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Everytime I ask someone about Anne Rice's portrayal of vampires the answers always seem to run along the lines of her Romanticizing vampires.........

I was just curious has anyone ever said that to you?

Do you believe it?

What is Your opinion on their portrayal in her books?

Discuss.....

i think most people want to see the romantic side of vampires, rather than the vicious side of them. i think that is why her books sell so well. she is a really good writer and brings all her books together by clearly identifying each character from the other books as well.

I agree. Honestly that is apart of the reason why I read her books. I think that is great that she also made her characters alive with feelings and made you love them. Just so you would read more to find out what is going on with your favorite characters. She made you apart of her stories. But that is just my opinion.

65% of all literature has romanticized all types of Kin, not just vampires. You see them as tall dark handsome/beautiful beings but forget that they were deadly creatures.

I have not read much of Anne Rice but I have of Mrs Hamilton and she tends to show many different sides to her vampires.

I think Anne Rice does tend to romanticize her vampires, but she also shows them when they're being vicious. There are times when you despise what the characters are doing, at other times you find yourself siding or sympathizing with them.

I think she does tend to romantizise her caracters, as well as many other authors.

It is an excellent writing style beause it is a way to give depth to your caracters, as well as getting the reader sucked in to this romantic dream land of un reachable fantasies.

On the other hand, some authors tend t make it a bit too sabby, but I think Anne Rice has found a great balance.

I think yes, Ms Rice does romanticize her vampire characters, but all writers do that to an extent. If we do not like the characters in a book or can not root for them in some aspect, then I doubt if anyone will read it.

With Lestat having taste and manners, it makes it more of a contrast when he is being deadly or killing someone.

I think that Ms Rice is a very descriptive writer. Her first three vampire books were fantastic. But then they got kind of old after a while. It was pretty much the same thing... page after page after page of moralizing and homoerotocism. Not every person would become "gay" after death. I have no problem with gays, but damn, every character seemed to be that way and I found it a little annoying.
And she just got a little repetitive after a while.

Anne Rice is a lot like Laurell K. Hamilton. they both portray the sexual traits of the unknown. I have heard that after I stopped reading the books. I had discussed them with people all over, and came to the same conclusion...

this is the thing almost every book about vampires is like that, thats why alot of peple read and like vampires because their imortal for one thing and then their beautiful and romantic, theres not that many books out there that dosent envolve them in blood, sex, and drugs. and when you think about it when you ask somebody about anne rices books and they say something about the romantic parts i would understand that because what if he/she says stuff about how akasha killed all the vamps and they're like "i wish i could do that to every body so i can be alone" or somethig even worse. id think they were bad off or something

I think that she makes them appear "Romantic", by giving them human traits, such as the ability to love, and the desire to be with someone; to share their lives with one person.

As stated before, most authors will romanticize their character, and Mrs. Rice is no exception. But that's what, I think, draws people in. You don't want to just read about some blood thirsty monster, because who could identify with that? By giving them human traits they allow the character to become more human, so it would be easier to identify with the emotions and feelings. Romanticizing a character just allows for a broader spectrum of emotion and feeling.

I am reading one of my Anne Rice books now, its Domain Blackwood and so fare, seh portrait more everthing as like for exemple Lestat more of one of the most fear one and Quin to be afraid at first but also in love with him (at least where I am now) and its rather interesting. I admit I did not find any romance but more la sexual approche, with all the details and very well presented. My next one will be Blood and Sand.

I said it once...and I'll say it again...

"I REALLY enjoy Anne Rice's Vampires. The dark, sensuous qualities that she imbues into her characters and the thoroughness of their thought processes creates a tangible, heady ambience that I long to sustain. I like novels which combine historical and contemporary landscapes."

Yes, I definitely think Ann Rice owes her success to the "Romatic" portrayal of Vampires...she brought them out of the musty crypts and castles, and into the glamorous world of forever young, beautiful, wealthy and powerful. She even made one of them a Rock Star! But at a much deeper level, I think she forces the issue of what is “good” and “evil”, challenging our perceptions of such.

yes, its true and she tends to be over descriptive.....alast her day is day....a hasbeen...yet one more victim to fame

yes i do think that she romances them a bit, but i enjoy it, its an alternate look to them, than the horrific blood thirsty monsters some books/movies portray them as....

She romanticizes and repeats. Servant of the Bones? Same story line, now with new and improved Ghost action!

Thank you, Strigocia!

My two cents on Rice; I prefer steamed with lots of soy sauce. Anyway...romanticizing is all she's about with her vampires. I don't see how you could say it's anything else, honestly.

And seriously...the way she goes on and on in her descriptions...it's really agonizing...

But that's just my opinion. I'm not flaming anybody here. Just to make that clear.

we all have our different oppinions about vampyrism
its just that Ann Rice portrays is differently then we like to think about it

There's nothing wrong with romanticizing vampires. Romanticizing them is a part of their evolution from their roots as horrible boogeyman zombie creatures. I just don't like Rice. She's a technically good writer. It's just that she somehow turns her books into big, gloopy, romantic sludge balls, and I feel dirty touching them. Heh. I'm the type, though, who likes books like Midnight Mass, where the vampires are horrible monsters and the ending isn't happy.

I agree she romanticizes her vampires by humanizing them and making them hold on to some of their former charastics. It makes them more believable charactors. Personally, I prefered her Sleeping Beauty Cronicles.

I believe, before she was writing the "Vampire Chronicles" (or whatever they are called) she was a Romance novelist. You know, all Fabio and such. Hence, the romanticization.

I wish i liked to read... The movies were fun, but I know the books are different. A book I have,though, does the opposite. The vampires are terrible creatures and kill gruesomely. lol No romance there. heh heh......

I think all vampires have that appeal to them where your drawn to them no matter who they are. This is probably what she sees.
BLESSED BE

It's not hard to romanticise vampires. With so much passion tied in to the way they drink, it's inevitable. Even Bram Stoker, for all the bad things he showed with Dracula, could not keep out all the passion between Dracula and his victims.

My english teacher, who got me into vampire by reading our class Dracular, from memory! said that Anne Rice romatacized vampires.

I myself prefer her portrayal of vampires than Bram Stoker's.

I do think that her style of writing, from the vampire's perspective does show vampires as more beautiful creatures with the same faults that mortals have. But compaired to how older writings have portrayed them, as monsters, she does show them in a kinder light. One could say a more revealing light, showing that they too have emotions etc.

Also when she writes her vampires are more human than other writer's vampires, as Bram Stokers can fly, transform in to bats, call animals, turn in to smoke and other such mind boggeling things.

Her Sleeping Beauty chronicles were very intresting.....yes rice does romanticize the vamps..simply because they cling to things that they did as they were still humans.

I don't know of an author who doesn't try to romanticise vampires. And why wouldn't you want to? I mean, if you don't, then it's just a bunch of murderers drinking the blood of thier victims. When you add the "human" side of it, and make it a romantic idea, vampires suddenly seem like victims, not cold blooded murderers. if you want to read about a murderer, pick up the newspaper, you know?

I agree...everyone wants to, however people need to take into effect that they are savage creatures....no matter how charming or romatic they are potrayed to be...the bottom line is that they are killers none the less.

Only in fiction, my dear...

I have not heard that from anyone else before.

I also have not read many other vampire related books so it's hard to compare. I have read Dracula just recently and I believe the Vampire Chronicles are alot more romanticized than Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Anne Rice just has a way of making the reader get to know the character intimately very quickly and it's hard not to fall in love with them. It is the human qualities that we probably fall in love with but at the same time we still do get the brutalness of the vampire life do we not?

I for one have enjoyed the books immensly and mainly it is because of her writing style, she is a very talented writer.

I tend to think that the movies made of her novels have taken away alot of the romantic aspects to them, which may be more in line with the people who don't think they are a romantic kind of subject at all. After seeing the movies I much prefer the 'humaness' Anne Rice gives to them.

The Vampire is a romantic "monster". By its very nature, it is erotic - vampres are usually depicted as seducers in fiction and in mythology. most real vampires are pranic - stealing sexual energy. i dont think there can be any creature that has been more romanticesed in Art and Fiction.- except maybe Sirens, who are a type of Vampire anyway.

Its the only kinda romance I like... Her books are fabluous no matter whether she romanticizes her characters or not

Maybe Anne Rice as humanized vampires if this means she made us love her charactors then so be it her charactor tend to be rather complex in nature like humans themselves..I feel in love with Armand before I even felt sympathy for Lestat..Lestat is a monster he makes no bones about being a monster but geesh what a hunk of a monster he makes

I've only read some of her vampire books, but I'll admit that there have been times when I've wanted to slap her melodramatic characters. Louis is just a little bitch sometimes. Even LeStat, for all of his badass vampire moments, clings too closely to his human life. So perhaps Rice simply needs to start adding in more characters that have fewer drama queen moments.

i think her books are very good. and yes they do romanticise vampires but if she didnt then the books wouldnt be very good lol

you're probably right. but thats what attracts me to vampires.

Now, I couldn't stand Armand...he plays too many games. Lestat to me, well, he is a victim...I mean, face it...he didn't choose to be a vampire, and yet he let Louis choose whether or not to embrace immortality. *sighs* Okay, there's a little drama, lol.

Anne Rice is a very good writer and she is able to capture peoples imagination very well. But yes, she does take Vampires too far.
She is the reason why so many kids today want to be Vampires, so many want to marry Lestat and be a beautiful elegant Vampire.
Sure it's nice to have a great imagination but you have to know when to stop believeing things.

Yes she does write on the romantic side of the character, but also on their stubborness especially Lestat

I think that she just gets the different aspects of them, like in Queen of the Damned you get the loneliness of Lestat. Also in Interview with the Vampire. The Vampire Lestat shows a little more of a vicious side, along with Memnoch the Devil. Romanticizing the vampires just shows that they are still somewhat human, and that they aren't just blood sucking freaks, and that they actually care. This is just my opinion, but I think that by displaying all the aspects of the vampires and elaborating on it is what helps make her books sell(especially the spine tingling romance parts, phewww)^^

Everyone, regardless of who or what, has a need to be loved or accepted, to not be alone. I won't nessessarily say this is a "human" emotion, but she does seem to express that need in a romantic way trough her vampiric characters...

I think Rice portrays vampires like people. It takes all kinds to make a world, takes all kinds to make a world of vampires. Her angle is romantic, read Laurell K. Hamilton, she portrays vampires as controling beings. Perhapes people need romance intertwined in the gloom and doom of their lives. What's wrong with that?

Vampires are people, love, and no one said romance was bad... -^_^-

Rice's novels are a collection of beautiful lies. I suppose that is how the outside world would like to view vampires, but the lore it is based on has become so washed out by the romantic ideas that few details stand true.

Even if she is romanticizing vampires, it is still a very good read :)

This may be just a touch off from the topic, but I've never been a big fan of Anne Rice. I love her characters and stories, but not her style of writing. Maybe I'm flawed as an author, or perhaps I just disagree with the way she seems to be a little too "down talking" in her style.

Dark Greeting's, Unfortunality she doesn't speek of my kind.I feel she portrays them right to a point.But I feel she has some thing's wrong. Vampires can go into the sun without explodeing into flame.If you read the earliest writeing's of Vampires they can.I was told what I am while she was writeing her Erotixca before the vamp. cronicals.I am Vamphyle(Sp)( I have had W Nile virus and stilll am weak)
Dark Blessing's,
KA

i love the way rice portrays her vampires...i think she shows the humanity inside them...she shows them to be beautiful and breathtaking and fantastically romanticised but she also explains it in a way that the reason they are like that is to make people fall inlove with them so they can feed...she shows that they play off the romantic side to feed the vicious side...

i think thats a great way of showing them

Even so, vampires hearts for loving as well since we are all people. She may not exactly potray the 'real' vampire (which do not seduce to prey), but a side they have that no one seems to think exists...

To each their own. Whether you like how Rice protrays her vamps or not is your preference on how you like to view the vamps in your world. In my world Vamps are people who have a taste for blood. They find life, in what ever form, is both a curse and a blessing. I like how Rice and Hamilton, if you haven't read any of her Anita Blake books I reccomend them highly, they protray their vamps with such class, intelligence, and slightly humorous that it's hard to set the book down untill you've read the last word on the last page of the book.

Agreed, but this isn't about what we prefer...

I agree with the view that she (and many others) tend to romanticize vampirism, but giving credit where credit is due, she also has made her vampires multi-faceted as well, creating many memorable vampire characters that are more dimensional than your average vampire writer-Pnadora, Marius, Lestat even whiney Louis are not some two dimensional paper doll vampires, but people as well as vampires, and characters that you not only care about, but remember specific details about.

Well I agree that she has Romanticized vampires. but is it any worst that what holly has been doing before Anne Rice started her Vampire Chronicles?

Hell I think even Valentino(one of the most legendary heartthrobs) played a vampire.

Vampires had been romanticized long before Rice started her novels.

So maybe she was influenced by that as much as the trend that has started since her books and the movies.....

My self I am not exactly a big fan of hers yet I believe alot of authors write their books with the romantic side, because most want to see the Dark tall handsome, bad guy to have heart and so it tends to sell to the majority of public just an opinon.. :)

Anne Rice knows her craft well, she has the ability to make you feel for her characters. Everyone can relate to at least one character in her books. I find that most authors portray vampires in a romantic way.

Actually, it would depend on the genre of books you reading.
There are plenty of books on the market, that do not make vampires tall, dark and handsome.
Not to mention, that many of them, are not in the Horror Genre.

Agreed... I have never had anyone say to me about the romanticizing, though. I assume it was just already understood between us...

Of course she romanticises. It'd a bit hard to write a main character you and everyone else must despise. Besides, I doubt any of us knows what a real vampire would be like. That's just the way fiction has to be. It's all "What if, what if?"
What if vampires were real? What if they really were sophisticated, urbane socialites who just so happen to murder people for their sustenance? Personally, I like it that way.

Agreed. Often things such as writing and art tend to reveal the nature or emotion of the creator. A substance used to express one's true inner self... It's only natural that they are romanticized by her hand...

Yes!

This is what I wished to explain when I say that our past lives, our subconcious manifestations, all of everything we are and once were and will be, our knowledge, is contained on what we express at the moment, whether words, dance or song.

It is as though some part of us simply knows what we are it it shows in poetry, fiction, everything we do...

I Personally Love Anne Rice and Own many of Her books and Her portrayel of Her Charectors is amazing and the way she writes pulls You deeper into Her books and into the Lives of the Charectors!

You are absolutly right, STABB666. All forms of art- song, dance, story, poetry, theater, music, painting is the expression of thy inner being. To the creator it does not really matter what the true character of a fictional being is or if it is correct or right for everyone else. In the long run a creation is really only designed to please the creator...

I, as an artist myself, know this...

Rice does romanticize her characters and she does an excellent job of catching your interest with their descriptions. I do not care for her writing style but she knows how to hook her readers.
If you look at it from a purely practical point, the name of the game today is series writing and to successfully do so your characters must appeal to the masses. A murderous monster is okay for the enemy to be eliminated but cannot be successful as the hero/ine you root for in the end.

Not everyone roots for the same character roles. Must you really root for anyone at all for there to be more? And why can't an enemy not be the main? Just because there weren't any before?...

A dark dweller will love one who dwells in darkness...

Sometimes it is the contrast of seeing the other side, you know the grass is always greener. I agree that Rice does make her characters romantic and appealing, but would argue that is not because of the actions of some of the characters but the words chosen to express those actions.

It is easy when writing to desensitize from what is occurring by using pretty adjectives that bring a vision that softens a kill. However to live the experience one would not be nearly as “romanced” with what these characters do. Looking at Interview with a Vampire, isn’t that the entire dilemma that Louis has? He viewed life as a vampire to be one way and when he lived the reality it nearly broke his consciousness?

Beautiful really, the distorting of the grotesque to the point where we long for it.

Yes it does seem to be that way, however as Hemingway stated it is best to write what you know. So even though they may live vicariously through their works, the still learn and grow to what they expose themselves to.

I have read many of her books and she does a good job of hooking her readers and after all that is what makes for a well published writer.. :)

lol...she can"hook" you up very easely...

Rice's characterizations were one in a long line of "romantic vampires". Stoker pretty much started the whole thing... ;-)

Are we talking about Rice anymore?...

Yes it still is about Rice, and how the characterizations lead to metaphors of life. If you have read her bio then you know that the Vampire Claudia was meant as a metaphor to allow her daughter that died of Leukaemia eternal life, however as she was writing the story she found that even the character had to die.

What a writer writes is relevant to their lives, even if it is all fiction. The mentioning of other writers just served to point out that there are many authors that do the same. Even Stoker did this as someone else pointed out.

Within literature you can find many patterns if you look, and if you wish, you could create them. Which is part of what I have seen in this thread, thus creating a good discussion.

Indeed. Agreed.

I do enjoy Anne Rice's novels much in the way one enjoys a trashy romance novel. I have read almost all of her books and I do agree that she romanticizes vampires. I think however, that it is neccessary for her books. Obviously one should not be reading her books thinking "ah yes this is what vampires are like..good good." Her books are fiction and should be viewed as such especially since the author herself does not claim differently.

While I agree with your statement that the books are fiction, the metaphor they present I would argue is still very valid. Rice manages to tell the truth of the moral anguish that some (not all) people that view themselves to be vampires encounter.

How do you justify making people into prey? More over how do you deal with the loneliness and differences that as a vampire you feel? I find the metaphors she uses are some of the most potent ones. Does it make it good literature, no, but enjoyable. Should her stories make you think about your own morality, then it can be considered even better. Too often we ignore the metaphors in fiction because it is fiction.

Personally I love the challenge of questioning and finding out my own truth, even if that means using fictional metaphors to spice up my introspect.

i think she does a great job,it's a kick back to the early days of vampire films from like the 40's.

I would definitely say she is romanticising them, but then so are most of the vampire movies and books...The myths and legends tell a whole different story about vampires being corpses and smelling bad and looking horrible...if you look at a story a a person being killed when they are young, coming to life looking the same age for hundreds of years, being able to fly, read minds, mingle with the socialites...how can it NOT be a romantic vision of vampirism

*Laughing* Yes Indigo she is very popular. Good stuff to some, saccharine to others. I still argue that it is in her character development that the masses are drawn to.

Relating to the who/why/feelings of these characters is what draws us back. How many people wish to associate themselves with the "Brat Prince" or to be the every frail but beautiful Louis... my personal favourite the feral Gabrielle? In that we are drawn to make subconscious parallels to our own lives.

However good the sales are, sadly I must argue that her literary quality is very controversial. In saying that I am not saying that she isn't an enjoyable read... as you mentioned I am quite well versed in her books and her biographies. :)

... but isn't good character development really the cornerstone of any good fiction??? I look at the words that really seem to endure and the authors that really seem to endure and it is the fact that they are able to create these distinct, almost living, entities on the printed page that keeps the readers turning those self-same pages.

I've read more than my fair share of sci-fi and fantasy fiction, the really strong writers are able strong characters. There are lot of people out there who are masters of plot and subplot - or even the masters of the technical (Harry Turtledove and Tom Clancy spring to mind). They're great writers, but often their characters fall a bit flat outside of one or two standouts.

Then I go look at someone like an Anne McCaffrey - many of her books have a very NATURAL feel to them because the characters are so strong. It feels as if she creates scenarios in her mind, has these characters come together, and merely dictates what these entites do rather than going through the active process of writing.

Going to Anne Rice - PART of her works had that feel, but then there was the random statement thrown in - especially about religion in the Vampire Chronicles - that really felt like Rice trying to convince HERSELF of something by having Lestat or some other character say it...

At the far opposite end of that scale is a Piers Anthony who has an ego the size of the Titanic and writes - hell, I honestly don't know why he writes at this point. His character development is atrocious - characters do things because the high and mighty Piers says they do... no natural development what so ever...

Bah, it’ll never end, everyone loves rice. I think there are some more veggies over there too if people want more. Although I think Arunima used all the soy sauce. :(

There is not much else that has not been said already. She is a good writer, a good read and good at attending to her readers needs. She sells very well and I do love her work. I'm not sure if she sterilized vampires to much or if other later works and shows have and thus we as reader think she has too. I personally like the immortality of vampires as it adds much more to their character and depth and she presented that. I don’t think she took them to far off track. Besides it’s a bit difficult to write about a raving, half brained fiend out hunting his next kill and that is all the depth to that character. Vampires need to be more than blood sucking, vixen chasing shadows and Rice gave us all that and did an awesome job doing so.

Whoa, I stole all the soy sauce?

...Well, I guess I can see that. I do tend to drown my steamed rice in it.

Anyway...what? Oh yeah. Hah! I can be one of the few who raises their hands in rebellion to Rice.

......

Rice without soy sauce, anyway.

*Slips another bottle of soy onto the table*

Don’t forget the steamed veggies. ;)

I think what Rice did for vampires was needed. I feel it's what others are doing to them that should stop.

In reality they are both dear. I have the scars to prove it.

This thread has been automatically closed for length.