MASARYK UNIVERSITY BRNO

FACULTY OF EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

American Gothic Fiction: Vampire Romances

Final thesis

Brno 2012

Supervisor: Author:

PhDr. Irena Přibylová, Ph.D. Mgr. Jitka Čápová

Declaration

I hereby declare that I have written this final thesis myself and that all the sources I have used

are listed in the bibliography section.

Hradec Králové 13 August 2012 ……………………………………………

Mgr. Jitka Čápová

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank to PhDr. Irena Přibylová, Ph.D. for her time, patience and

valuable advice.

I would also like to thank to my family for their support.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 1

2. Theory ................................................................................................................................................. 2

2.1 Gothic ................................................................................................................................................ 3

2.2 Romance ............................................................................................................................................ 5

2.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 9

3. Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 10

3.1 A traditional vampire ....................................................................................................................... 11

3.2 Surviving stereotypes - similarity with a tradition .......................................................................... 12

3.3 New qualities of a contemporary vampire ....................................................................................... 14

3.4 Traditional and contemporary romance protagonists ...................................................................... 22

3.5 The Rice´s and Harris´s approaches ................................................................................................ 25

3.5.1 A comparison of the approaches .................................................................................................. 29

4. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 31

5. Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 34

6. Appendix ........................................................................................................................................... 37

7. Summary ........................................................................................................................................... 38

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1. Introduction

Vampire novels have always been popular as they combine a dark atmosphere and

mysterious creatures with special abilities. Readers admire a fascinating appearance of

vampires, and they envy them immortality. At the same time, people are terrified by an

unusual nature of a vampire that includes drinking blood and sleeping in a coffin. In the past

vampires had been usually depicted as villains who attacked and killed human beings. These

days an image of a vampire has significantly changed. I have come across the vampire novels

written by the American writer Charlaine Harris. Her books do not follow the usual pattern of

evil vampires and innocent people. They are about vampires full of emotions, such as love

and empathy. Then I have found out that Anne Rice is considered to be the first author

describing a vampire´s mind and humanlike character. I have decided to explore main

differences between a traditional vampire concept and contemporary concepts, analysing the

novels Interview with the Vampire (1976) by Anne Rice and Dead Until Dark (2001) and

Club Dead (2003) by Charlaine Harris.

The aim of this work is to show the development of vampire romance. In the

theoretical part I will describe the most influential genres that modified vampire romance. In

the analytical part I will aim at a description of the main protagonist of vampire romance.

First, I will choose typical features of heroes/heroines of the depicted genres and I will

compare them with features of contemporary protagonists. I will show similarities and

differences between a traditional and a contemporary concept. Finally, I will characterize

concepts of Rice and Harris, and I will show the new issues they have introduced in their

vampire romances.

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2. Theory

In this chapter I want to describe roots of vampire romances. First, I will introduce the

historical development of the vampire fiction according to the James Twitchell´s study The

Living Dead. Then I will describe the literary genres which have formed contemporary

vampire romances.

As Twitchell states, before the 19th

century the vampire existed in folklore tale and the

figure of a vampire in literature appeared in the early 19th

century in the Polidori´s short story

The Vampyre (1819) (7). Many other Romantic authors used the vampire as a personification

of the various topics, such as maternal attraction in Coleridge´s Christabel or homosexual

attraction in Sheridan LeFanu´s Carmilla, says Twitchell (6). However, the first writer who

introduced the vampire in the novel and who fully expressed “the sexually explosive and

ambivalent nature of the myth” was Bram Stoker in his Dracula (1897) (Twitchell 6). The

story involves a romantic issue between a vampire and a human, which is the nature of the

contemporary vampire romance as well. Thus, in my opinion, the novel Dracula stays at the

beginning of vampire romance in literature.

The most distinctive genres that influenced vampire romance are Gothic novels,

romance and its sub-genre paranormal romance. As the primary source for genres

characteristics I have used The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English by Ian Ousby

(1993) and The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory by J.A.Cuddon

(1992); Art of Darkness: A Poetics of Gothic by Anne Williams (1995) for a description of

Gothic fiction; A Natural History of the Romance Novel by Pamela Regis (2003) for the

romance characteristics; Possible Worlds of the Fantastic: The Rise of the Paranormal in

Fiction by Nancy Traill (1998) for the paranormal fiction.

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2.1 Gothic

Gothic fictions developed in the later 18th century along with Romanticism. Ousby

says that Gothic novels „anticipate and to some extent overlap with Romanticism proper“

(851). To support this statement, I will start with characteristics of Romanticism and then I

will depict Gothic fiction to show the similarities. Romanticism “pulled away from the

rationalism and neoclassicism…developing … freedom from the dead letter of rules and

conventions”(Ousby 851). The important points were authentic feelings and individualism. A

hero was a solitary person distraught by inner feelings, often travelling to enrich a personal

experience (Ousby 851).

Gothic fiction was also a reaction against rationally oriented neoclassicism (Ousby

405). One of the most distinctive attributes of the Gothic is an “atmosphere of doom and

gloom” (Cuddon 381). The stories usually take place in old castles or ruins set in a deserted

area, with the eerie feeling evoking violence and hidden crimes (Cuddon 381). Gradually the

novels were placed into an urban setting that introduced visions of dark streets at night full of

indefinable danger.

Cuddon states that Gothic fictions “contain a strong element of the supernatural” (381)

which reflects in a presence of unusual protagonists, usually “wicked tyrants, malevolent

witches, demonic powers” (382), and also evil creatures like vampires or werewolves.

Williams emphasises that a Gothic protagonist is a “brooding, mysterious hero/villain” (14).

As Williams says the Romanticism and Gothic fictions shared the intellectual

background: they turned away from objectivism, emphasised subjectivity of a lone

hero/heroine and they often used similar settings, such as abandoned places. Despite of these

facts, Gothic fiction was treated by the Romanticists and critics as „an illegitimate cousin who

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haunts the margins of literature, pandering cheap and distressingly profitable thrills“

(Williams 4). This point of view had continued until the 20th

century when literary critics

either considered Gothic fiction to be dead for a long time or thought of it as subordinate to its

contemporary Romanticism (Williams 6).Yet this „dim“ and „shapeless fiction“ has become

very popular as we can see from the best-seller lists (Williams 6). Therefore Realism-centred

critics have had to find some explanation or excuse of the existence of Gothic works. In 1986

Ian Watt in his essay on the novel “Otranto” assumes that there exist two branches of Gothic:

“one . . . continues in an increasingly sub-literary and specialized tradition about vampires and

werewolves, while the other brand continues to deepen the main moral perspectives of Gothic

in works which in other respects come closer to the main tradition of the novel” (qtd. in

Williams 2).

Contemporary Gothic writers try to come up with new questions which could make

readers to think about a piece of work in a different context. Readers can find interesting

ideas, such as in depicting of dangers hidden in social relations or the race issue connected

with the existence of different creatures trying to find their place in the human world.

Nowadays it can be difficult to find a pure Gothic piece of work. Particular elements of the

genre can be found in books and films which are not primary branded as Gothic; on the other

hand, not every Gothic fiction has all attributes of this genre (Williams 15).

To sum up, the traditional narrative of Gothic fiction is placed either in an isolated

place or in the city environment and is typical by disturbing atmosphere. The main protagonist

is a mysterious, lonely and evil creature having extraordinary abilities.

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2.2 Romance

The next genre, which reflects in vampire novels, is romance. As Ousby states

romances were developed in France of 12th

century and focused on the adventure of the

honourable hero defending his country and courting to ladies. Romance generally contained

passionate love, separation of main protagonists and finally their reunion; besides “a love

interest”, romance also contained “some supernatural content” (1029-30). Next rise of the

genre is connected with Romanticism which emphasized emotions, spontaneity, miraculous

events and the fact that the readers are disturbed by reading of the story, instead of being

delighted by it (Blamires 22-23). According to Cuddon, in the period of realism some authors

“attempted a reconciliation between romance and realism” (807). Romances also took the

popular form of an entertaining and escapist literature (Cuddon 807).

The contemporary romance fiction, which has become very popular and mass-

produced, covers all the listed characteristics, and as Regis claims, it has a fixed storyline. The

heroine meets the hero and they feel attraction for each other. Then, some conflict or barrier

between them appears. Overcoming of the barrier is focused and for many readers it is the

most important part of the book as it shows the heroine´s effort to change her life. Next point

of the narrative is that the union of the heroine and hero seems impossible but at last the

barrier is fallen, and they declare they love each other. The very ending of the book is formed

by various kinds of happy endings like marriage, betrothal or at least profession of love

(Regis 14-15).

Regis says that literary critics, such as Radway in Reading the Romance (1984),

complains about happy ending, and proposes that it destroys the independent woman

described in the story (10-11). Guntrum argues that the end is not the most important thing for

readers because they actually know the end before they start to read. (qtd. in Regis 11).

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Readers are interesting in the process of the narration (Regis 11). Regis says that they want to

read about the heroine who “overcomes the barrier and is freed from all encumbrances to her

union with the hero” (15). She is able to achieve some change in her life, and this is

something what readers want to read about.

The hero of the romance can be of two types, states Nakagawa in her internet article

(2011). She explains that the first type is a traditional romance hero: distant, mysterious and

arrogant, unable to express his emotions, he usually longs for power, knowledge or sex; for

the heroine he is difficult to read until she “finds a way to see through this cold and hard

surface” and reveals that the hero is sensitive and caring after all. On the other hand, the

second type of a romance hero has started to appear from 1980´s, says Nakagawa, and unlike

the traditional hero, the new one has become more emotional, tender and caring.

To sum up, the romance fiction is based on a strong love story between two

individuals. The heroine is an independent person able to achieve the desired goal. The hero

seems to be cold but gradually he expresses his emotions openly. Their relationship is

dramatic as they confront various difficulties that have to be overcome. The ending of

romances is optimistic.

The sub-category of romance, important for defining of the vampire fiction, is the

paranormal romance. It alloys the attributes of romance, such as a love bond between two

main characters and obstacles which has to be subdued in their relationship, and the

paranormal fiction that involves the supernatural elements and existence of the real and

supernatural world. The term paranormal romance is used by Paula Guran in the introduction

to the book Best New Paranormal Romance (2006).

The roots of paranormal romances lie in Gothic fiction that has introduced creatures

with extraordinary abilities. The next source of paranormal romance is romance itself that

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brings “love interest, . . . some supernatural content” (Ousby 1030) and disturbing elements

(Blamires 23).

The next important source of paranormal romances is the mystery story, the term used

by Cawelti in his book Adventure, mystery, and romance. He distinguishes several literary

formulas, so called moral fantasies, that are based on the fictive and exciting world full of

characters able to overcome difficulties; thus the stories represent an escape from limited

reality (Cawelti 38). The mystery story is about “the investigation and discovery of hidden

secrets” (Cawelti 44), it means something disturbing and supernatural which is included in the

romance characteristics as well. So it is obvious that romance and mystery share the feeling of

suspense, and together with extraordinary protagonists in an unreal world form the base for

paranormal romances.

Nancy Traill uses the term the paranormal fiction, which is very close to the mystery.

In her work Possible Worlds of the Fantastic Traill proclaims that the paranormal fiction

pretends to be a true story and tries to explain unexplainable things in order to add meaning to

certain situations or to express tabooed issues (17-18). There are two worlds: a natural and

supernatural one. They can be blended in various ways and can create various modes, as Traill

calls them (21). One of the modes is the paranormal fiction that is based on the fact that the

paranormal area is not hidden, pervades into the real world and mingles with it (Traill 183).

This blurring of different worlds and their inhabitants creates the essence of stories about

vampires, witches or shape shifters. In the frame of this world different supernatural events,

such as telepathy, are considered to be human abilities (Traill 31-32). In other words, the

paranormal fiction takes place in the real world that has a special area which is accessible for

the people having extraordinary perception, and the reality is infiltrated by supernatural events

and creatures.

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In 2006 Guran states that sometimes it is difficult to mark some paranormal novels as

subgenre of romance, fantasy or horror. “By combining the aspects of so many types of

literature, paranormal romance is becoming a type unto itself”, she adds (12). These unclear

margins between high and popular culture is one of the postmodern feature. As Storey claims

„there are no longer any easy reference points that will automatically preselect for us the good

from the bad [works]” (157).

From the described sources it is clear that paranormal romance combines features of

the romance, mystery/ paranormal fiction, and focuses primarily on romantic narratives that

are enriched by inexplicable events.

The main protagonists of the paranormal romance are usually supernatural beings and/

or people with special abilities. The relations among them divide the stories into two basic

frames. The most common relationships are those between humans and vampires,

shapeshifters or fairies. However, the story can focus on persons like telepaths. Hence within

the sub-genre we can distinguish narratives which contain supernatural characters, and stories

with „just“ magically-gifted people (Guran 7). Authors then depict the presence of something

magic living inside our world, or the insight into a system and hierarchy of alternative worlds.

The setting of the paranormal romance is not definite. Some of them are laid in the

past and that is why they resemble historical romances. Some take place in the future, or even

in different worlds and so they get near a science fiction. They can be set in a modern city

thus they belong to the category of the urban fantasy. The variety of possibilities shows that

the paranormal works cover the whole range of romances, from contemporary to fantasy ones.

In conclusion, the most distinctive attribute of the paranormal romance is the co-

existence of two different worlds, human and supernatural. The very important hallmark of

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the paranormal romance is the presence of supernatural creatures or humans with specific

abilities, and a romantic relationship of the protagonists.

2.3 Conclusion

Vampire romance does not exist as a separate genre of literature. In the past it was

usually a part of Gothic fiction, or a vampire theme appeared in works of Romantic writers.

Gradually, the romance features were added to the Gothic elements, and the paranormal

romance has originated. The protagonists of the paranormal romance are supernatural

creatures, including vampires, werewolves and fairies. In my opinion, vampire romance is the

sub-category of the paranormal romance.

In my analysis, I will focus on characteristics of main protagonists of contemporary

vampire romances. The protagonists should have attributes of Gothic, romance and

paranormal fiction characters as vampire romance has its roots in these genres. I will follow

typical attributes of traditional protagonists of the genres and compare them with the

contemporary protagonists. I will describe similarities and differences between the traditional

and contemporary characters in order to show the development of vampire romance. For

comparison with a tradition I will use following contemporary novels: Interview with the

Vampire (1976) by Anne Rice and Dead until Dark (2001) and Club Dead (2003) by

Charlaine Harris (two novels from the series The Southern Vampire Mysteries). I will also

compare the unique approaches of both authors, and I will try to find what changes they have

brought to vampire romances and what issues of the modern world reflect in their novels.

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3. Analysis

The previous theoretical part describes the sources of vampire novels which are

Gothic, romance and paranormal fiction. For the analysis I have chosen and will closely look

at aspects of Gothic and romance only as the paranormal fiction has originated from these

genres, so it has the same attributes.

I will focus on depiction of main protagonists of vampire romances. At first, I will

depict features of a general traditional vampire using ideas from the theoretical part and from

the work The Living Dead. A study of the vampire in romantic literature (1981) by James

Twitchell and the essay “New Life for an Old Tradition” (1996) by Martin Wood. Then I will

compare the traditional image of a vampire with vampires created by the contemporary

writers. Namely, I have chosen the vampire Louis from the novel Interview with the Vampire

(1976) by Anne Rice, and vampires Bill and Eric from the series The Southern Vampire

Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. I have chosen two novels of the series, Dead Until Dark

(2001) and Club Dead (2003). I will describe the similarities and differences between the

modern and traditional characters of the vampires. The aim is to show that a vampire as a

literary character has developed and has become humanlike. I will draw from the book Anne

Rice: A Critical Companion (1996) by Jennifer Smith, the chapter Postmodernism and

Popular Culture (2005) by John Storey and the interview with Victoria Nelson (2012), the

author of the book Gothicka.

In the next part of the analysis I will compare typical romance male and female

protagonists with the vampires created by contemporary writers, trying to find the similar and

different aspects. I want to show how Rice and Harris have used the features of typical

romance protagonists and what new qualities they have added to their own protagonists. I will

refer to a description of typical romance heroes and heroines by Regis and Nakagawa from

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the theoretical part of this work. I will describe vampires Louis, Bill, Eric, and I will add a

human heroine Sookie created by Harris.

Finally, I will look at the concepts of the vampire romances presented by Rice and

Harris. I will compare their approaches and I will show the new features that these authors

have brought into the contemporary vampire romance.

3.1 A traditional vampire

This chapter is aimed at a description of a vampire character in general. Vampires

started to appear in the Gothic novels. As Williams states, a Gothic protagonist is a

“mysterious hero/ villain” (14). Vampires are mysterious creatures. They have supernatural

abilities, need blood for the life only, and have different way of reproduction (Williams 21).

All these characteristics are in the direct opposition to the human life and that is why

vampires “represent the other” (Williams 21). Moreover, traditional vampires usually have

noble origins and impressive appearance, usually live in an abandoned place, and they

perform mental skills like hypnosis. Wood describes a traditional vampire “as enemy... and

loner” (60), and Twitchell mentions various superstitions about a vampire, such as fear of

religious relics and the fact that a vampire can be destroyed by stake and fire (11-12). Wood

adds that a traditional vampire as a literary character is depicted as “the enemy whose

destruction marks humanity´s triumph and the end of the story” (62). In other words,

vampires serve as antagonists in Gothic novels and the storyline is created by the interaction

between humans and vampires.

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To sum up the most significant characteristics, traditional vampires have supernatural

abilities, breath-taking appearance, arise from aristocracy, live in solitude, are influenced by

various restrictions, and embody pure evil directly aimed at the human beings.

3.2 Surviving stereotypes - similarity with a tradition

I have chosen Louis from Rice´s novel Interview with the Vampire (1976) and Bill and

Eric from Harris´s novel Dead Until Dark (2001) as the contemporary vampire’s protagonists

and I will compare them with the image of a traditional vampire which was described in the

previous chapter. In this part I will focus on the similarities.

Vampires created by Rice and Harris in the 20th

and 21st centuries have remained same

as their Gothic ancestors in the following points: physical and psychic characteristics and

noble origins. The vampires are highly attractive, “handsome, in fact, radiant….like the guys

on the cover of romance books” (Harris 119). They have “almost imperceptible glow of his

skin” (Harris 30), and their eyes are “pits of blackness in the dark woods” (Harris 38). The

reason why vampires are usually good-looking is due to the fact that their masters, it means

the vampires who have turned them into vampires, wanted somebody attractive to live with.

Therefore most vampires are young and beautiful. They are different from humans, as well as

in traditional vampire novels - some descriptions support the idea of the vampire´s

detachment from the humankind: “His voice was cool and clear (3)… he didn´t …blink; he

was so immobile” (30), says Harris, and Rice adds: “his face was as seemingly inanimate as a

statue” (4). Such expressions can indicate the indifference that vampires feel toward people,

probably caused by their unusual qualities which make them superior to humans. The

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contemporary vampires are also very strong and violent and some of them can even levitate.

They are able to hypnotize people. These are the same abilities that traditional vampires have.

The modern vampires also have aristocratic roots, just as traditional vampires. Louis

used to run plantations with many slaves and owned several town houses in New Orleans

which shows him as a member of the elite. Bill as a human used to belong among honourable

and wealthy inhabitants of the Northern Louisiana. His noble manners are apparent from his

language style, too: “If I had had the courtesy to be on time, it would not have happened”

(Harris 37). Vampire Eric is over thousand years old and thus very powerful, he is a man of

“magnificent height” (Harris 119) … whose “presence was dominating [the room]“ (Harris

223). He is a sheriff and performing his duties is the most important thing for him: he always

tries to solve problem within the vampire hierarchy in order to keep his position safe. He is

very self-confident and ambitious. All these facts emphasize his position as a leader and that

is why he appears to have noble origins. The need of aristocracy can be connected with the

setting of the stories. Both Rice and Harris placed them in the American South where they

come from. In the past the South was the agricultural area with rich plantation owners who

formed the southern aristocracy. The authors might have chosen this location because the

South represents the nobility which is typical for vampires. Vampires in the American South

have started to appear in literature from the second half of 20th

century, and I suppose that

Rice was one of the first author who used this location. After that, other writers, such as Brian

Hodge or Dan Simmons1, used the South for their vampire stories.

1 An American writer Brian Hodge set his vampire short story Like a Pilgrimage to the Shrine (1992) in

Florida. Dan Simmons (born 1948), an American author of the novel Carrion Comfort (1989) about vampires,

set in South Carolina. Wikipedia.org

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To summarize this part, the similar attributes of traditional and present vampire

protagonists lie in their appearance, supernatural qualities concerning extreme strength, flying

or glamorizing people and their aristocratic background. These features are typical for a

vampire both in Gothic and contemporary fiction. The reason why they have been preserved

can lie in the fact that they make vampires very different from humans and such qualities

attract readers.

3.3 New qualities of a contemporary vampire

Contemporary vampires are noticeably distinct from the original ones. First of all,

Rice and Harris have “changed the surface features of the myth” (Wood 60). They have

created vampires who are resistant to usual superstitions concerning garlic or religious relics.

Wood says that the two things are apparent: vampires do not live alone, and they are not

entirely evil (60). In this chapter, I will focus on new qualities and features which were

introduced by Rice and Harris. First, I will show the picture of a sociable vampire: the need of

a family, the need of a community, living in an urban environment and problems arisen from

a co-existence of humans and vampires. Then, I will focus on a complex personality of a

vampire. I will analyse the novels Interview with the Vampire (1976) and Dead Until Dark

(2001).

In Interview with the Vampire Rice has created the human world which is inhabited by

vampires but people do not know about the vampire community. Vampires try to behave like

ordinary people, live in modern houses in towns, go shopping and visit parties. If people have

some suspicions, vampires move to another place in order not to be revealed. The novel is

based on a narration of the vampire Louis. He lives in the vampire family together with his

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maker Lestat and a little girl Claudia, the child they created. The relationship of the three

characters makes the essence of the novel. Louis loves Claudia as a daughter: “[I] played

with her as if she were a magnificent doll” (Rice 98). Together with Lestat, they dressed her

in the best clothes, bought her things of the latest fashion, and often went to the opera and

theatre. Louis says: “And all this time I was educating Claudia, whispering in her tiny seashell

ear that our eternal life was useless to us if we did not see the beauty around us” (Rice 99). In

the family Louis acts as a mother who admires Claudia, combs her hair and reads her for

hours. Lestat is more like a father who shows her how to kill people for food. This harmony is

broken gradually: as Claudia grows up, she begins “to ask questions” (Rice 103) about her

origins, and behaves as a typical revolting teenager. Apparently, Rice shows a parallel

between a typical human family and an alternative vampire version and thus brings vampires

closer to readers. Louis has always longed for a family, he has felt responsible for his

brother´s death, and has been financially supporting his human sister all her life. Then he

became very close to Claudia. Unfortunately, she is burned by the sun and Louis cannot

recover from her death: “Before, all art had held for me the promise of a deeper understanding

of the human heart. Now the human heart meant nothing….I simply forgot it” (Rice 315).

Even vampires want somebody to share feelings with, which make them humanlike. The need

for a family is one of the most dominating topics of the book. It is opposite to the life in

solitude which is typical for a traditional vampire concept.

There is another idea arising from the picture of a vampire family. Both Louis and

Lestat are males but in their relationship they have different roles. Louis behaves like a

woman for he has typical female qualities. He is sensitive, submissive, hesitant and protective.

Lestat is like a dominant father, a leader. Thus their “family” resembles a homosexual

relationship. It is supported by other aspects: Louis desperately wants to be part of a

community and he feels his otherness. Homosexuals also want to be accepted by the society

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and they feel their difference given by their sexual orientation. However, I do not say that

Rice has created two homosexual vampires. Wood explains that she rather shows “how

maleness or femaleness might be understood not by physical apparatus or by what goes where

during sex, but instead by a quality of personality, far more complex and difficult to define”

(75).

The idea of a vampire family is connected with the need of community. Louis and

Claudia try to find other members of their kind, and find more about the reason of their

existence. Therefore, they leave New Orleans for Europe where they come across primitive

vampire creatures following their basic blood instincts and acting like animals. Louis and

Claudia are disappointed when they see that no humanity has remained inside of these

creatures. Then they meet a large community of vampires in Paris. At last they can share

experience with other members of their kind, and they can learn something about their

vampire existence. In addition, Louis and Claudia feel that they have become a part of the

community where they are respected. In the contemporary society there are also groups of

people, such as various ethnic groups, that want to be respected and feel a sense of belonging.

The idea of a sociable vampire is supported by the setting in an urban environment. In

fact, the crowded city is a cover: “This was New Orleans, a magical and magnificent place to

live. In which a vampire, richly dressed and gracefully walking through the pools of light of

one gas lamp after another might attract no more notice in the evening than hundreds of other

exotic creatures” (Rice 40). Rice places her story to New Orleans full of people of various

origins where vampires, who are also exotic, can easily blend in with the crowd of. However,

people do not know about the existence of vampires in their world. Hence, people are

mentioned marginally and they serve as victims mainly.

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In conclusion, Rice presents vampires living in families, trying to find their roots. She

emphasizes the relationships among vampires, putting human society aside. Unlike the

traditional vampire solitude, the story is set in a highly populated city area, which emphasizes

the vampire´s need of the society.

Harris in her novel Dead Until Dark has created the world of humans and the world of

supernatural creatures, including vampires, werevolves, shapeshifters, witches and fairies.

This variety of different beings resembles the different ethnic groups and minorities living in

our, human world. The story is based on the fact that vampires have revealed themselves to

people (other creatures stay hidden), and tried to incorporate into the human world. This is the

parallel to the contemporary human world where the various minorities have openly discussed

their rights and demands and they have gradually become members of the human world with

the equal rights.

The blurring of different worlds is the main idea of the paranormal fiction according to

Traill (2011: 183). It is also the feature of post-modern literature called hyperrealism. It

indicates that “real and the imaginary continually implode into each other“ (Storey 149).

Harris let the vampires and people live together so their worlds merge.

The central storyline of the Harris´s first novel Dead Until Dark is based on a

romantic relationship of a human and a vampire. However, the novel also depicts the general

interaction of people and supernatural entities. The important fact is that vampires have to

follow the rules given by the vampire authorities. If they violate a law, it means harm people,

they have to face the consequences. So it is much better to avoid conflicts, follow the rules

given by the society and live in peace with people. Even Eric, very strong vampire, who could

be able to make people what he wanted by threatening, wants “to keep as legal as he could, to

keep his relations with humans aboveboard, or at least as aboveboard as vampire-human

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dealings could be. He didn´t want to kill anyone if he didn´t have to” (Harris 225). The

vampire world is modernized: vampires do not have to attack people if they are hungry. They

can drink artificial True Blood or they can drink from people who give their blood

voluntarily. These people feel a pleasure when they share the moment with a vampire feeding

on them. This unusual relation between a vampire and a human is similar to a symbiosis.

Besides the human-vampire relations, the novel also shows the vampire world itself.

Vampires have built up an elaborated system of kingdoms and areas all over the world, and

the kings and queens meet on regular conferences: it invokes the idea of globalization. The

tension among the vampire kingdoms is connected with the sub-plots full of complicated

political trials. Harris also describes relationships between vampires and their masters

(creators) and problems that arise from their interaction.

In short, Harris presents the sophisticated system of the supernatural world inhabited

by various entities that reflects the existence of various minorities in the contemporary world.

She depicts the relationships within the communities of vampires. However, the main

emphasis is put on the co-existence of humans and supernatural creatures and a romance

between a human and a vampire.

Solitude versus a sociable life of a vampire is the first change between a traditional

and contemporary vampire concept. The second significant contrast, which will be described

in the following part, consists in the shift from the traditional simplified idea of a vampire as

an evil creature to a more complicated personality of the contemporary representative.

Rice depicts her vampires like human beings, having both good and bad qualities.

Louis is intelligent and educated, admires art, and has feelings for his human neighbour

Babette who is “an ideal human being” for him (Rice 59). He desperately looks for the

meaning of his existence, which is typical for humans, too: “I don´t know whether I come

19

from the devil or not! I don´t know what I am!” (Rice 69) Louis has “a desire for

communication” (Rice 67) with Babette because he wants to overcome her presumption: “I

would have done anything to overcome her feeling” (Rice 67). Why would he try so much if

he had coveted human blood only? On the other hand, he is capable of doing horrible things,

like attacking children. However terrifying his action is, he can explain directly his motivation

because he tells his story from his point of view. Even in killing people for blood he tries to

act as quickly as possible because he feels sorrow and sympathy with them. These feelings

bring him closer to humanity.

The point of view of the novel Interview with the Vampire is a very important feature.

As Wood claims, horror literature of the past, namely novels Dracula and Carmilla, used the

style of documents, such as letters, diaries or journals; authors used this approach in order to

prove that the story was really true (67). Rice has completely changed this style of narration.

The very beginning of Interview with the Vampire starts in the third-person point of view. The

interviewer is a young man who agreed to tape Louise´s confession. The narration in the third

person point of view enables Rice to stay in distance from the vampire, to see him through

human´s eyes and feel “the seductive pull of the vampire, to see him as the Other” (Smith 23).

Although the novel has a word interview in its name, the book is not structured in a question

and answer mode. The interviewer rather has the role of a listener: “The boy´s eyes grew

huge. He had drawn farther and farther back in his chair as the vampire spoke, and now his

face was tense, his eyes narrow, as if he were preparing to weather a blow” (Rice 19). He is

both fascinated by the vampire and afraid of him, same as a reader of the novel (Smith 24).

However, the interviewer´s point of view only serves as a frame for the central story,

which is narrated by the main hero, vampire Louis, in the first person point of view. The

vampire telling himself the story of his life is a completely new feature which Rice has

brought into vampire novels, says Nelson in her interview about her book Gothicka. Nelson

20

explains that a person who narrates a story gets automatically a certain amount of empathy

from a reader. Suddenly a villain becomes a hero, an antagonist changes into a protagonist

and the object into the subject, adds Nelson (2012).

In summary, the use of the first-person point of view helps Rice to express Louise´s

deepest thoughts and brings a reader close to him. Moreover, Rice can present Louis as a

sensible protagonist because Louis explains directly reasons of his actions. He is not an evil

antagonist as a traditional vampire. He is more humanlike which can be disturbing for a

reader. Rice indirectly says that if the vampire can be both evil and good, the same applies to

a human being.

Harris has created a human heroine Sookie who has a special ability, telepathy. She is

able to hear fragments of people´s thoughts and feel their emotions. Sookie narrates the stories

in first-person point of view, as well as Louis. It enables her to express and explain her inner

feelings. At the same time this point of view puts a reader into the centre of the story and

close to the narrator. Unlike the vampire Louis, Sookie is human so she observes and

describes the supernatural world from a distance, thus objectively. As a human, she can see

the otherness and difference of the supernatural creatures and she can describe her anxiety

about the supernatural world. Even if she is in love with a vampire, she can still feel respect to

him: “I didn´t realize the full extent of your strength… I feel… fragile” (Harris 55). By the

choice of the human narrator and first-person point of view, Harris is able to present the

heroine´s deepest thoughts and depict the supernatural world from the distance. Moreover, she

can show the human´s attitude to the supernatural creatures.

Harris´s vampires do not resemble traditional entirely evil vampires. Bill seems to be a

kind, honest and loving vampire to Sookie. Nevertheless, she gradually finds out his dark

sides that prove the complexity of the vampire character. The vampire Eric also seems to be

21

“a good guy” for a vampire (Harris 123) because he almost never kills. On the other hand, his

negative side is formed by arrogance and hunger for power, so typical for many humans. The

vampires and people share the complex characters; they are not only good or bad.

Both Rice and Harris lay stress on the diversity of a vampire character. Wood claims

that vampires are “no longer simple or single-minded personifications of evil” as it was

presented in traditional vampire literature (60). Vampires are more complicated creatures,

having both bad and good qualities. The authors describe their behaviour and motivation in

detail, so a reader gets close to these creatures and notices that vampires and people are very

similar. The idea of a resemblance of a vampire and a human can be disturbing because a

reader can feel “an uneasy sympathy with monsters” (Wood 59). A reader can identify with

vampires. First, they have moved from the position of evil to creatures with deep emotions,

and thus have become humanlike. Second, even terrifying acts of vampires, like attacking

people, are explained so a reader can clearly see motivation of such acts.

To recapitulate the whole chapter, the contemporary vampires are not loners any more:

they are depicted as members of a vampire society. Rice focuses on vampires mainly and

shows their relationships within the vampire family. Harris describes a vampire´s effort to live

together with people in harmony that is often disrupted either by vampires or humans. Both

Rice and Harris depict vampires as complicated beings, who have their needs and feelings,

and show their motivation. This conception moves vampires close to human beings and

enables a reader to understand the mind of a vampire.

22

3.4 Traditional and contemporary romance protagonists

In this chapter I will focus on romance as an important source of vampire romance. I

will compare qualities of a typical (human) romance hero and heroine with protagonists from

the vampire novels, who are either members of a supernatural world or humans with special

abilities. I will depict the vampire Louis from the Rice´s novel Interview with the Vampire

(1976) and vampires Bill and Eric from the Harris´s novels Dead Until Dark (2001) and Club

Dead (2003). Moreover, I will describe Sookie, the female protagonist, created by Harris. I

will use the facts about a romance hero and heroine from the theoretical part of this work.

When comparing I will show the similarity with a tradition and new features of the

protagonists of the contemporary vampire fiction.

Louis from the Rice´s novel Interview with the Vampire resembles a Romantic hero

described by Ousby as “a solitary person ... plagued by guilt” (851). Louis lives within the

vampire community and in the cities, so he is not solitary; however, he often thinks about the

meaning of his vampire existence. It differentiates him from the other vampires who have just

accepted their vampire nature and are not interested in metaphysical questions. Louis is alone

in his thoughts and it makes him separated from the others. From this point of view Louis is a

solitary hero just like a Romantic hero. Louis also feels despair when he thinks about his

existence at the end of the novel: “I wanted love and goodness in this which is living death”

(Rice 334). He has not found the meaning of his life after all his attempts. Louis feels guilty,

like a Romantic hero. As a vampire he has to “go through the world bringing misery and

death to human creatures” (Rice 81) and it makes him depressed. He is in a struggle between

his vampire instincts and a remaining human nature. His companion Lestat accuses him: “You

are in love with your mortal nature!... And in your romance with mortal life, you´re dead to

23

your vampire nature!” (Rice 81). Louis is helpless when he feeds on people because he still

feels sympathy to them. This is something which makes Louis humanlike.

In summary, Louis is not a typical protagonist of a romance but he is rather similar to

a Romantic hero. He is lonely in his search for the understanding of his identity, feeling guilty

and helpless when harming people, and desperate when he finds out that there are no answers

to his questions after all.

Unlike Louis, vampires Bill and Eric in the Harris´s novels represent the heroes of the

contemporary romance fiction. They have qualities of romance heroes as described by

Nakagawa (2011): they both seem to be unusual and detached from the others, thus attractive.

On the other hand, these two protagonists differ from each other in many aspects.

The vampire Eric is arrogant, attractive and longing for power and dominancy, so he

represents a traditional romance hero as described by Nakagawa (2011). From his first

meeting of Sookie, he tries to glamour and seduce her because he feels that she is different

from the ordinary people. And it is not only his dark side what attracts a reader. He is able to

impress Sookie with an unexpected gift and sometimes he even surprises her when he exactly

expresses her inner thoughts: “I think that Sookie is telling us she belongs to herself” (Harris,

Club Dead 253). His empathy and sensitive behaviour on one hand and egoism and

dominancy on the other hand disturbs Sookie, and it makes him an interesting character of the

novel.

The character of the vampire Bill belongs to the type of a more emotional and caring

romance hero. Although Bill seems to be distant and cold at the beginning of the series, he

gradually becomes more open and reveals his feelings to Sookie. He wants to protect his

relationship with her from Eric´s interventions, so he becomes involved in vampire politics to

have more power. He is able to be cruel to anybody who offends Sookie: when he finds out

24

that Sookie´s uncle molested her during her childhood, he does not hesitate to kill him. Here,

Harris mentions a very serious issue of present days, child abuse. She proves that she does not

only focus on the romantic storyline but also notices a tabooed issue to draw a reader´s

attention to the problems of the contemporary society.

Bill seems to be a thoughtful and reliable partner. He is strong enough to protect

Sookie and, at the same time, devoted to her. However, Bill´s character is not so explicit. In

fact, he startles Sookie (and a reader as well) when he attacks her while suffering from

hunger, and their relationship ends in the third novel when Sookie reveals that Bill has

betrayed her.

To sum up, vampires Bill and Eric partly have the qualities of the contemporary

romance heroes. Eric is dominant, self-assured and yet capable of being good. Bill is

sensitive, protective but also violent. Both of them have their good and bad sides. But as

vampires there is something terrifying in them which remains hidden until some conflict

appears.

Finally, I will characterize Sookie, the main female protagonist of the Harris´s novel.

According to Regis (2003: 15) a typical contemporary romance heroine should be able to

achieve some change in her life. Sookie is presented like a young woman unable to date

ordinary men because she hears what they think about her, which is very disturbing for her.

Then she meets the vampire Bill and finds out that she cannot read his mind which is very

pleasant. The silence of his mind brings her peace; she falls in love with him and becomes his

girlfriend. She has achieved a change as a romance heroine - she has found somebody whom

she can tell about her unusual ability. Bill persuades her that her telepathy is valuable, and

Sookie finds out that her ability is a gift, not a curse. She loves Bill because he has accepted

her special skill and tried her to cope with it. However, Sookie differs from the typical

25

romance heroine. She is an adult young woman who knows what she wants from her partner.

According to Nakagawa (2011) Sookie wants to keep her identity and refuses the passive role

in the relationship. So she is strong enough to reject her partner if he does not meet her

requirements. This concept of romance is different from a traditional romance novel with an

optimistic ending. Harris uses romance as a frame of her story but adds attitudes of a modern

woman and her ideas about partnership. These ideas reflect in the contemporary novels for

women. That is why Harris´s works go beyond the romance category.

Sookie´s relationship with Bill will not meet a happy ending. Although her vampire

Bill loves her, he betrays her and even attacks her. He is not a reliable and protective partner

for Sookie as he used to be before. Sookie is disappointed by the fact that “a safe man

probably does not exist” (Nakagawa). She finds out that she has to solve problems alone and

rely on herself only.

To sum up, the Harris´s heroine is able to change her life and find a partner.

Nevertheless, this romantic bond ends after some problems so the story does not end like the

typical romance. Sookie wants to keep her independence and cannot forgive Bill his faults.

3.5 The Rice´s and Harris´s approaches

In this chapter I will describe the style of Rice and Harris to show their approach to the

vampire topic. Each of them created the unique form of the contemporary vampire romance. I

will focus on the most significant attributes of their concepts. First, I will mention the

interaction of people and vampires, then the way of using the point of view, and finally the

way of depicting of the main protagonists. I will compare their approaches in order to show

26

the main differences between them. I will emphasise new issues that have appeared in the

novels, and I will show how vampire romances have developed from the late 1970s up to

these days.

Rice has created the vampire world which stays hidden from the people so the

relations between vampires and people are mentioned rarely. Except for the Louis´s feelings

toward Babette, people are portrayed as the prey: “the town gave me an endless train of

magnificent strangers….I fed on strangers. I drew only close enough to see the pulsing

beauty, the unique expression, the new and passionate voice” (Rice 97). The human society in

the Rice´s novel cannot understand and accept vampire existence: when Babette discovers

that Louis is a vampire, she claims him to be a devil even if he has not done any harm to her

and tried to help her. The vampire in the human world can symbolise the existence of

something unusual that should be banned. Rice probably refers to people of various ethnic

groups or to people with different sexual orientation. In the 1970s, when the novel was

published, these people tried to defend their existence and rights. They wanted to be accepted

by the society but unfortunately they were often rejected. Rice´s human protagonists also

reject the existence of vampires as if they are not prepared for the otherness of the

supernatural world.

Rice mainly focuses on a vampire community and relations among vampires. The

main protagonist Louis describes in detail co-existence of vampires from his point of view.

The vampire telling the story of his life directly to a reader is something new in the style of

vampire fictions. Louis´s thoughts and emotions dominate the story, putting aside actions and

the development of the plot. The narration seems to be slow and descriptive but the sudden

event breaks the structure and shocks readers by its brutality: “´I´ll put you in your coffin,

Father … forever.´ And then, from beneath the pillows of the couch, she drew a kitchen

knife” (Rice 134).

27

Rice lays emphasis on a vampire psychology because she wants to stress Louis´s

similarity with humans. He feels guilty when he feeds on them, and he is disgusted during the

bizarre theatre performance where a human woman is killed by vampire actors. He is not a

predator like the other vampires who are cruel and “might hunt and seduce, stay long in the

company of the doomed victim” before they kill (Rice 97). He has sympathy for humans

because he still has humanity in himself. It might be the reason why Rice denies most

superstitions about vampires because she wants to portray them as humans and not as odd

creatures which can be overcome by garlic. The only thing, which Rice preserves, is the fact

that vampires can be destroyed by fire. Ironically, in the novel Interview with the Vampire the

threat does not come from humans, as it usually happens. The vampire Lestat is killed by his

“daughter” Claudia after years of her hatred. Rice presents Louis like a human changed into a

new form, confused by his new abilities and trying to explain the principles of the vampire

existence. He differs from other vampires in his attempts to understand his new identity and it

makes him lonely in the vampire community. He does not find any satisfying answers, and at

the end of the story he accepts the fact that he is damned. Rice has created the vampire with

attributes of the Romantic hero, who is a loner and full of disappointment. According to

Watt´s theory, one branch of the Gothic is concentrated on moral issues, and “comes closer to

the main tradition of the novel” (qtd. in Williams 1995: 2). I can include the Rice´s novel in

this branch because it is focused on psychology and moral dilemmas.

To sum up the Rice´s concept, she mainly focuses on relationships among vampires

living inside the human world. She wants to stress a human nature of the vampire Louis and

his psychology which is supported by first-person point of view. She describes his

disillusionment and the tension between his human and vampire nature which resembles a

character of a Romantic hero.

28

Vampires in the Harris´s fiction revealed their existence to people, thus the main

emphasis lays in the relationship of vampires and humans. Harris uses the tension between

them to fill the story with thrill and adventure. Moreover, some traditional superstitions about

vampires occur in the story: a wooden stake and silver can overcome a vampire, some

vampires can fly. The use of the superstitions makes a plot more dramatic and more attractive

for a reader.

Harris also describes the relationships among vampires. Their family bonds are very

strong – a vampire cannot kill his/her master, they are attached to each other closely so much

that a master can summit his/her “child” at any time. But what is important in Harris´s novels

is the existence of the various kinds of supernatural beings, not only vampires. Harris´s

supernatural creatures are of different nationalities, such as Eric, the Viking, they are of

different colours of their skin and different sexual orientation. This diversity resembles the

ethnic varieties and minorities living in the human world. Harris has enabled vampires to

reveal themselves to people and she depicts their efforts to live together with people. It

resembles efforts of various minorities of our world to become a part of the society.

Harris uses first-person point of view in her novels. Her heroine Sookie is a human

telepath, and tells the story from her point of view, in the first person, similarly to Louis.

Unlike him, she describes the supernatural world indirectly through her observations and so

she is able to keep a distance and give objective information.

Harris partly uses the form of romance. She presents Sookie as a young woman

longing for a partner. The most distinctive male protagonists are vampires Bill and Eric who

both have features of romance heroes. Bill is more sensitive and thoughtful, Eric is arrogant

and dominant. However, Harris´s novels are not typical romances. She modulates the romance

formula and adds new issues. Harris gradually uncovers different sides of Bill and Eric. Bill

29

becomes unreliable and Eric empathic. Their bipolarity shows the similarity to humans who

also have both good and bad qualities. Harris also stresses Sookie´s need for independence

within the relationship. Moreover, Harris´s novels do not bring the emotional satisfaction to

her protagonists, which is typical for romance. Watt claims that “one branch of [Gothic]

continues in an increasingly sub-literary and specialized tradition about vampires and

werewolves” (qtd. in Williams 2). The truth is that Harris focuses on the interaction of people

and supernatural creatures, she creates dramatic and romantic plots; it means she uses

attributes of popular literature. On the other hand, protagonists are not schematic characters,

and they are developing within the whole series. A reader can find disturbing ideas there. In

his chapter about post-modern literature Storey claims that “there is no absolute categorical

difference between high and popular culture” (156) and „there are no longer any easy

reference points that will automatically preselect for us the good from the bad [works]” (157).

Harris´s novels cannot be directly placed into the popular literature as they contain features of

both popular and high literature.

To conclude, Harris depicts the parallel existence of humans and vampires. Besides

the vampire community, she also creates other supernatural creatures like werewolves or

shapeshifters. They represent various ethnic groups which appear in the contemporary society.

Although Harris focuses on a romantic relationship, her protagonists are not typical romantic

heroes and heroines.

3.5.1 A comparison of the approaches

Rice shows the humanity inside a vampire so she mainly focuses on relationships

among vampires. She depicts a vampire as a creature having a soul and emotions. She is able

30

to bring a vampire close to a reader as she narrates the story from a vampire´s point of view in

the first-person. In 1976, when she wrote the novel, it was a completely new manner of

narration within the frame of the vampire fiction. She describes the vampire Louis wandering

and looking for answers; thus he resembles a Romantic hero. The use of a traditional hero and

his moral dilemmas moves the work to the traditional novel. Harris does not focus on the

vampire community only. Instead, she creates the supernatural world inhabited with a large

number of different kinds of creatures. They represent diversity existing in the human world.

Thus, Harris can stress the existence of various different ethnic groups; it means people who

are different from the others in some ways. It enables her to describe the world as the

cosmopolitan place for people of various races and origins.

Unlike Rice, Harris lays the main emphasis on the interaction between the human and

supernatural world. She combines a real world of people with a fictive world of supernatural

creatures and describes conflicts arising from their co-existence. Unlike Rice, Harris´s human

protagonists accept the existence of vampires. People of the 21st century have already

admitted the existence of so many different persons inside their society so that a reader is also

prepared to accept the parallel existence of the human and supernatural world.

Contrary to Rice, Harris partly uses the form of romance. She describes a relationship

between a human and a vampire, which makes the storyline dynamic and full of turning

points. On the other hand, Harris breaks the rules of a typical romance when she shows the

ambivalence of her protagonists and she does not offer the happy ending.

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4. Conclusion

In this work I aimed at an analysis of protagonists who come from different worlds or

have unusual abilities. I managed to prove that Rice and Harris have created the protagonists

whose characters reflect both experiences of contemporary readers and trends of

contemporary literature.

First, I compared a traditional and a contemporary concept of a figure of a vampire as I

wanted to show what traditional attributes appeared in contemporary vampire romances. At

the same time, I found important distinctions between a traditional and a modern vampire

romance. Then, I described and compared unique approaches of the writers. I wanted to

stress new issues that these authors brought into vampire romance.

I have found out that both traditional and contemporary vampires are attractive and

strong. However, the contemporary vampires have changed in many other points in works of

Rice and Harris. Vampires need to be a part of a community, and they usually live close to

humans in an urban environment. Their personality is much complex which makes them

humanlike.

Rice focuses on the vampire Louis and his psychology. She describes his decisions

and moral dilemmas and emphasises a human nature in his vampire character. She wants to

show Louis´s similarity with humans. Rice was the first author who let the vampire narrate

the story from his point of view. Using first-person point of view, she revealed the vampire

thoughts and enabled a reader to connect with him emotionally. She also moved the figure of

a vampire from the position of a villain into a hero. She has created the vampire with feelings

of guilt and despair, which are typical features of Romantic heroes, traditionally applied to

32

people. That is why Interview with the Vampire inclines more to the traditional novel than to

the romance.

In Rice´s novel the vampire world is present in the human world but it stays latent for

people, who are not able to accept the world that is beyond their understanding. The

existence of vampires can mirror the existence of certain people living in the contemporary

human society. Rice wrote her novel in the late 1970s when the rights of homosexuals were

discussed. This minority also wanted to find the place in the world and express their different

identity, same as the vampire Louis. Thus, Interview with the Vampire can be read as a

metaphor of the human society.

Harris shows the diversity of the contemporary world. Therefore, she has created

numerous kinds of supernatural creatures which represent the minorities living in the human

world. She has revealed the existence of vampires in her novels in order to support the idea

that everybody has the right to express himself/herself.

Harris focuses on a romantic story between a human and a vampire. She chooses the

human heroine as the narrator. It enables her to examine the world of supernatural creatures

through the human point of view which is detached and objective. The heroine confronts

herself with the vampires and other creatures, trying to keep her identity in the difficult

relationship with the vampire who is both tender and terrifying for her. Therefore, she is not a

typical romance heroine, and her romantic story does not have a happy ending. It moves

Harris´s novels from the position of romance to literature for women.

The tension between the human and supernatural world causes the conflicts that make

the plot dramatic and attractive for a reader. Romantic love and stress on action moves the

Harris´s series to the popular literature. However, Harris has created protagonists who do not

represent typical romance characters. They surprise a reader by unexpected twists of their

33

behaviour or by development of their character. Thus, her novels cannot be directly placed

into the category of popular literature.

Both Rice and Harris present the unique style of the contemporary vampire romance.

They draw from the image of a Gothic vampire but they add human qualities to their

contemporary representatives. They depict complicated relations of supernatural beings and

humans. They emphasise that the otherness of the supernatural beings also exists in the

contemporary human society, thus they reflect problems of today´s world. They have created

narratives with hidden meanings and disturbing questions. Their novels are challenging for a

reader because they offer new and interesting ideas.

34

5. Bibliography

Primary:

Harris, Charlaine. Dead Until Dark. London: Gollancz, 2009 (originally published in 2001).

Print.

Harris, Charlaine. Club Dead. London: Gollancz, 2009 (originally published in 2003). Print.

Rice, Anne. Interview with the Vampire. New York: Ballantine Books, 2002 (originally

published in 1976). Print.

Secondary:

Blamires, Harry. The Age of Romantic Literature. London: Longman Literature Guides, 1990.

Print.

Cawelti, John G. Adventure, mystery, and romance. Chicago: The University of Chicago,

1976. Print.

Cuddon, J. A. The Penguin dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. London: Penguin

Books, 1992. Print.

Guran, Paula. Introduction. Best New Paranormal Romance. By Guran. New York: Juno

Books, 2006. 7-17. Print.

35

Nakagawa, Chiho. “Safe Sex with Defanged Vampires: New Vampire Heroes in Twilight and

the Southern Vampire Mysteries.” The Journal of Popular Romance Studies 2.1

(2011): n. pag. Web. 26 June 2012. jprstudies.org

Nelson, Victoria. “Victoria Nelson discusses Gothicka: Vampire Heroes, Human Gods, and

the New Supernatural.” Harvard University Press. Harvard University Press, January

12 2012. Web. 15 May 2012. hup.harvard.edu. Audio.

Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 1993. Print.

Regis, Pamela. A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Philadelphia: University of

Pennsylvania Press, 2003. Print.

Smith, Jennifer. Anne Rice: A Critical Companion. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1996. Print.

Storey, John. „Postmodernism and Popular Culture.“ The Routledge Dictionary of

Postmodernism. Ed. Stuart Sim. London: Routledge, 2005. Print.

Traill, Nancy H. Možné světy fantastiky: Vznik paranormální fikce. Přeložil Lubomír Doležel.

Praha: Academia, 2011. Print.

Twitchell, James B. The Living Dead. A study of the vampire in romantic literature. Durham:

Duke University Press, 1981. Print.

Williams, Anne. Art of Darkness: A Poetics of Gothic. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,

1995. Print.

36

Wood, Martin J. “New Life for an Old Tradition: Anne Rice and Vampire Literature.” The

Blood Is the Life: Vampires in Literature. Ed. Leonard G. Heldreth and Mary Pharr.

Bowling Green: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1999. 59-78. Print.

37

6. Appendix

Anne Rice

Born 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

Education San Francisco State University

Novels Interview with the Vampire (1976)

The Vampire Lestat (1985)

The Queen of the Damned (1988)

The Witching Hour (1990)

Of Love and Evil (2010)

Charlaine Harris

Born 1951 in Tunica, Mississippi, USA

Education Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee

Novels Real Murders (1990)

Dead Until Dark (2001)

Club Dead (2003)

Dead and Gone (2009)

Deadlocked (2012)

For more details see Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org

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7. Summary

This thesis is aimed at the development of vampire romance. It analyses contemporary

vampire romance Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice and Dead Until Dark and Club

Dead by Charlaine Harris. In the theoretical part there are described the literary genres that

have formed vampire romance. The main emphasis lays on characteristics of main

protagonists within the depicted genres. Next chapters focus on similarities and differences in

an image of a traditional and a contemporary hero/heroine. The chapters analyse the most

important distinctions between a traditional and a modern concept and show unique

approaches of both authors. The conclusion highlights the new issues that both authors have

introduced in their works.

Resumé

Tato práce je zaměřena na vývoj upírské romance. Analyzuje současnou upírskou

romanci Interview s upírem od Anne Riceové a Mrtví do soumraku a Klub mrtvých od

Charlaine Harrisové. V teoretické části jsou popsány literární žánry, které zformovaly

upírskou romanci. Hlavní důraz je kladen na charakteristiku hlavních hrdinů popsaných žánrů.

Další kapitoly se zaměřují na podobnost a rozdíl v zobrazení tradičního a současného

protagonisty. Tyto kapitoly rozebírají nejdůležitější rozdíly mezi tradičním a moderním

konceptem a ukazují specifické koncepce obou autorek. Závěr zdůrazňuje nová témata, která

obě autorky ve svých dílech představily.