VAMPIRE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT DEATH IN 'THE VAMPIRE LESTAT', BY ANNE RICE

Abstract

Anne Rice (1941-2021) was a best-selling American writer who produced several series of books starring monstrosities, with emphasis on vampires, protagonists of the set of works series called The Vampire Chronicles. Among the recurring characters of the books, the vampires Lestat and Armand stand out. In the The Vampire Lestat (1999), second volume in the series, posterior to the classic Interview with the Vampire (1976), the aforementioned characters have their first clash. Based on this emblematic meeting, a discussion about death and what it means to be a vampire at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century develops. Thus, this article seeks to analyze how death is represented in the dialogue between the two vampires, taking into account that Armand’s experience is based on the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, while Lestat’s experience is in the Modern Age. Firstly, it will discuss how the conception of death in the Renaissance is present in the way the vampire understands death, the dead and religion; and in the second part of this article, I outlined the modern conception of death, this article uses Ariès (2017) and Jeha(2007; 2009)  theoretical basis about death and monsters.