12 December 2021

Updated on Sunday 12 December 2021 –
13:27

The American novelist died at the age of 80 from a stroke. He renews the horror genre by giving it a gothic, melancholic and existential air.

Anne Rice in an image file.

They were not afraid of stakes, crucifixes or garlic. Only fire or sunlight could damage them and not always, it all depended on their power. “To me vampires were gracious, tragic and sensitive people“, He said Anne Rice in an interview with ‘The Daily Beast’ and it was noted that she considered them part of her family, such as her husband, the poet Stan Rice with whom she lived for over 40 years or her son, also a writer, Christopher, who announced a few hours ago that his mother had passed away at the age of 80.

But Anne Rice was one of those writers able to befriend death and take advantage of her good relationship with her to continue producing works in which she recalls the dark side of good and the good side of evil. In which he is able to revisit, update, and give almost existential meaning to his tales of any classic character in horror literature, from mummies to lycanthropes to witches. Beyond the Scary Stories are processed emotions, unsettling relationships and mirrors as you step into the well of the human soul.

And it is that his death did not only leave literary orphan vampires, that he knew how to humanize in such a way that with his “Interview with the vampire” (1976), the first book by ‘Crnicas Vampricas‘, has generated a legion of followers around the world fascinated by the adventures of Lestat, Louis, Magnus or Akasha, among many others. It is true that the 1994 Neil Jordan film, with a caricaturing Tom Cruise Lestat, a hieratic Brad Pitt and an Antonio Banderas who still does not know if he is an actor or a vampire who plays to be one, contributed to make his books known beyond America.

However, he consolidated and generated followers by the strength of his characters; the melancholy and overwhelming landscape of this mystical and magical Louisiana in which their stories unfold, and the ability to tell and demystify their atheism. It’s sublime to see how he offers us the particular vision of the devil, the angel who loved God the most, of human creation and the preaching of Jesus Christ in ‘Memnoch the devil’ at the same time as he shows us the despair of a bloodthirsty vampire in front of a woman with the period.

“If God does not exist, we are the most conscientious creatures in the universe. We alone understand the passing of time and the value of every minute of human life. And what constitutes evil, real evil is the killing of one human life, “he wrote in ‘Interview with the Vampire’ to show that his vampires were human-conscious superheroes. , laden with evil and goodness, like gods of a new Olympus., with all the vices and virtues of men but immortal.

Anne Rice was also able to find the sordid side of the characters in principle innocent and pure as angels and protagonists of children’s stories, like Snow White; parked his militant atheism for decades for a practicing Christianity, publishing works on Jesus with the trilogue of ‘The Mesas’ or left haunting books about evil fiddlers with toxic loves from beyond like ‘Violin’. “And, finally tired of this complexity, we dreamed of the distant time when we sat on our mother’s lap and each kiss was the perfect consummation of desire”, sounds in ‘Lestat, the vampire’ with this passion and this complicity that ‘Anne has established for all her characters, even mixing with incestuous dyes literary series like vampires and witches.

“Evil is always possible. And good is eternally difficult. The dark side always draws us in and we go there with a happy smile when they gently and lovingly lead us by the hand along the dark path. How Anne did it and how they will continue to provide her books.

“It breaks my heart to let you know that early this evening Anne passed away from a stroke,” her son Christopher explained on social media. He was 80 years old. The author be buried in the family mausoleum in the cemetery of the Métairie in New Orleans in a private ceremony. There will be Lestat, and Louis, and Pandora, and, as always, Stan who wrote, “Put your mouth on mine. Surrender to the lightning and the burn, for fear are dream scenes of what happens after death. “

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