| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Carmilla is everything that a vampire story should be: richly atmospheric, eerie, unsettling and deeply frightening to those of a nervous disposition. It was first published in a collection of short stories, In a Glass Darkly in 1872. Its setting is a parochial section of Styria province, Austria.
Carmilla, the title character, is the original prototype for a legion of female (and often lesbian) vampires. Though Le Fanu portrays his vampire's sexuality with the circumspection that one would expect for his time, there can be little doubt that lesbian attraction is the main dynamic between Carmilla and the narrator of the story. Carmilla selected exclusively female victims, though only became emotionally involved with a few. Carmilla had nocturnal habits, but was not confined to the darkness. She had unearthly beauty and fantastic strength; she was able to change her form and to pass through solid walls. Her animal alter ego was a monstrous black cat, not a bat as in Dracula. She did, however, sleep in a coffin.
Carmilla has been the subject of a number of films. A film Et mourir de plaisir (Literally "And to die of pleasure...", but actually shown in England as "Blood and Roses") was made of Carmilla by French director Roger Vadim, with cinematography by Claude Renoir ; it is perhaps one of the greatest of the vampire genre movies, and, predictably enough in a film by Vadim, thoroughly explores the lesbian implications behind Carmilla's selection of victims.
The British pulp horror movie house Hammer Films also had a go at Carmilla in Lust for a Vampire , its sequel Twins of Evil and The Vampire Lovers , Ingrid Pitt appearing in these as the anagramatically renamed Mircalla. In all there are about twelve instances of films based on the Carmilla story.
The animated film Vampire Hunter 'D': Bloodlust includes a character named Carmilla who is the lingering spirit of a long-dead yet very powerful vampire countess who continues to rule her castle. This is one of a very few movies that portrays a vampire's spirit as having not only the capacity to physically manifest itself, but also the ability to reasonably and dynamically interact with living beings (i.e. one could carry on a normal conversation with her).
Though Carmilla was a seminal work for the genre of vampire fiction, there is also a modern tale that directly incorporates Le Fanu's character. Carmilla: The Return, written in 1999 by Kyle Marffin, begins in 19th-century Austria but follows Carmilla's life into 1990sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s Years: Events and trends Computers, technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other techn MichiganMichigan is a state in the United States. The name is derived from Lake Michigan, which in turn is believed to come from the Chippewa Indian word meicigama meaning "great water. Bounded by four of the Great Lakes, Michigan has the longest state shoreline.