<p>This paper will focus on the homosexuality and homoeroticism that can be found in Anne Rice’s novel <em>Interview With The Vampire</em> using Queer theory. The paper is divided into four parts in which different aspects of the novel will be discussed. Firstly the discussion focuses on the homoeroticism which is abundant in Rice’s novel. The second part covers the subject of identity and Louis’ quest to find out what and why he is. Next the issue of family within the vampyric world is examined using the family unit that Louis, Lestat and Claudia make as its basis. Lastly the question of why the ‘gender-free’ love which is present in <em>Interview With The Vampire</em> is important to the vampire genre is answered.</p>

This paper will focus on the homosexuality and homoeroticism that can be found in Anne Rice’s novel Interview With The Vampire using Queer theory. The paper is divided into four parts in which different aspects of the novel will be discussed. Firstly the discussion focuses on the homoeroticism which is abundant in Rice’s novel. The second part covers the subject of identity and Louis’ quest to find out what and why he is. Next the issue of family within the vampyric world is examined using the family unit that Louis, Lestat and Claudia make as its basis. Lastly the question of why the ‘gender-free’ love which is present in Interview With The Vampire is important to the vampire genre is answered.

In recent years, the figure of the vampire has proliferated in American literature and media. According to Stephen King, creatures of horror such as vampires appear cyclically in cultural representations to exorcise social anxieties and to cope with periods of acute crisis. In Nina Auerbach’s view, vampires are powerful representations of social critique who adapt themselves to different cultures and historical times. Against this background, I will analyze how the modern American vampire intersects with contemporary American culture in the TV series True Blood. Because the setting of this media text is the American South, my approach will be regional. I will highlight the characteristics of this area of the United States by discussing the different cultural values embodied by the Southern vampires. I will investigate how the representation of these modern vampires is an expression of the American regional past due to its connections with an important historical moment: the American Civil War. This framework will help me explain why regional vampires embody specific cultural values, and I will show how these characters are peculiar because they offer opposite portrayals simultaneously produced within the same culture. In order to highlight the cultural aspects emerging from True Blood, I will frame my analysis through the lenses of capitalism and race. These two focal points will allow me to discuss contemporary American culture and its contradictions.

Anne Rice writes popular fiction. She is best known for her iconic Vampire Chronicles series. This thesis focuses on the first three volumes of this series: Interview with the Vampire (1976), The Vampire Lestat (1985), and The Queen of the Damned (1988). The main objective of this thesis is to show that whilst Rice's novels often seem very liberal, an examination of her subtext reveals a conservative message. This message helps entrench socio-cultural and political hegemonies because it does not challenge the status quo. In order to see how these conservative leanings are entrenched by Rice, this thesis examines archetypes of the female and the Feminine. Louis is male, but can be viewed as a Feminine character because of his meek subservience to Lestat (the protagonist of the series). Claudia is their daughter, but she is also a woman trapped in a child's body. Claudia seems to have great intellectual freedom, but she is trapped within her body and cannot mature. Gabrielle is Lestat‟s mother. When Gabrielle becomes a vampire, Rice tries to empower Gabrielle by androgynizing her character. However, we find that this androgyny is not empowering because Gabrielle returns to her role as a mother. Akasha is the ancient queen and source of vampirism. She wants to bring about a radical, gynocentric world by killing most men. But subtextually, Akasha‟s defeat represents the defeat of feminism in favour of patriarchy. Despite the seemingly liberal nature of the texts, subtextually there is a trend towards negating the power these characters carry in the text. To explore the flux between the text and the subtext, an array of post-modern reading tools and theoretical approaches have been used. The primary reading strategies include a close reading of the novels, informed by Feminist perspectives, together with other reading strategies such as, Queer Theory, Marxism, deconstruction and the role of the Fantastic. Little academic study has been devoted to Rice‟s work. Her work shows deep philosophical and artistic integrity which lends an elegance and beauty to her texts, but this is undermined by the conservative undertones of her work. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / English / unrestricted

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:45:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Hradec.pdf: 733412 bytes, checksum: 650b52ba448ff4625df8880300e658ee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-01-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This dissertation aims to analyze the novel Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, the first of ten books in the Vampire Chronicles". The aim of this research is to demonstrate how the vampires presented by Rice are humanized. It begins with a historical study about vampires, both legendary and literary ones, then there is a study about the life and work of the American writer as well as a survey of the differences between the vampires from Rice and others described in the literature, including the icon of the genre: Dracula, by Bram Stoker. The analysis still continues with some theoretical notes on the fantastic genre, including concepts about Todorov, Ceserani, among others. There is also an analysis of the main characters: the vampire Louis who denies his vampiric nature; the vampire Lestat who also fights against human problems; Claudia, the vampire kid, who does not accept her condition as a woman stuck in a child s body; the vampire Armand, one of the oldest vampires in the world that looks for human peace. There is also an analysis of a human character, a supposed journalist, who listens to the story of mortal and immortal life of the vampire Louis. The analysis also covers the time and space in the narrative and its relationship with the fantastic genre, as well as some differences between the book written in 1976 and the film released in 1994, a big hit, reference for many other vampire movies. / Esta dissertação tem por objetivo analisar o romance Interview with the Vampire de Anne Rice que é o primeiro livro dos dez que constituem suas Crônicas Vampirescas . Pretende-se com esta pesquisa demonstrar como os vampiros apresentados por Rice são humanizados. Inicia-se com um estudo histórico sobre os vampiros, tanto lendários quanto literários, depois há um estudo sobre a vida e obra da escritora norte-americana bem como um levantamento das diferenças entre os vampiros de Rice e outros descritos na literatura, entre os quais o ícone do gênero: Drácula, de Bram Stoker. A análise continua ainda com alguns apontamentos teóricos sobre o gênero fantástico, incluindo conceitos de Todorov, Ceserani, entre outros. Há também uma análise dos principais personagens: o vampiro Louis que renega sua natureza vampírica; o vampiro Lestat que também luta contra problemas humanos; Cláudia, a menina vampira, que não aceita sua condição de mulher presa a um corpo de criança; o vampiro Armand, um dos mais velhos vampiros do mundo que almeja a paz humana. Há ainda a análise de um personagem humano, um suposto jornalista, que ouve toda a história de vida mortal e imortal do vampiro Louis. A análise ainda abrange o tempo e espaço da narrativa e sua relação com o gênero fantástico, bem como algumas diferenças entre o livro escrito em 1976 e o filme, lançado em 1994, um sucesso de bilheteria, referência para muitos filmes sobre vampiros.