A forgotten horror novel that started the vampire craze years before Dracula

Spoilers for Le Fanu’s “Carmilla”.

Le Fanu’s Carmilla of 1872 is a genre prototype in many ways. This is one of the earliest works of vampire fiction and introduced the first ever lesbian vampire. The main character of the novella, Laura, is a young woman who lives in a castle in Styria (present-day Austria), and her complicated relationship with Carmilla, who appears all too sweet and human, forms the essence of attraction and horror. defining work of Le Fanu.

The seeds of terror are sown years before the main events of the story take place. Laura describes being visited by a beautiful woman who pierced her breast when she was only six years old, but left no scars. The way Le Fanu describes this disturbing childhood memory is particularly horrifying: Laura witnessed a woman turn over and hide under the bed as soon as she called her nurses in fear. Although the nurses find no one in this tight space, the floor feels warm to the touch, as if someone had actually been lying there seconds ago.

How does Le Fanu portray Carmilla, the vampiric seductress who wants to possess Laura’s body and soul? At first, Laura sees Carmilla as a high-status, like-minded young lady, but recognizes that she is more beautiful, mysterious, and unpredictable than anyone she has known. Sometimes Carmilla is sincere, soothing Laura’s loneliness by being a constant companion who can be trusted. However, these mild periods are often followed by bouts of obsession where Carmilla openly admits her attraction to and need to devour Laura. “Sweet, sweet, I live in you; and you’ll die for me, I love you so much,” Carmilla declares in a trance, and the implications are obvious and downright weird. Although Laura uses terms like “disgust” and “disgust” when faced with these advances, her relationship with Carmilla is undoubtedly colored by an unspoken temptation that she constantly rejects in order not to “transgress.”

These sapphic overtones are mixed with the horror of being possessed or defiled as Carmilla continuously feeds on the unconscious Laura every night. Moreover, her customs are perceived as “strange”. She never wakes up before dinner, does not participate in household prayers, and her mood swings to inexplicable extremes. So what there is Carmilla and what does she want?