"Carmilla" by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

 

Publisher: Syracuse University Press

Copyright:  1871 (This edition is a critical edition from 2013)

ISBN: 9780815633112

This is one of the very first vampire stories ever written, and is credited with having influenced Bram Stoker in the writing of "Dracula" in 1897.

Carmilla was originally serialized in 1871 through 1872 in The Dark Blue, and then went on to be published in its entirety in J. S. Le Fanu's 1872 collection "In A Glass Darkly". It isn't a long story, and today would likely be classified as a novelette, but it is well written and a very enjoyable read.

The Carmilla of the story is a vampire, however we don't learn this until the end. Throughout most of the story she is simply a rather sickly young lady who befriends Laura the daughter of widower, after a chance meeting outside their estate following an accident with their coach. Leading up to this time the reader learns a mysterious illness is present in the land and a number of young women have succumbed to it, but no explanation for it can be found. Readers of Dracula will likely be able at this point to see the connections, however this story was written twenty-six years before, so in some respected was responsible for introducing the general public to the vampire.

The influences on Stoker's Dracula are fairly obvious but he took the concept of the vampire and embellished it to a much greater degree than Le Fanu. I don't know which is the more accurate based on the folklore, as for example Carmilla doesn't change into a bat, or wolf. In fact we only see her referred to in a couple of scenes as "a dark shape". On the other hand, like in "Dracula" she is immensely strong. There is also no mention of silver, crosses, or garlic so this too might have been added by Stoker, or it possibly represents a different source of vampire lore.

Well written, and interesting to read.