Thursday, December 29, 2016

Some Comments on Published Re-Interpretations of Le Fanu's CARMILLA: Pastiche or Fanfiction? (An Update)

The 1872 novella, "Carmilla", by Irishman Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu is often credited with establishing the particulars of vampire lore and having a profound influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula.

The question that will form the essence of this exploration is whether the modern re-tellings of the 1872 novella are actually pastiches or are they works of fan-fiction? In other words, are these works an imitation or re-interpretation of the original, or are they an extension / expansion of the novella?

The works under consideration in this essay are modern re-tellings of Le Fanu's Carmilla that have been formally published.[i] By "formally published," I simply mean available for purchase on Amazon.com; whether self-published or traditionally published; paper or digital. Only in one case, Carmilla: The Return, can the work even be considered a sequel; though here as well an argument can be made that this is simply a more creative re-telling of the original. This will be discussed and expanded upon further. What follows are not summaries or synopses of the works under review. Rather, more my thoughts as well as certain pertinent highlights I believed worthy of note.

For the purpose of this essay, I define[ii] the term "pastiche" as:

a dramatic, literary, or musical piece openly imitating the previous works of other artists;

and the term "fanfiction" as:

fiction written by fans as an extension of an admired work or series of works . . . 

*

BASELINE Carmilla

Before entering into this discussion of published  Carmilla fiction and whether pastiche or fanfiction, I want to consider four versions of the original Carmilla as Le Fanu wrote it, to establish a baseline to compare the other works against.

A major theme all these works address is the passage of time within the story. Even in Le Fanu's original, the flow of time is vague and at times unclear. For my own understanding, very basically, this is how I interpret chronology within Le Fanu's Carmilla:

*The major events of the tale take place when Laura is 19 years old.

*Laura writes the narrative when she is 27. She states that she is writing the narrative 8 years after the events in the story, though later she states that 10 years have past; creating ambiguity.

*based on the above, Laura is also 27 when the narrative ends; when she perceives Carmilla's presence.

*It is assumed that Laura "dies" some short time after completing the narrative.

*

Carmilla (2015)

by

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

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The first version of "Carmilla" I read was this stand alone version. For my taste, this was an excellent introduction to Le Fanu's classic tale. I was able to appreciate the significance of the story's place in nineteenth century supernatural literature as well as seeing how Stoker built upon it's foundation a little over twenty years later.

*

In a Glass Darkly

(Tales of Mystery & the Supernatural) (2007)

by

J. S. Le Fanu

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This version, found in In A Glass Darkly, was a reprint of the 1872 collection, the final tale of which was "Carmilla" and was comprised of a series of letters written by Laura to some unknown person. In A Glass Darkly indicates that person is Dr. Hesselius.

This collection framed each of the stories as episodes or cases, documenting, sometimes in the form of letters, the work of Dr. Hesselius. Each tale was prefaced with commentary by Hesselius' editor. This is how the readers learn, for example, that Laura supposedly died shortly after completing her narrative.

This was the most enjoyable form of the tale I have read to date.

*

Carmilla (2012)

by

J. S. Le Fanu & Jamieson Ridenhour (Editor)

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This scholarly, annotated edition of Le Fanu's Carmilla was not, in itself, nearly as helpful or as insightful as I had hoped. Though it did offer three things that made this edition worthwhile, in my opinion.

Firstly, I must state that the introducti0n by the editor is excellent. I highly recommend it.

Secondly, excerpted from the introduction, the author writes that "Carmilla— dark-haired, predatory, and highly sexualized— does indeed seem like a negative image of fair-haired, passive, virginal Laura." This quote  exemplifies the contrasting and complementary traits of both principle characters. To my knowledge, it is the best single statement on the nature of the relationship between Laura and Carmilla.

Lastly, and that which redeemed this edition in my mind is that it is not based upon the version of "Carmilla" found in Le Fanu's collection, In A Glass Darkly published in 1872. Rather the version of Carmilla presented here is the earlier, original serialized version from a journal, The Dark Blue, published in 1871-72. The narrative framework from In A Glass Darkly was not part of this early version, so no mention was made of Hesselius or of Laura's passing.

*

The Annotated Carmilla (2011)

by

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

Edited by D. MacDowell Blue

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This is a superb annotated edition of Le Fanu's original. THE definitive scholarly edition, in my opinion. The annotations in this version are exhaustively in-depth and comprehensive. This is what I was hoping for when I first read the scholarly edition (see above).

Also, a note before we begin. This text includes the prologue from In A Glass Darkly.

Highlights

The Preface contained wonderful literary commentary and was excellent overall. The introduction entitled "Any More Ghost Stories" provided historic context. Also, the introduction recognized and addressed the chronological contradictions in Le Fanu's text.

Of the Notes themselves, I will just call attention to a few which I consider interesting and pertinent to this study.

Note 007 - Wow! Just how long before Hesselius' editor's compilation were Laura's letters written? And were they originally written to and for Dr. Hesselius in the first place?

Note 008 - This lengthy note debates Laura's role as narrator / letter writer. See further discussion below.

Note 124 - The mysterious Matska and her weird role in the tale are examined.

Note 141 - The only physical description of Laura - blond with blue eyes.

Note 160 - This note touches upon the chronological inconsistencies as reported by Laura. Is she an unreliable narrator? Or does this represent a blending of two different manuscripts? If so, by who? Laura, or Le Fanu?

Note 164 - Laura seems to be addressing her letters to a female! Who is she? Were the letters that make up this story not originally intended for Hesselius as implied in the text? Also, here again, is there perhaps a blending of two different manuscript versions? Or is this yet another example of Laura as an unreliable narrator?

Note 198 - The montebank makes reference to Carmilla's unusual tooth: "...the sharpest tooth, long, thin, pointed like an awl, like a needle."

Note 301 - In the text between Note 298 and 299, there is a description of what Laura's mysterious bite on her neck felt like, "two needles piercing the skin." This note, however, implies only a single awl-like puncture (see Note 198 above), rather than a double-puncture bite. In addition, the description of the bite area is more like a small hickey rather than a bite mark.

Note 403 - This final note suggests that Laura is still haunted by her experience with and unresolved feelings for a vampire "who maybe really did love her."

There are 403 notes in this work, corresponding to 38% of the entire text. By any measure, that is impressive. A very few, I thought, were unnecessary or too in-depth. But I prefer "too much" rather than "too little" and am glad the editor chose to err in this way.

The editor of this exemplary edition, David MacDowell Blue, is also a playwright, one of whose passions is Carmilla. Lately, he has devoted digital ink on the blog Taliesin Meets the Vampires on Carmilla and the place of vampires in popular culture. In addition, he has published a one-act play entitled Carmilla: A Play in One Act. See my comments on it in the concluding part of this essay.

This annotated version of Le Fanu's original is a valuable and worthy addition to any library on 19th century supernatural horror. It's thoroughness and complete coverage of the story caused me to re-examine my understanding of the tale and re-open my mind to other possible interpretations.

Thank you, Mr. Blue.

*

When published in In A Glass Darkly, "Carmilla" and the other tales in the collection were each provided with a prologue that connected the stories. In the prologue of "Carmilla," we are informed that Laura has died. It states:

As I publish the case, in this volume, simply to interest the "laity," I shall forestall the intelligent lady, who relates it, in nothing; and after due consideration, I have determined, therefore, to abstain from presenting any précis of the learned Doctor's reasoning, or extract from his statement on a subject which he describes as "involving, not improbably, some of the profoundest arcana of our dual existence, and its intermediates."

I was anxious on discovering this paper, to reopen the correspondence commenced by Doctor Hesselius, so many years before, with a person so clever and careful as his informant seems to have been. Much to my regret, however, I found that she had died in the interval.

She, probably, could have added little to the Narrative which she communicates in the following pages, with, so far as I can pronounce, such conscientious particularity.

Of course, the "intelligent lady" informant was Laura. Regarding her passing, there is no other comment. No further detail. Just this mysterious statement . . . As if it is meant to be glossed over and forgotten. The writer of the prologue praised Laura and her record of the events of the story. Several reviewers and commentators have gone so far as to call Laura an "unreliable narrator" because of her ambiguity in presenting certain facts, events, and people.[iii] In actuality, it is Laura's letters alone that form the entirety of the tale. Not only Laura's recollections of events, but also her thoughts and feelings form her narrative . . . But only what she chose to reveal.

I do not believe that Laura is an "unreliable narrator." Rather, I believe that Le Fanu, through Laura, is providing the reader with possibilities. If the reader believed that Laura was keeping certain things out of her correspondence, it is because whatever it was, in Laura's mind, was private and not for public knowledge. The reader is left to their own devices to draw whatever conclusion regarding this that they wish.

In a December 2011 post in  the blog Victorian Gothic, entitled "Before Dracula, there was Carmilla" (in addition to an excellent summary of the tale) several very pertinent questions were raised regarding Le Fanu's intentions at the conclusion of the novella. Similarly, in a masterful article in the collection of essays on Le Fanu, Reflections in a Glass Darkly[iv], among the issues the author raises are questions surrounding the climactic fight scene as well as the postscript that closes the narrative. The article's author also notes that in that final confrontation, Laura choose to stand with her father instead of Carmilla. Though it appears this decision may not have been final:

Although Laura appears to choose her father against Carmilla, the glimpse Le Fanu provides of her future suggests that this decision is not an easy one. That Laura is forever haunted by Carmilla, continues to hear her step outside the drawing room door, and is actually dead by the time the narrative reached the Editor is highly suggestive of the possibility that she has ultimately revoked that choice of the father . . . and returned to her . . . Carmilla.[v]

Regarding the postscript in which Laura returns the narrative to her present time, the author further intimates that the end of the novella may not have been the end of Carmilla's and Laura's story:

However, the story ends on a profoundly ambivalent note. After all, we are plainly told that those who are bitten by the vampire will themselves become vampires and therefore there is no reason to suppose that Laura and Bertha are not now vampires as well–indeed, Laura's final line indicates that 'often from a reverie I have started, fancying I heard the light step of Carmilla at the drawing-room door,' and she is herself dead by the time the story is being published. This line might even indicate that far from being finally vanquished, Carmilla is still lurking somewhere.[vi]

Taking this into consideration, one possible interpretation is that in her "death," Laura was not so much dead and buried, but rather dead and risen. 

Perhaps to join Carmilla.

*

What I choose to infer from this is that Le Fanu, instead of laying all the answers out for the reader, provided an opportunity or an opening for the reader.

What happens after Laura "imagines" hearing Carmilla's tread outside her door?

What happens after Laura "dies" so quietly and abruptly?

So . . . What happens next? . . .

I believe Le Fanu is giving us the chance to answer for ourselves.

***

. . . to be continued . . .

 

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[i] I choose to use the word "re-tellings" as opposed to "adaptation or "interpretation" because I feel that adaptation and interpretation are just a less pretentious way of saying pastiche.

[ii] Both definitions are taken from the American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition (http://www.thefreedictionary.com).

[iii] A more succinct definition of "unreliable narrator" is a person telling a story that cannot be relied upon for the truthfulness of their narrative because of contradictions, half-truths and outright lies.

[iv] "In the Name of the Mother: Perverse Maternity in 'Carmilla'" by Jarlath Killen, a lecturer in Victorian Literature at Trinity College, Dublin.

[v] Killen, Jarlath. "In the Name of the Mother: Perverse Maternity in 'Carmilla'" in Reflection in a Glass Darkly. Page 383.

[vi] Ibid. Page 383.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Books Jonelle Made Me Read – 4 – HECK: Where The Bad Kids Go

Series Introduction

In this occasional series, I will be discussing books that a teenage girl (soon to be a fourteen-year-old), Jonelle, instructed me to read. And when I say "instructed me to read," of course I mean "commanded me to read." For those of you who don't know her, she is a highly intelligent, sweet, precocious and fairly bossy young lady.

A large part of the reason why I read this book, and the other works that will be discussed in this blog series, is that I want to understand how teenagers think. These posts will not be a review of the book per se as much as an exploration of my random thoughts on the book.

How did I get myself into this?

***

"Now, now, Cerberus," she cooed. "They always smell like that at first."

Milton nervously cleared his throat. "So is this . . . you know . . . he—?"

Principal Bubb shook her swollen claw at Milton. "There will be none of that potty mouth down here. Or course this isn't . . . that place. You're in Heck."

Marlo leaned forward, her brow knit. "Heck? What the . . ."

Bea "Elsa" Bubb glowered. Her–inky black pupils adrift in a pus-yellow sea–glowed like fanned embers.

". . . heck," Marlo faltered, "is Heck?"

Bea "Elsa" Bubb smiled coldly and clasped her claws together.

"Rather like an h-e-double-hockey-sticks for children," she said. "Heck is where the souls of the darned toil for all eternity–or until they turn eighteen, whichever comes first."

***

Books Jonelle Made Me Read

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go (2008) by Dale E. Basye.

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Old Sins Cast Long Shadows is very pleased and proud to announce that this episode of "Books Jonelle Made Me Read" is the first – hopefully far from the last – collaborative effort. Co-Authorship credit of this post is shared with Miss Jonelle herself!

Now, things become interesting . . .

*

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go is the first part in a projected nine-part series (ennealogy), Nine Circles of Heck, by Dale E. Basye.

This work is a charming, whimsical and weirdly educational re-telling of Dante's Inferno. It is almost as if Dr. Seuss collaborated with Stephen King to produce this book and series. Seven of the nine parts have been published to date. The eighth is complete and, according to the author, trapped in the "limbo" between publishing houses.

*

The center piece of Dante's Inferno is the image of Hell that is presented. Dante's Hell is made up of nine layers or circles. Each circle focused on tormenting those damned souls guilty of a particular category of sin.

Hell name

Heck name

Heck tagline

1st Circle

Limbo

Limbo

First place where kids arrive after they die, where their souls are weighed and assessed.

2nd Circle

Lust

Rapacia

Where the greedy kids go.

3rd Circle

Gluttony

Blimpo

Where the hungry kids go.

4th Circle

Greed

Fibble

Where the lying kids go.

5th Circle

Anger

Snivel

Where the whiny kids go.

6th Circle

Heresy

Precocia

Where the smarty-pants go.

7th Circle

Violence

Wise Acres

Where the sassy kids go.

8th Circle

Fraud

Sadia

Where the bullies go.

9th Circle

Treachery

Dupli-City

Where the back-stabbing kids go.

The image below provides a good visual representation of Dante's Hell as well as describing the sins and corresponding torments.

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http://somnium-maris.deviantart.com/art/Dante-s-Inferno-Map-377156776

*

So much for literary background.

*

The Nine Circles of Heck series follows the adventures of a young brother and sister; the good but scheming brother, Milton, and the rebellious and scheming sister, Marlo. As a result of a freak accident, they both end up in Heck. A young audience can relate to this book, in part, because Milton is put into situations where he has to come up with plans to get his friend-from-Hell, Virgil, as well as Marlo out of trouble and back home. And just as often, he is overruled by Marlo who believes she knows best how to get back home.

A favorite feature of the book were teachers who were people that a YA audience would actually know. Life in Heck is basically school 24/infinity. So, there are classes like Ethics, Physical Education and Home Ec. For teachers, they have Richard Nixon, Blackbeard the Pirate and Lizzie Borden. Even the school principal is Bea "Elsa" Bubb . . .

Get it? Bea "Elsa" Bubb . . . Beelzebub.

It was interesting how these teachers reacted to the children, as well as the situations they were put in by the students (i.e. Marlo and Milton). For example, in chapter 12, Milton is a student in an Ethics class taught by Richard Nixon. During the class, Milton brings up Watergate. President Nixon starts freaking out, exclaiming "I was NOT a crook." This scene was quite humorous even though a YA audience might be forgiven for not knowing much about Watergate.

*

Even though this book is suited more for a young audience, it was both interesting and amusing for a YA and an adult reader.

Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go is sincerely recommended.

We at Old Sins Cast Long Shadows and Miss Jonelle look forward to continuing this series with the next volume: Rapacia: The Second Circle of Heck.

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**

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Friday, December 2, 2016

A Comment on F. Marion Crawford's KHALED, A TALE OF ARABIA.

The under appreciated F. Marion Crawford is one of my favorite 19th century authors of supernatural fiction. Naturally, when I stumbled across his Khaled, A Tale of Arabia, I absolutely had to read and comment upon it.

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Khaled stood in the third heaven, which is the heaven of precious stones, and of Asrael, the angel of Death. In the midst of the light shed by the fruit of the trees Asrael himself is sitting, and will sit until the day of the resurrection from the dead, writing in his book the names of those who are to be born, and blotting out the names of those who have lived their years and must die. Each of the trees has seventy thousand branches, each branch bears seventy thousand fruits, each fruit is composed of seventy thousand diamonds, rubies, emeralds, carbuncles, jacinths, and other precious stones. The stature and proportions of Asrael are so great that his eyes are seventy thousand days' journey apart, the one from the other.

*

This commentary utilizes the 1971 edition of Khaled, A Tale of Arabia, part of "The Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series," published by Ballantine Books. Originally published in 1891 by Macmillian & Co. in London and New York (see cover image below), Khaled is more a novella than novel coming in at 207 pages in the 1971 edition.

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*

As often seems the case, I am finding that the blog Vintage Pop Fictions has an exemplary summary of this story. So, rather than quoting Vintage Pop Fictions in bulk, I will provide a link out to the excellent post (here). This is the second post I have written on a Crawford work. My own take on The Witch of Prague was posted on this blog July 26 (link here).

This work was of great interest to me for several reasons.

First, as I said above Crawford is an author who deserves far more credit than he has been given. Having had a cosmopolitan upbringing and drawn to the Orient, Crawford would spend years in India. In the introduction to the 1971 Ballantine edition, Lin Carter, himself a renowned author of fantasy and horror, said this of Crawford:

His taste for Oriental mysticism and the supernatural led him to the writing of a number of novels still remembered by fantasy collectors, such as Zoroaster, or the better-known novel of Gothic horror, The Witch of Prague (1891).

Second, the subject matter is so . . . out there, how could I not look into it? In fact, the love triangle dynamic between Khaled - who needed Zehovah in order to attain a soul, Zehovah the wife - who just wanted to be a good wife to Khaled and did not understand love, and Almasta the want-to-be-wife - who loved Khaled and wanted to be his wife so killed each of her husbands until only Khaled was available, is, frankly, bizarre. As I read through this book, the phrase that repeatedly came to mind was "Lord, what fools these mortals be!"[i]

Third, Khaled, A Tale of Arabia is the only work of fiction in the style of a fantastical, supernatural and Arabian-Nights-esque tale to my knowledge actually written in the 19th century that reflects Victorian society's abiding fascination with the mysteries of the Middle East.[ii]

This interest manifested itself on one hand, in Egyptology and Assyro-Babylonian studies and on the other hand, via Orientalist art, fashion and decor. Interestingly, religion, i.e. the study of Islam, was not really popular and not a significant part of this movement.

 

**

References

Crawford, Francis Marion. Khaled, A Tale of Arabia. Ballantine Books, Inc.: New York, December 1971.

Vintage Pop Fictions. "Khaled by F. Marion Crawford." 06 April 2011. 20 October 2016.

http://vintagepopfictions.blogspot.com/2011/04/khaled-by-f-marion-crawford.html

Wikipedia. "Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series." 22 November 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballantine_Adult_Fantasy_series

Wikipedia, "Francis Marion Crawford." 27 October 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Marion_Crawford

Wikipedia. "Khaled: A Tale of Arabia." 27 October 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khaled:_A_Tale_of_Arabia

Wikipedia. "The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night." 30 November 2016.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Thousand_Nights_and_a_Night

 

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[i] Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act III Scene II.

[ii] Sir Richard Burton's The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night (1885), is considered to be a translation of a much earlier Arabic collection; certainly not an original work of the 19th century.