The Gothic Project - Carmilla - background information CONTAINS SPOILERS

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Carmilla - background information CONTAINS SPOILERS

Availability
Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10007

General Overview

Carmilla is an 1872 Gothic novella by Irish author J. Sheridan Le Fanu and one of the early works of vampire fiction, predating Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) by 26 years. First published as a serial in The Dark Blue (1871–72), the story is narrated by a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire named Carmilla. The character is a prototypical example of the lesbian vampire, expressing romantic desires toward the protagonist. The novella notably never acknowledges homosexuality as an antagonistic trait, leaving it subtle and morally ambiguous. The story is often anthologized and has been adapted many times in film and other media.

Publication

Carmilla, serialized in the literary magazine The Dark Blue in late 1871 and early 1872, was reprinted in Le Fanu's short-story collection In a Glass Darkly (1872). Comparing the work of two illustrators of the story, David Henry Friston and Michael Fitzgerald—whose work appears in the magazine article but not in modern printings of the book—reveals inconsistencies in the characters' depictions. Consequently, confusion has arisen relating the pictures to the plot. Isabella Mazzanti illustrated the book's 2014 edition, published by Editions Soleil and translated by Gaid Girard.

Motifs

Reminder: Spoilers ahead...

Carmilla exhibits the primary characteristics of Gothic fiction. It includes a supernatural figure, a dark setting of an old castle, a mysterious atmosphere, and ominous or superstitious elements.

In the novella, Le Fanu abolishes the Victorian view of women as merely useful possessions of men, relying on them and needing their constant guardianship. The male characters of the story, such as Laura's father and General Spielsdorf, are exposed as being the opposite of the putative Victorian males – helpless and unproductive. The nameless father reaches an agreement with Carmilla's mother, whereas Spielsdorf cannot control the faith of his niece, Bertha. Both of these scenes portray women as equal, if not superior to men. This female empowerment is even more threatening to men if we consider Carmilla's vampiric predecessors and their relationship with their prey. Carmilla is the opposite of those male vampires – she is actually involved with her victims both emotionally and (theoretically) sexually. Moreover, she is able to exceed even more limitations by dominating death.

Le Fanu also departs from the negative idea of female parasitism and lesbianism by depicting a mutual and irresistible connection between Carmilla and Laura. The latter, along with other female characters, becomes a symbol of all Victorian women – restrained and judged for their emotional reflexes. The ambiguity of Laura's speech and behavior reveals her struggles with being fully expressive of her concerns and desires.

Another important element of “Carmilla” is the concept of dualism presented through the juxtaposition of vampire and human, as well as lesbian and heterosexual. It is also vivid in Laura's irresolution since she "feels both attraction and repulsion" towards Carmilla. The duality of Carmilla's character is suggested by her human attributes, the lack of predatory demeanor, and her shared experience with Laura. According to Gabriella Jönsson, in The Second Vampire: "filles fatales" in J. Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla" and Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire Carmilla can be seen as a representation of the dark side of all mankind.

Sources

Reminder: more spoilers...

As with Dracula, critics have looked for the sources used in the writing of Carmilla. One source used was from a dissertation on magic, vampires, and the apparitions of spirits written by Dom Augustin Calmet entitled Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires ou les revenants de Hongrie, de Moravie, &c. (1751). This is evidenced by a report analyzed by Calmet, from a priest who learned information of a town being tormented by a vampiric entity three years earlier. Having traveled to the town to investigate and collect information about the various inhabitants there, the priest learned that a vampire had tormented many of the inhabitants at night by coming from the nearby cemetery and would haunt many of the residents on their beds. An unknown Hungarian traveler came to the town during this period and helped the town by setting a trap at the cemetery and decapitating the vampire that resided there, curing the town of their torment. This story was retold by Le Fanu and adapted into the thirteenth chapter of Carmilla.

Influence

Carmilla, the title character, is the original prototype for a legion of female and lesbian vampires. Although Le Fanu portrays his vampire's sexuality with the circumspection that one would expect for his time, lesbian attraction evidently is the main dynamic between Carmilla and the narrator of the story.

When compared to other literary vampires of the 19th century, Carmilla is a similar product of a culture with strict sexual mores and tangible religious fear. While Carmilla selected exclusively female victims, she only becomes emotionally involved with a few. Carmilla had nocturnal habits but was not confined to the darkness. She had unearthly beauty and was able to change her form and pass through solid walls. Her animal alter ego was a monstrous black cat, not a large dog as in Dracula. She did, however, sleep in a coffin. Carmilla works as a Gothic horror story because her victims are portrayed as succumbing to a perverse and unholy temptation that has severe metaphysical consequences for them.