Book Review | Carmilla

Great review! I have always wanted to pick this one up. Also I couldn't help to watch the magical candle that would suddenly gain and lose height. Haha.

Awesome review! I kind of love the lesbian vampire trope, even though it is really male gaze-y. Like lesbian pulp, somehow it can be fun to reclaim ridiculous representations. Can't wait to see your review of the Gilda Stories!

Jessie channeling Wednesday Adams. Do you sleep until noon? Are you dangerous? My favorite vampire type is out of Africa. They look perfectly normal but remove their skin to hunt and drink blood at night. Just walking around with naked muscles. So, what would be the best lesbian vampire novel out there? One that actually handles the issue like adults and with respect.

I've been meaning to read Carmila for quite a while but I always choose to read sth different. Anyway AWESOME video. Really appreciate the effort you put in this video~ :)

oh ,the cover looks creepy..I like it..ah, w.h.a.t is in your cup? blood? If you say yes I am going to freak..lol I want to read it! thanks

I've written THE ANNOTATED CARMILLA and am now trying to mount a live theatre production of the tale. There's a lot of interesting tensions in the story, male vs. female, youth vs. age, reason vs. faith, even individual vs. the state (Austria was a police state in the 1800s). I recommend the Polish TV version from the 1980s as most faithful, and the new film STYRIA that is about to start showing up at film festivals.

You can check my channel out for the Polish television version.

cool thx

Thanks! And yes, magical candles that suddenly gain and lose height happen when I don't script my reviews and allow myself to go on lengthy tangents.

Thanks! I agree, reclaiming these representations can be really fun and I'd love to see more works reclaiming this trope, because hey, queer vampires are an awesome idea. Carmilla didn't actually feel that male gaze-y to me (my comment was about the film adaptation and other works); the subtext felt more about shocking/scandalizing the average Victorian reader. I'm saving the best for last, so expect my review of The Gilda Stories the last week of October!

Why, thank you! I'm glad people are liking the props!

I promise I'm not a vampire. I just didn't feel like it would be a proper vampire review without some red wine standing in for blood.

Aww, thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed the review! Carmilla's worth a read if you get the chance. It definitely had an impact on the vampire genre if it's overshadowed by Dracula.

Have you ever seen the film, The Hunger, with Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie and Susan Sarandon? If so, what did you think of it?

Thanks for the info!

That one's been on my to-watch list for a while. I keep forgetting about it, for some inexplicable reason.

I like them both. I think Carmilla is a bit more interesting, just because of the way it plays with gender expectations and such. But Dracula makes for a good adventure story.

It has *David Bowie* in it. :)

Have you read "Carmilla: The Arts of Repression" by William Veeder? (it's a critical analysis of the story) I thought it was very interesting. One of the ideas I took from it was that the story presents a parade of male characters (several doctors, the general, the woodworker, priests, the baron, the baron's ancestor, Laura's father) that dispose of Carmilla and restore normativity, but Laura herself seems to rebel against this. She describes all those men as old, quaint or incompetent; she is not included in any official questioning with regards to Carmilla's demise and she could barely recall any of the volumes on vampire lore gifted to her father by the baron -- after all, she herself might be the person with the most intimate knowledge of Carmilla yet she is overlooked as an irrelevant party. Laura introduces the idea that there is a difference between truth and truth to which she had been a witness, truth being perhaps associated with science, religion, medicine, all the institutions that (especially in Victorian times) were very concerned with espousing a very particular view on reality that was broadly supportive of 'heteronormative'(?) structures (patriarchy, I guess). And the baron's "principles" that govern vampire nature reduce Carmilla's adoration of Laura to a pathology, but this seems clearly juxtaposed by the evidence given in the story of Carmilla and Laura's affection being two-sided, and it ignores the humanity present in her character. And of course there is the final sentence of the novel where Laura still remembers Carmilla as a languid girl whose light step she often fancies hearing at the door

I thought the analysis was convincing enough, so I don't think the depiction of lesbianism is problematic in the story, since the problematic parts are mostly compartmentalized to ideas originating from the set of male characters that the story itself seeks to show as decrepit. 

I like the novel itself a lot, I most of all enjoy the multitude of interpretations possible and it doesn't surprise me there is so much critical analysis of the story available.

One of my favorite books ever.

I'm not sure if lesbianism (or metaphore for it) was showed in unambiguously bad light, considering such quotes:

"“Creator! Nature!” said the young lady in answer to my gentle father. “And this disease that invades the country is natural. Nature. All things proceed from Nature—don’t they? All things in the heaven, in the earth, and under the earth, act and live as Nature ordains? I think so.”"

Also, SPOILER, take note that Laura in the end seemed to have conflicted feelings, as if she regretted something.

I think that for many XIX century lesbian women that novel was good escapist fantasy.

I wrote a play adaptation of this story, which premiered in North Hollywood February 2014. My own 'take' is to see CARMILLA as profoundly ambiguous, not least because Carmilla comes across as a fully rounded character. Then again Austria at the time of writing was a police state and thought of as such, so Spielsdorf is the equivalent of KGB or Gestapo officer. Laura, our narrator, comes across as a subtly unreliable one the more you read the book yet on the surface at least she's a 'bird in a gilded cage' isolated from the outside world until a beautiful stranger embodying Death visits and falls in love with her (arguably, Laura reciprocates). If you're interested check out carmilla dot org. Thanks for the good review of one of my fave novels!

I'll admit, vampires have become so very overdone in our time. The only vampire novels I've read and completed are Dracula and Interview with the Vampire. But I feel like this was a rather good review, and it didn't feel as if it gave any of the story away, but still highlighted the main points. For around 100 pages, I think it would be an easy enough read (save for some perhaps antiquated jargon which can always be a bit of a struggle for modern readers), and this review helped shed some light as to whether or not I should buy it. You say it's quite easy to find, but as I quite enjoy adding to my library and have been searching for quality gothic literature, I think Carmilla would be an excellent addition. Thank you for the review. I've subscribed to your channel and I look forward to new content.

Awesome vid. 😊👍

do you know night is falling?

on top the cover looks like petra.

Must be a pretty big cup if its full of books or just rly small books

Great review! I just finished reading this and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it and how vastly superior it is to “ The Vampyre” by John William Polidori

Just found this review after reading the book. Really enjoyed both. Sad to see there's no recent uploads

People sure are mixed up these days when it comes to sexuality and what is proper as opposed to deviant/degeneracy.

I bought this because I wanted this for my collection with a great cover. This is pity for someone to have this book free as is the story who inspired the author of dracula so is very good for collection.

Homosexuality is un natural, the mass degeneracy of today that desperately tries to deny it is the problem.