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Dark angels : a study of Anne Rice's Vampire chronicles
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Plumb, Jane (1998) Dark angels : a study of Anne Rice's Vampire chronicles. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
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Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b1403976~S1
Abstract
The international success of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and the release
of the film Interview with the Vampire (based on her novel of the same name) has
fueled an explosion of interest in the vampire genre, resulting in further
incarnations of the vampire story in fiction and film. This study attempts to
analyse Rice's development of the vampire narrative in relation to a body of
novels and short stories which comprise a recognizable genre.
The first chapter has three sections: an Introduction comprising a comparison
between the Chronicles and Bram Stoker's Dracula,- a study of the Chronicles as a
metaphor for homoeroticism and AIDS; and a study of the psychoanalytic aspects
of vampirism linked with the concept of Rice's vampire as a Sadean hero. The
second chapter has two sections: an analysis of Rice's representations of
femininiiy; and a study of the myths of womanhood employed in the novels,
together with the origins of these myths. The third chapter has two sections: a
focus on the complex self-conscious and moral life of Rice's vampires in relation
to contemporary consciousness and subjectivity; and a comparison of Rice's
treatment of genre, historical romance and erotica with the vampire narratives of
her contemporaries. The fourth and concluding chapter is a summary of Rice's
treatment of genre, gender and religion in relation to evolving feminist, cultural
and psychoanalytic debates, including reference to material from her other
novels.
In her self-conscious appropriation of the vampire tradition, Rice introduces a
wider scope to the formulaic elements of the gothic genre, interweaving different
genres with the gothic horror story. Her innovative approach to the vampire
novel, with its complexity of intermingling issues, leaves many unanswered
questions. It is the unresolved nature of the contradictions and paradoxes intrinsic
to Rice's work that disturb and generate further debate.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
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Subjects: | P Language and Literature > PS American literature | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Rice, Anne, 1941- -- Criticism and interpretation, Vampires in literature | ||||
Official Date: | January 1998 | ||||
Dates: |
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Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of Social History | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Palmer, Paulina, 1937- | ||||
Extent: | iii, 231 leaves | ||||
Language: | eng |
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