Tuesday 17 October 2017

Carmilla / Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

3.5 stars out of 5
I read this book for the “Classic Horror” square of my 2017 Halloween Bingo card.

I know that I owned this book way back when! I think I bought it through the Scholastic Books program at our school during Grade 6. I’m pretty sure that I remember a sense of creeping horror when I read it, but I didn’t remember any details beyond the overturned carriage at the beginning of the book.

What I hadn’t realized until now was that Carmilla predated Bram Stoker’s famous Dracula. I can definitely see where he may have borrowed a few details from Le Fanu’s creation to put towards his own. I thought it was interesting that Carmilla was able to be active during daylight, as long as she had spent some time buried in her native earth. (Now I see where Chelsea Quinn Yarbro may have been drawing inspiration for her St. Germaine chronicles).

Reading this now, as an adult, there really wasn’t much dread left. Mind you, when I read this as a twelve year old, I had never encountered the vampire in fiction and it was all brand new. This book is really more of historical interest now, as there are so many books that include iterations of the vampire mythos.

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