Anne Rice (1941 - )
Related: vampire fiction - fantastic fiction - horror fiction - American horror - American literature - SM fiction -
Biography
Anne Rice (born Howard Allen O'Brien on October 4, 1941), the second daughter of an Irish Catholic family, is an author of horror/fantasy stories, often about vampires, mummies and witches. Her works have been a major influence on the Goth youth subculture, and she has published several works with sado-masochistic themes. She was married to the late poet Stan Rice and is the mother of gay novelist Christopher Rice. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Rice [Nov 2004]
Books
- Interview with a Vampire (1976) - Anne Rice [Amazon US] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Interview with the Vampire is a novel by Anne Rice. She wrote it in 1973 and it was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1976. It became a cult book that has influenced modern-day Goth culture, and was followed by several sequels, collectively known as The Vampire Chronicles.
In 1994, Neil Jordan directed a motion picture by the same name based on the story, starring Tom Cruise as Lestat, Brad Pitt as Louis, Antonio Banderas as Armand and Kirsten Dunst as Claudia.
What set the book apart from its predecessors in the vampire genre was its confessional tone offering the point-of-view of the vampire himself and touching on existential despair and the sheer ennui of lifeless immortality. Anne Rice's previous experience writing bodice-rippers and lush pornography came into play.
In present day San Francisco, the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac tells the story of his life to a journalist. The story begins on the plantations of New Orleans where Louis is the owner of the Pointe du Lac plantation. He gets bitten by Lestat de Lioncourt who turns him into a vampire. His soul, however, survives this transformation.
After living together in New Orleans for 65 years, Claudia, a child vampire made by Louis and Lestat, rebels and tries to kill Lestat. Fearing Lestat's revenge, Louis and Claudia flee to Europe. In Paris they are confronted with a cult of vampires and their leader Armand in the Théâtre des Vampires (probably a reference to the theatre of the Grand Guignol). These vampires want to impose their way of living on Louis and Claudia. This leads to a confrontation that kills Claudia. Louis takes revenge by burning down the theatre and all the vampires inside. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interview%20with%20the%20Vampire [Feb 2005]
[question to self: read it in China or Indonesia?]
- Sleeping Beauty Novels - A. N. Roquelaure [Amazon US] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Anne Rice casts her lurid gaze upon the the traditional tale of "Sleeping Beauty" under the pen name of A.N. Roquelaure. Her re-telling of the Beauty story probes the unspoken implications of this lush, suggestive tale by exploring its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Reminiscent of the charged erotica of her novel Belinda. --Amazon.com