Le Fanu's "Carmilla" was originally presented as a mystery, and the reader was not supposed to know what he was getting into. The earliest recorded reaction to it that I am able to find, was in the ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS, commenting on the first three chapters when they appeared as an instalment in THE DARK BLUE: "'Carmilla', so far, is more poetical and less sensational than the majority of Le Fanu's fictions." Evidently, they were not expecting a bloodsucking corpse.

Thereafter, "Carmilla", though never as famous as DRACULA, was afterwards remembered, by those who appreciated it, as a particularly scary story. Here are a few remarks I dug up: "Neither Poe nor Richepin ever invented anything more horrible than the dusky undulating nocturnal shape of her who was a fair woman by daylight and an insatiate fiend at night"--THE SATURDAY REVIEW (1880); "... will produce ... a gelid perspiration, and reduce the patient to a condition in which he will be afraid to look around the room”--Andrew Lang (1885); “Le Fanu seems so convinced by the truth of what he relates that he inspires conviction.” --Ernest Albert Baker (1924); “the best of the English vampire stories ... [with the] note of haunting dread so peculiar to Le Fanu’s work”--Montague Summers(1928). Finally, in 1929, a reviewer in THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND AFTER, praised it, together with the werewolf episode from THE PHANTOM SHIP, for its "horrible realism".

Thereafter, gay awareness filtered into the consciousness of the English-speaking world, and nobody was able to appreciate the story in the same way again.

Part of Le Fanu's approach to "horrible realism" is a journalistic style, where he leaves a number of mysteries and loose ends unanswered. Here are a few of these unanswered questions, which (if anyone wishes) we may discuss and speculate about. Perhaps if we consider the story for all of its odd detail, some of the original creepiness will be restored.


-- What was the hag that attacked Mlle. La Fontaine's cousin? Was it a vampire? Or some other phantom?
-- Is Bertha a Karnstein descendant? And might that be part of the reason she is an orphan?
-- Was Laura's mother slain by Carmilla?
-- What does Carmilla mean by "to be finally butterflies when the summer comes"?
-- What is Carmilla's game in Chapter 6, when she says she is thinking of leaving?
-- What is the ghostly voice that warns Laura of the "assassin"? Is it Laura's mother?
-- Who or what are the beings that appear as Carmilla's mother, the turbaned woman, their servants, the pale gent in black seen by Gen. Spielsdorf? Are they vampires? Human thralls? Phantoms of slain vampires? Or an illusion?
-- Is it a coincidence that, the two times Carmilla's mother appears, it is on a brightly moonlit night?
-- What is the "far more horrible life" that the first Baron Vordenburg believes vampires will be precipitated into, when slain?
-- What is the significance of the cabalistic ribbon Laura and Carmilla buy from the mountebank? Does it help Carmilla prey on Laura? How?
-- Any other questions you want to suggest.

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Finally, let me express my opinion on the elephant in the room. Le Fanu never intended the story to have anything to do with Lesbians or Lesbianism. What about all that touchy-feely stuff?  In Victorian times, that sort of behavior between women was considered normal, innocent and non-sexual.  But it is weird, even by Victorian standards!  Yes, because Carmilla is a hungry monster and she wants to consume Laura.  But Laura finds Carmilla's touch to be strangely pleasurable.  That is a is narcotic effect, not an erotic one ("The narcotic of an unsuspecting influence was acting upon me, and my senses were benumbed"); Le Fanu has given his vampires a supernatural superpower that allows them to feed; it also works on a 6-year old child, and puts her to sleep.  But what about Laura's orgasm in Chapter 7?  That is not an orgasm, but an accurate description of the symptoms of blood loss and syncope.  But why are all Carmilla's known victims female?  Unknown; but predatory animals who attack humans also prefer women and children; and Laura is targeted because she happens to be a Karnstein descendant.  But what about the sexy breast biting?  It's not like in the movies; Laura is not bitten on what we would call her breast, but at a spot just below the throat; Le Fanu initially avoids saying "neck" and "throat" because this is a mystery story, and he is trying not to remind his readers of the neck-chomping habits of Sir Varney and Lord Ruthven; Carmilla chooses to feed where the wound will not be seen by anyone, including Laura.  But Laura's memory is confused because her "passions" are "wildly and terribly roused"!  She means that traumatic experiences -- that is, the "passions" of terror, horror, and anguish - can impair memory.  But Laura says "how romantic you are" to Carmilla Her meaning is close to "melodramatic" or (without the negative connotations) "superstitious"; in Victorian times a "romance" was not a love story, but a story with bizarre, striking or even supernatural elements.  What about the "atrocious lusts" of the Karnsteins?  In many an old sermon, "atrocious lusts" refers to the lust of pride, the lust of wealth, and the lust of power, that tempt wealthy and powerful people into merciless cruelty towards their fellow humans; the text explains that vampire infestations start when a "more or less wicked" person commits suicide and returns as a vampire; and clues show that both Carmilla and her father were proud and cruel. Okay sure, those are the literal reading, but why can there not be a metaphorical readings and double entendres as well? No reason; except I am wondering if the tale will work better as a horror story if we view it as horrible realism rather than gay metaphor.

(Feel free to argue about the lesbian thing as well, but personally I'd rather focus on other questions.)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 5 Dec 21 | 12:00AM by Platypus.