The Roquelaure Reader: A Companion to Anne Rice's Erotica

by Katherine Ramsland, Anne Rice

A comprehensive reference on Anne Rice's erotic writings--The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, Beauty's Punishment, and Beauty's Release--includes a biographical discussion of Rice's writing process, a concordance to the three novels, and other fascinating trivia. Original.

Genres: Erotica, Fiction, Reference

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1996

About the author

I've loved books since I was 3, and the library was a highlight of my childhood. I've been fortunate to be able to find great joy in what others have written and sometimes to give this to readers. I follow my own muse, because it leads me on interesting adventures. I began my writing career with "Prism of the Night: A Biography of Anne Rice." I had a bestseller with "The Vampire Companion." Since then, I've published 69 books and over 2,500 articles, reviews and short stories. I have also been an executive producer for "Murder House Flip" and "BTK: Confession of a Serial Killer." From ghosts to vampires to serial killers, I have taken on a variety of dark subjects, mostly in crime and forensics. I hold graduate degrees in forensic psychology, clinical psychology, criminal justice, creative writing and philosophy. Currently, I teach forensic psychology and criminal justice at DeSales University. My books include "I Scream Man," "How to Catch a Killer", "Confession of a Serial Killer", "The Forensic Psychology of Criminal Minds", "The Mind of a Murderer", "The Human Predator: A Historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation", "Inside the Minds of Serial Killers", "Inside the Minds of Sexual Predators", and "Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers". My background in forensic studies positioned me to assist former FBI profiler John Douglas on his book, "The Cases that Haunt Us", and to co-write a book with former FBI profiler, Gregg McCrary, "The Unknown Darkness", as well as "Spree Killers" with Mark Safarik, "The Real Life of a Forensic Scientist" with Henry C. Lee, and "A Voice for the Dead" with James Starrs. I speak internationally about forensic psychology, forensic science, and serial murder, and has appeared on numerous documentaries, as well as such programs as The Today Show, 20/20, 48 Hours, NPR, Dr. Oz, Coast to Coast, Montel Williams, Larry King Live and E! True Hollywood. Currently, I'm working on a fiction series, The Nut Cracker Investigations, which features a female forensic psychologist who manages a PI agency. "I Scream Man" is the first one.

Reviews

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a huge fan of the Sleeping Beauty trilogy. Hands down, it is the most fascinating, arousing, mind-bending erotica I've come across so far. It is not a literary masterpiece in the traditional sense, mind you. The characters are flat, the sex scenes tend to be repetitive in several places (especially in the first and the third book), the plot is total b.s. and the prose is not even Anne Rice's best. But what impressed me so much was her challenge to the political correctness that limits our imagination and sensual fantasies. The trilogy is full of what the majority of Western readers will consider "wrong". For example, most of the characters engage in sex with members of both sexes, often against their will. The very concept of sexual orientation does not exist in this world, and IMO it is something really rare in erotic fiction these days, be it straight or gay. (Well, str8 erotica often features lesbian sex but not its male counterpart, because they cater to heterosexual men's biased fantasies) Is this offensive? To some readers, certainly, but this outrageous freedom from political correctness will have liberating effects on them when they realize this is just a fantasy, plain and simple, and, in fantasy, you have the freedom to do anything, with anyone (and with any animal, eh).

The Roquelaure Reader tells us why Rice wanted to write such erotica at the risk of damaging her reputation as a mainstream, best-selling author of Interview With the Vampire, how she developed her skills as an erotic writer, and what influenced her understanding of eroticism, including St. Teresa of Avila's mystic visions which Rice saw as transcendental eroticism. It becomes soon clear that she wrote the trilogy as a sort of thought experiment or perhaps a meditation on sadomasochistic sexuality. She saw mystic, spiritual qualities in masochism, and used the old fairytale of Sleeping Beauty as her literary vehicle. There is no need to criticize it for unrealistic factors (Where do the villagers get all the rich food to feed the slaves from? Why doesn't anyone ever urinate, get pregnant or fall sick? etc.) because it is never meant to be realistic, no more than its original fairytale is.

However, this book doesn't go into details as deeply as I would have liked. I was curious to know where she got the relatively obscure bits about medieval torture methods from (eg. crucified slaves had their anuses plugged to prevent defecation and Rice uses it rather excellently). But nevertheless it was worthwhile to know how it all started and ended. I just hope someone will write an erotic novel that will surpass the trilogy someday.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

A companion read for Anne Rice's erotica novels. Though its titled "Roquelaure" the biographical portion of the book does not solely focus on The Sleeping Beauty series but on all erotica that Rice has written. However, if you've already read PRISM OF THE NIGHT, this doesn't seem to have too much more information in it on Rice's background/history in the genre. Much of the same content is in PRISM.

The first 1/3 of the book (70+ pages) is biographical, half the book is an encyclopedia of characters, places, and terms used in The Sleeping Beauty series, a small section on Sleeping Beauty trivia, and lastly two original chapters from EXIT TO EDEN The published versions were heavily edited - "explicit sexual scenes between Elliot and other men were cut." I didn't read these since it has been too long since I read EXIT TO EDEN. Will wait to check these out if/when I might do a re-read of EXIT TO EDEN.

For the erotica fan or hardcore Rice fan, might be worth picking up.

[Rebecca Huston · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you really enjoyed The Sleeping Beauty or Exit to Eden books, you'll probably like this one. However, I would not suggest trying any of what you read in here at home, some techniques are truly meant only for fantasy.