Written for Handbook of the Vampire by Brigid Cherry the Chapter Page can be found here.
This was a HotV chapter looking at Le Fanu’s Carmilla through its adaptations and intertextual connections, concentrating on key themes. It looks first at the African-American Gothic as portrayed within the Antebellum location and narrative themes in Carmilla (1990) and I found this part of the chapter both inciteful and worth the entry alone. Comparative to this, and equally worth exploration, was the move of the story to a British heritage drama in the adaptation Carmilla (2019).
The chapter touches on predatory masculinity, as some adaptations explore – looking at both the Unwanted and Styria (reviewed as the Curse of Styria – and the forcible return to heteronormality (which, arguably, was a theme emerging from the original story). Self-harm is looked at, and it is worth remembering that the creative forces behind the film Styria were interested in the phenomena of “suicide clusters”.
I was really pleased to see the author looking at metatextual examples of Carmilla related texts, especially the obscure Carmilla Hyde. Overall, a really worthwhile chapter.
This was a HotV chapter looking at Le Fanu’s Carmilla through its adaptations and intertextual connections, concentrating on key themes. It looks first at the African-American Gothic as portrayed within the Antebellum location and narrative themes in Carmilla (1990) and I found this part of the chapter both inciteful and worth the entry alone. Comparative to this, and equally worth exploration, was the move of the story to a British heritage drama in the adaptation Carmilla (2019).
The chapter touches on predatory masculinity, as some adaptations explore – looking at both the Unwanted and Styria (reviewed as the Curse of Styria – and the forcible return to heteronormality (which, arguably, was a theme emerging from the original story). Self-harm is looked at, and it is worth remembering that the creative forces behind the film Styria were interested in the phenomena of “suicide clusters”.
I was really pleased to see the author looking at metatextual examples of Carmilla related texts, especially the obscure Carmilla Hyde. Overall, a really worthwhile chapter.
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