove Carmilla, the OG lesbian vampire story. So many breathy exultations and dramatic statements!

Thanks for reminding me to re-read it again, mark k.
posted by Kitteh at 7:12 AM on August 16 [6 favorites]

Parts of this were used in Carl Theodore Dreyer's film Vampyr. Calling that an adaptation would be a stretch, since that film also adapts bits from other J. Sheridan Le Fanu stories from the same collection (In a Glass Darkly), as well as other stuff Dreyer and his co-writer made up for the film.

The film is on FF. And there's a fantastic Criterion edition of it.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 12:29 PM on August 16 [1 favorite]

This remains one of my favourite vampire stories. It's astonishingly well written as a same-sex love story, with a surprisingly strong coming of age vibe too. I love it completely and am yet to be satisfied by any of the adaptations.
posted by Jilder at 4:41 AM on August 18 [4 favorites]