Carmilla – ASU Banned Book Review

BOOK REVIEW

I consider myself to be fairly well read.

But I had never heard of Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. That is, I had never heard of it until ASU d removed it from its upper level English curriculum.

As a fan of banned books I had to read it for myself.

Carmilla’s Story

Carmilla was published in serial form in 1871 It is a short novella around 130 pages long. I

t can easily be read in an evening. It is one of the earliest examples of vampire fiction in the English language.

The heroine Laura lives in a remote castle in central Europe with her father and maidservants. A carriage accident leaves Carmilla on their doorstep under suspicious circumstances. Laura’s father gladly takes her in and Laura is delighted to have a companion around her own age.

But things soon turn dark. Laura’s health deteriorates. She has visions and nightmares about Carmilla. Laura is unsure whether they are dreams or in fact really happened.

Laura’s father becomes suspicious as similar things happen to multiple young women in the area. The trail of dead young girls and women grows long. The race is on to save Laura before it is too late.

Carmilla’s Author

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer and one of the greatest writers of ghost stories in the Victorian Era. He was a key figure in the Dark Romanticism movement of the time and is one of the major influences on vampire and horror stories to this day.

Carmilla’s Significance

I spoke to Dr. Erin Ashworth King English Professor about the significance of the book.

“The significance of Sheridan La Fenu’s Carmilla really cannot be overstated as it represents both the first English language example of vampire fiction (predating and influencing Dracula by 25 years) and the solidification of much of the gothic genre’s defining characteristics in English.”

“La Fenu’s serial publication popularizes the genre and sets out the link between vampirism and sexuality that would become a staple of most vampiric tales. But it accomplishes something altogether different in constructing the tale through the point of view of a young woman and styling her predator as a feminine threat.”

Controversy

There is much debate on its interpretation as the heart of the novella can be seen as equating vampirism with lesbianism. Others take a different view.

There is no denying the link of sexuality with vampires in literature. That is prominent in every vampire book or movie. Even the most recent Dracula movie has it as a main theme.

But there is nothing healthy in the sexuality portrayed. It is all rape in one form or another. Life and sex taken from the victim against their will.

If we read Dracula the same way we read Carmilla, Dracula is a novel about bi-sexuality. There the vampire takes the life out of many men, while also preying on women.

I am not an English professor or expert on the Victorian Era and do not pretend to be. But Carmilla could be illustrative of the Victorian Era view of homosexuality in general and lesbianism in particular as evil and sinful.

Set in the time in which it was written the message of the book could be that lesbianism is evil. Men are their protectors, and young women must be protected from lesbians at all costs.

If the lesbian interpretation of the novella is what prompted Carmilla’s removal from the curriculum, I am not sure why ASU did so.

The whole story of is the men trying to stop Carmilla from harming any other young women.

I thought the current administration at ASU and Texas Tech are all about making lesbianism evil again.