The Vampire Lestat (Vampire
Chronicles, Book II) by Anne Rice
A Masterpiece Character
After the spectacular debut of Interview with the Vampire in 1976, Anne
Rice put aside her vampires to explore other literary interests--Italian
castrati in Cry to Heaven and the Free People of Color in The Feast of All
Saints. But Lestat, the misc hievous creator of Louis in Interview, finally
emerged to tell his own story in the 1985 sequel, The Vampire Lestat.
As with the first book in the series, the novel begins with a frame narrative.
After over a half century underground, Lestat awakens in the 1980s to the
cacophony of electronic sounds and images that characterizes the MTV
generation. Particularly, he is captivated by a fledgling rock band named
Satans Night Out. Determined both to achieve international fame and end
the centuries of self-imposed vampire silence, Lestat takes command of
the band (now renamed The Vampire Lestat) and pens his own
autobiography. The remainder of the novel purports to be that
autobiography: the vampire traces his mortal youth as the son of a
marquis in pre-Revolutionary France, his initiation into vampirism at the
hands of Magnus, and his quest for the ultimate origins of his undead
species. While very different from the first novel in the Vampire
Chronicles, The Vampire Lestat has proved to be the foundation for a
broader range of narratives than is possible from Louiss brooding, passive
perspective. The character of Lestat is one of Rices most complex and
popular literary alter egos, and his Faustian strivings have a mythopoeic
resonance that links the novel to a grand tradition of spiritual and
supernatural fiction. --Patrick OKelley
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his book will make you think differently about both Louis and Lestat. From
Interview with the Vampire, we got Louis''s story and saw Lestat through
his eyes. But Louis'' story was from his own perspective, colored by his
own perception. And there was quite a lot that he failed to perceive and
understand about Lestat. Louis, like so many, doesn''t understand Lestat
because they cannot see past his facade. Even Louis'' ingenious and
beautiful depth pales in comparison to Lestat''s. Louis'' sadness is there for
all to see, while Lestat feels just as deeply as Louis, and can feel that
same sorrow and despair, and does indeed feel lost, but he also has a
charming, fun-loving, charismatic side as well. Lestat puts on his
seemingly uncaring, charismatic, charming facade, and it hides all the
pain, sorrow, loneliness, and melancholy he feels. In this book, that facade
is lifted and we see the real, true Lestat, and delve deep into his character,
his personality, his past, his psychology, his philosophy and self -discovery,
and his feelings of alienation and being the outsider in a world that makes
no sense.
Lestat is aware of the absurdity and is apart and detached from it, yet he
watches it keenly and knowingly participates in it too; he sees it all as a
carnival of sorts. Lestat now gets a chance to tell his own story, and it
makes us realize that he has suffered even more than Louis and shows
that he is not a villain; he is the tragic hero. He is actually far more aware
than Louis, something else that Louis doesn''t see either. He is a gentle,
innocent, young man who has suffered so much in his life, and then he is
forced into becoming one of the living dead, who must walk on the dark
side and kill to survive. It is explained to us why Lestat is the way he is and
why he does the things he does, and the hints given about his character in
Interview with the Vampire are all elucidated and brought together to make
sense like pieces of a puzzle falling into place. After I read Interview with
the Vampire, I could sympathize with Louis and understand his character
and how he felt. Lestat, from Louis''s perspective, is left as an enigma,
someone who is intriguing and shrouded in mystery, and leaves you
wanting to know more about him and make sense of the fragments and
glimpses we see of him from someone else''s eyes. It is obvious (though
some readers entirely miss it) that there is much, much more than meets
the eye about Lestat from the way Louis described him, yet Louis cannot
see the whole picture.
Therefore, Lestat is misunderstood by Louis, and therefore misunderstood
by the reader, whom is seeing the story through Louis'' eyes. The glimpses
of Lestat we have in Interview with the Vampire, of his relationship with his
father, of the way he acts, of his charm that Louis finds both fatally
attractive and repulsive, of his love of bright artificial lig ht and his desire to
live luxuriously, of his friendship with a young musician, of his doting upon
Claudia and showering her with gifts, of his fear to lose Louis, of him
emotionally distraught and pleading with Louis to come back to him in
Paris, and finally of the frail, broken, and pitiful shadow of a man he has
become by the end of Louis''s story, where Louis finds him again in New
Orleans. All of these things are hints at the depth and complexity of the
character of Lestat. In The Vampire Lestat, you will finally see the entire
picture, and see the masterpiece of a character that Lestat is. The depth
and the multi-dimensionality, and the humanity of Lestat. If you liked Louis
before, you will still like him. But you will like Lestat even more because
you will see how completely misunderstood he is and learn the story of the
pain and sorrow he kept hidden in his heart, hidden underneath that
charming facade that Louis encountered on his plantation in 1791.
All the things Lestat never told Louis, about himself, about his life, about
how he truly felt. There is far more to him than his charisma, ego, and
pride, and seeming carelessness that Louis sees. We find out that Lestat
not only cares, in fact, he cares too much. And you will realize how much
Lestat loves Louis, and longs for Louis too love and understand him.
Behind Lestat''s seemingly charismatic, too-sure-of-himself facade, there is
a gentle and afraid, lonely soul who longs to be loved and understood. It is
not Louis''s fault that there was a rift between him and Lestat, because
Louis had his own troubles and his own pain, but perhaps he should have
been more perceptive and given Lestat more of a chance, especially when
Lestat pleaded with him to come back in Paris in the 1860s. Louis
belonged with Lestat, not Armand. Lestat fears to lose Louis like he lost his
first and only friend, Nicolas. His relationship with Nicki had a lot to do with
shaping how he becomes later. You realize that before he met Nicki,
Lestat was a complete anti-social loner. He lived with his oppressive family
in Auvergne, always misunderstood, never belonging. He was never
encouraged and always treated cruelly. He felt trapped, miserable, and all
alone. With Nicki, he finally found someone who understood him, cared for
him, and loved him. And that is really the only time in his life he''s happy.
Eventually, he will lose his life as he knows it and he will lose his only
friend, and find himself alone again. But this time he does something
different in creating the facade he creates. This time he hides his true
feelings with charm and charisma and goes through his new vampire life
surrounded by many yet all alone inside. You will realize that underneath
that facade, Lestat is still that sensitive boy who longs to be loved and
understood, who feels immense sadness and sorrow, who feels lost and
once again, completely alone. You will realize that his relationship with
Louis, and really everything he does after he loses Nicki, is a futile attempt
to re-live and re-create in some way what he once had, the only time in his
life he felt happy, those last few years of his mortal life.
If you really came to understand and like, and feel for the character Louis
(like I did), then you will feel for and understand Lestat just as much if not
more. You will still like Louis and feel for him, but you will see all that he
failed to perceive and failed to understand about Lestat. It is ironic how in
later books, Louis berates Lestat about always being a monster. Lestat is
even more human and has always been more human than Louis, and
Louis fails to see and understand Lestat. Lestat is the hero whom
perseveres despite everything that is thrown at him, despite his pain, his
sorrow, his suffering. He always has the will and courage to go on and
make the best of what cruel fate has given him. He is constantly making
his way in the world and will not be defeated. He is the eternal warrior, with
the intelligence and courage to laugh at the absurdity of this world, and see
it for the savage garden it is. I think that is the way Anne Rice meant it to
be, since Lestat is the main character of her Chronicles, and therefore he
is the hero and the protagonist of her works in their entirety. This book will
make you feel sympathy for him and empathize with him. You will feel for
him, cry with him, laugh with him.
Anne Rice is a literary genius, from my point of view, the best author of
this era (second half of 20th century and after). In her books, you will find
so much depth, so much meaning, so much philosophical, intellectual, and
literary value. Her novels are on the level with classics such as Mary
Shelley''s Frankenstein. I use this example because Rice''s vampires (just
like the creature in Frankenstein) are symbols, an allegory for those who
don''t fit in, who feel apart from this world, for those who look around and
struggle in this journey, trying to makes sense of a world that is often
senseless and meaningless, feeling alienate
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