The Vampire Diaries

The Vampire Diaries is a famous series of books by the American author Anne Rice. It is cataloged within cult, gothic and horror literature, as it reviews in a contemporary key the myth of the vampire thirsty for blood, lust and death. This saga has had an important cultural impact worldwide. Since the launch of its first installment, Interview with the VampireIn 1976, more than 100 million copies were sold among all the volumes that make up the series.

Some of the titles of The Vampire Diaries have been taken to the movies and brodway. The most popular adaptation is the Hollywood feature film Interview with the Vampire (1994), based on the homonymous book. It was directed by Neil Jordan and starred Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Antonio Banderas.

About the author

Anne Rice is an American writer born in New Orleans on October 4, 1941. Plus The Vampire Diaries has written other series of books such as Mayfair witches, Angelic Chronicles y Ramses the accursed, all with supernatural themes. Some of these share characters with The Vampire Diaries.

The passage from Christianity, to atheism and back to Christianity throughout her life, has markedly influenced the works of Anne Rice. The most successful titles in terms of sales and cultural impact were written mostly during the author's atheist stage.

It achieved world fame from the 1970s and 1980s, when they were published Interview with the Vampire, Lestast the vampire y Queen of the Damned (the latter, unfortunately, did not have a very good adaptation to the cinema), first deliveries of The Vampire Diaries. It is worth noting that the impact of these books on new authors was enormous; in fact, it can be asserted that Twilight, and the rest of the books of this style that today fill the shelves of the bookstores with stories of vampires have the work of Rice as a reference.

The nocturnal universe of Vampire Diaries

This saga introduces the reader to vampires who have been among humans for millennia. The history of these beings is told in real settings and cities, mainly in Europe and North America. Although they do not share a dislike for garlic, crucifixes, and silver objects with earlier vampires in literature, their immortality is threatened by daylight and fire, so the tales take place predominantly at night.

The first book in the series Interview with the Vampire begins in the city of San Francisco in the twentieth century. Louis recounts his life as a vampire in a private interview with a local man named Daniel. His story takes place between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from his "birth" at night in the plantations of Louisiana in charge of Lestat. The setting achieved by the author is worthy of praise, as it sublimely handles spaces, lights and shadows, smells, characters and shapes; its descriptive performance is so good that it manages to catch and immerse readers in the plot.

The erotically charged relationship between Louis and Lestat, and their disagreements about what is acceptable to do as vampires, fuels much of the saga. The atmosphere of the novels is mostly nocturnal and theatrical. The reader accompanies the characters on their travels through the centuries, attending initiation rites, parties, scenes of violence and tense encounters in the darkest corners of the main cities of the United States and Europe.

Characters and books of the saga

Louis and Lestat are joined by Armand, Akasha, Marius, David Talbot, Merrick Mayfair, Claudia, among others as characters. recurring in the series. The Vampire Diaries consists of thirteen volumes:

• Interview with the Vampire (1976)
• Lestat the vampire (1985)
• Queen of the Damned (1988)
• The body thief (1992)
• Memnoch the devil (1995)
• Armand the vampire (1998)
• Merrick (2000)
• Blood and gold (2001)
• The sanctuary (2002)
• Chant of blood (2003)
• Prince lestat ( (2014)
• Prince Lestat and the Kingdoms of Atlantis (2016)
• The community of blood (2018)

Development of the plot and narrative style

First person narration

The history and description of the vampires begins with the interview that Daniel, a young investigator from San Francisco, does with Louis de Pointe du Lac, a 200-year-old vampire from Louisiana. Louis, as a human, suffers a series of losses and family disputes, falls into a deep depression and is seduced by Lestat, who transforms him into a vampire as an alternative to death.

From then on the adaptation of Louis to the lifestyle and diet of the beings of the night is narrated, under the tutelage of Lestat. Through the words of Louis, the reader enters the dark and deeply erotic world of vampires. This resource of narrating in the voice of the protagonists is used in other books in the series.

An ambivalent protagonist

Lestat de Lioncourt is the protagonist of The Vampire Diaries, since his character plays a fundamental role in the plot of most of the books. Their family history is told in the second volume of the series, Lestat the vampire, although in the first the main features of the character are described.

Lestat is capricious, elegant, cruel and at the same time charming, fundamental characteristics of the modern antihero. Through his relationships with Louis, Armand and other characters in the series, the reader realizes that he is persuasive and seductive, which makes him dangerous on a human level, rather than an unreal monster. Lestat, his history and his actions, are of the main attractions for the readers of the saga.

Very real vampires

The vampires of the saga are characterized by being deeply human, since they have free will and they are capable of experiencing desire, guilt, emotional attachments, and a wide variety of feelings.

They are fierce and sensual beings, sometimes tormented by their own existence. They are profusely described in both their psychological characteristics and their physical beauty, which makes reading addictive. Here it is necessary to give merit to Rice again, since the level of detail with which he provides the physical description of the protagonists and their personalities allows to recreate almost exact figures of how they were really thought in the mind of the reader.

Connected storylines and deep themes

From the travels of Louis and Lestat various plots are developed that take the reader to the very origin of vampires, in ancient egypt. The stories of other vampires like Armand, witches like Merrick and humans like David Talbot are also told, all interrelated and meticulously interwoven by Rice.

Through these characters, the books touch on topics such as death, the contrast between atheism and Christianityas well as guilt, immortality, lust, and nihilism.

Characters

lestat de lioncourt

Lestat de Lioncourt is the main protagonist of the saga and through his eyes we know many details of the story. He is described as a blond man with a penetrating gaze and great beauty. He is a French nobleman and has served the human world as an actor and rock star over the centuries. The character is fascinating, persuasive, and arrogant, and curious about human life. Her story is one of the most interesting and captivating of Anne Rice.

Louis of Pointe du Lac

Louis de Pointe du Lac represents the torment of the vampire who does not wish to be one. He owned plantations in Louisiana in the XNUMXth century. After the death of his brother, he feels guilt and wishes to commit suicide, but is transformed into a vampire by Lestat. He is in constant conflict with Lestat and himself over the uncontrollable need to feed on human blood. He is an important character in the plot, and one of the readers' favorites.

Armand

He is a beautiful and pure-looking European young man, symbolizing the beauty of vampires. He is a skilled artist. He has the appearance of a 17-year-old teenager, the age at which he was turned into a vampire by Marius. This character could easily be associated with the famous Dorian Gray, from The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde, both for his features, and for his personality at the beginning of the plot.

David talbot

He is a human, Superior of the Order of Talamasca, a secret society that is dedicated to the knowledge of ancient rites and supernatural matters. Help Louis to contact the spirit of Claudia, a vampire girl turned by Lestat. He has a romantic relationship with Merrick Mayfair.

Merrick mayfair

She is a sorceress from New Orleans, descended from ancient witches. She has powers that help her contact the realm of the dead. He also has the ability to manipulate both humans and vampires. He is a striking and mysterious character, one of the favorites, without a doubt, of the readers of the Rice universe.

The Vampire Diaries, a before and after in vampire novels

The Vampire Diaries gave a new meaning to vampires in literature and popular culture. It is one of the essential sagas of contemporary Gothic literature. Such was its impact, that in decades after its appearance and development, we witnessed the launch of other sagas in film, literature and television that have approached vampires from different points of view, trying to make them more human and closer to the mortals.