From the Bookshelf of On Paths Unknown…

Carmilla

J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Start date: October 8, 2015

Discussion: GHOSTLY GOTHIC

Why we're reading this: Halloween!
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GHOSTLY GOTHIC

* It's Halloween time!
By Traveller · 90 posts · 56 views

last updated Oct 30, 2015 11:49AM

Uncanny Haunts: The English Ghost Story - M.R. JAMES
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last updated Oct 19, 2015 04:17PM

What Members Thought

Oct 30, 2022 BJ Lillis rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror-and-suspense, autumn, queer

To my utter surprise, the 1970 Hammer Horror "classic" The Vampire Lovers—the primary innovation of which was to free the nipple, whereas vampire movies to that point tended to work strictly with the top half of the breast—turns out to be, in fact, a highly faithful adaptation of Carmilla. This surprising instance of literary fidelity within the canon of 1970s vampire B-movies meant that I knew exactly what was coming at near every turn of Sheridan Le Fanu’s 1872 novella—although I suspect that ...more

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Nov 14, 2015 BrokenTune rated it liked it

Shelves: reviewed

I had heard of Carmilla, one of the forerunners of Dracula, but I had not read it. So, when the chance to read a book for the "Gothic" square on a Halloween Bingo game came up, I jumped at Carmilla. And it does not come more Gothic than this...

"Over all this the schloss shows its many-windowed front; its towers, and its Gothic chapel. The forest opens in an irregular and very picturesque glade before its gate, and at the right a steep Gothic bridge carries the road over a stream that winds in d I had heard of Carmilla, one of the forerunners of Dracula, but I had not read it. So, when the chance to read a book for the "Gothic" square on a Halloween Bingo game came up, I jumped at Carmilla. And it does not come more Gothic than this...

"Over all this the schloss shows its many-windowed front; its towers, and its Gothic chapel. The forest opens in an irregular and very picturesque glade before its gate, and at the right a steep Gothic bridge carries the road over a stream that winds in deep shadow through the wood. I have said that this is a very lonely place. Judge whether I say truth. Looking from the hall door towards the road, the forest in which our castle stands extends fifteen miles to the right, and twelve to the left. The nearest inhabited village is about seven of your English miles to the left. The nearest inhabited schloss of any historic associations, is that of old General Spielsdorf, nearly twenty miles away to the right. I have said "the nearest inhabited village," because there is, only three miles westward, that is to say in the direction of General Spielsdorf's schloss, a ruined village, with its quaint little church, now roofless, in the aisle of which are the moldering tombs of the proud family of Karnstein, now extinct, who once owned the equally desolate chateau which, in the thick of the forest, overlooks the silent ruins of the town. Respecting the cause of the desertion of this striking and melancholy spot, there is a legend which I shall relate to you another time."
I'm not going to compare Carmilla and Dracula other than to say that I actually preferred the story of Carmilla - simply because it is less convoluted. To me the simplicity of Carmilla makes it more legend-like, more like a myth that can give you shivers when travelling through the dark countryside. "

I don't know. I didn't get the same sense of dread and atmosphere from Dracula that I got from reading Carmilla, and for that reason alone I prefer Le Fanu's telling of the vampire story.
Incidentally, I guess, the vampire aspect is pretty much where the comparison between Carmilla and Dracula needs to end for me because Stoker's work expanded into a lot more than the vampire story, and included a lot of social commentary that is not the focus of Carmilla.

So, anyway, as a mere vampire story this was a great read. ...more

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Oct 05, 2015 Annie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories, read-in-2015

The image of the vampire has been through a series of metamorohosis: the vampire Dracula trying to adapt to the Industrial Revolution, the story of vampirism that proclaims that only the Greeks of the Orthodox Church whose bodies are reanimated by the devil,etc. A lot of these are ofcourse conjectures and delusions. But once in a while, there comes this carefully constructed narrative, a story that thrills, a potion that excites and inspires a whole slew of other works. Perhaps, I have already h ...more

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Oct 04, 2015 Amy (Other Amy) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-stars-loved-it, reviewed, before-gr, 2025, 2015, x-kindle, vampires, slash, hey-i-remember-you, good-again

The time is very near when you shall know everything. You will think me cruel, very selfish, but love is always selfish; the more ardent the more selfish. How jealous I am you cannot know. You must come with me, loving me, to death; or else hate me and still come with me, and hating me through death and after. There is no such word as indifference in my apathetic nature.

I had the best intention of doing lengthy review on this, with its place in literary history and the translation of the vampire ...more

9 likes · Like · see review