The Vampire Lestat
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| The Vampire Lestat | |
 Paperback edition cover |
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| Author | Anne Rice |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Vampire Chronicles |
| Subject(s) | Vampires |
| Genre(s) | Horror fiction |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Publication date | 1985 |
| Pages | 560 |
| ISBN | 0345313860 |
| Preceded by | Interview with the Vampire |
| Followed by | The Queen of the Damned |
The Vampire Lestat (1985) is a novel by Anne Rice, and the second in her Vampire Chronicles, following Interview with the Vampire. Many events in the two books appear to contradict each other. These inconsistencies provide a good example of the unreliable narrator, allowing the readers to decide which version of events they believe to be accurate.
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[edit] Plot summary
Set in the late 18th century to the late 1980s, the story follows the 200 year long life of the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, and his rise from humble beginnings as an impoverished aristocrat in the country side of France to the city of Paris to become a vain and arrogant Vampire. After escaping his family and running off to Paris with his friend and confidante Nicholas (Nicknamed Nicki by Lestat), Lestat is bitten by the rogue elder vampire Magnus who orphans him on the night he is made. He abandons Nicki for fear of causing him harm, and shuns contact with his loved ones, until one day his mother, Gabrielle, arrives in town. Gabrielle is dying, and in order to save her, Lestat bites her, transforming her into his first companion.
The pair are antagonized by a coven of more "traditional" vampires living in the nearby cemetery Les Innocents. This coven, led by the vampire Armand, are convinced that all vampires must worship Satan and do his work on Earth; terrifying their human victims, dressing in rags, and returning to crypts at night. Armand and his coven kidnap Nicki in order to force a confrontation with Lestat and Gabrielle, but when Lestat demonstrates to them that vampires can easily co-exist with humans and live comfortably among them, the coven dissolves, leaving Armand distraught and alone. Nicki, however, is now aware of the world of vampires, and feels betrayed by Lestat. Lestat bites Nicki, turning him into a vampire, but he takes to his new lifestyle poorly and rejects Lestat, instead banding together with some of the dissolved cemetery coven to form the Théâtre des Vampires. Lestat then begins a worldwide search for the vampire Marius, a wise and ancient vampire who he learns of from Armand, in an attempt to find out the history of the vampires.
Lestat eventually parts ways with Gabrielle, due to irreconcilable differences in their natures - Gabrielle yearns for desolate spaces and loves nature, while Lestat is perpetually drawn to humankind. He eventually finds the fabled Marius, who teaches him much about the origins of the vampire species and Marius's own past. He also reveals his secret, one he refused to unveil even to his former protege Armand. He is the guardian of Those Who Must Be Kept, a pair of immobile vampires of unbelievable strength and power. These two are named Akasha and Enkil, and are the original vampires from whom all others are descended, but over the millennia they have lapsed into stillness and hardly ever move or communicate. They must be protected, because any harm done to Akasha and Enkil is also done to all other living vampires.
From Marius's island in Greece, Lestat travels to New Orleans. After the events detailed in Interview with the Vampire, he "goes into the earth" again in 1929. In 1984, Lestat emerges to become a rock star with a mortal band that consists of Alex, Larry and Tough Cookie. He writes a manuscript entitled The Vampire Lestat (which comprises the bulk of the actual novel), and publishes it, thereby using his new found fame to reveal all the secrets of the vampire world. With the eyes of the world on him, Lestat seeks to start a war. Just before the night of the band's unveiling concert, Lestat reunites with Louis, who fills him in on recent events in the vampire world, including the new system of meeting grounds known as the Vampire Connection and Lestat's own danger as a pariah among vampires.
The book ends on a cliffhanger after Lestat's debut concert in San Francisco, and leads directly into the third volume, The Queen of the Damned.
[edit] Adaptations
[edit] Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat
The Vampire Lestat was adapted into a comic and released as a 12-part miniseries by Innovation Comics in 1990 and 1991. The comic, which was formally titled Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat and featured Daerick Gross and Mike Okamoto as lead artists, had a script adapted from the novel by Rice and Faye Perozich. In 1991 the entire series was published as a graphic novel by Ballantine.[1]
[edit] Queen of the Damned
Portions of The Vampire Lestat were used in the 2002 film adaptation of The Queen of the Damned.
[edit] Lestat: The Musical
The novel formed the basis for the short-lived 2006 Broadway show Lestat. The musical, which was composed by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and written by Linda Woolverton, had a pre-Broadway tryout in California in late 2005 and ran for a total of 33 previews and 39 official performances at the Palace Theater in New York.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Anne Rice's The Vampire Lestat Ballantine Books, 1991. Rice, Anne; Perozich, Faye; Gross, Daerick; Okamoto, Mike. ISBN 0345373944
- ^ Lestat at the Internet Broadway Database
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