THE ANNONATED CARMILLA: An Interview with D. MacDowell Blue

D. MacDowell Blue is a busy man. He runs the blog Night-Tinted Glasses, he's busy at work creating a new vampire web series called End Of The Line, and he's writing his first full-length novel, a retelling of the nineteenth-century "penny dreadful" Varney the Vampyre. Furthermore, he's just released The Annotated Carmilla, and I've grabbed him for a chat about this brand-new version of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's classic vampire novel.

Synopsis of The Annotated Carmilla:

Growing up in the lonely forests and valleys of Styria, Laura had only her father and two governesses for company. Until she came. Carmilla. Beautiful and fragile. Kind and friendly. As mysterious as she was devoted. But also ... hungry.

For the first time since it was published in 1872, here is a complete guide to Le Fanu's classic vampire tale. Over four hundred footnotes give detailed answers to dozens and dozens of questions. Where is Styria? When is this story taking place? What is an awl? An escrutcheon? A hippogriff? Why did Carmilla seek out Laura? Also, unanswered questions and intriguing possibilities are charted out, one by one.

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D. MacDowell Blue

SUBURBAN VAMPIRE: Do you remember when you read Carmilla for the first time? Was it love at first sight?

D. MACDOWELL BLUE: I was about thirteen. Honestly, at first what I felt was some disappointment. The back cover described a plot that really wasn’t part of the story at all. Many years later I saw the film Crypt of the Vampire, one of the earliest film adaptations, and recognized the plot from what was on that back cover! On the other hand, what I did read in that long-lost copy of Le Fanu intrigued me almost at once. You know that old bit of show business advice? “Leave’em wanting more?” Carmilla did that for me. I felt then, as now, that the story as written gave only a glimpse of a much fuller story. Of course today we have an official-sounding reason for that—the unreliable narrator. Like Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (or for that matter, Dracula), the story comes to us in the first person. And no one ever tells the whole truth, especially about themselves. But they leave hints. Oh yes.

SV: What elements of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's tale most intrigue you?

D.M.B.: The characters, specifically the narrator Laura and of course her guest/friend/victimizer Carmilla. Consider that the one was living a lie for what was probably two months, while the other seems a reticent person anyway. Laura’s relationship with her father, for example, comes across as what we’d call borderline dysfunctional. He’s an old man, not even middle aged, with a daughter of marrying age whom he’s raised with two governesses rather than a mother. Laura’s life, whether she realizes it or not, apparently has been extremely limited—and pretty clearly by her father, whom she evidently fears to some extent. Now she’s telling this tale, these extraordinary events, to someone (we don’t know who) for presumably someone else to read. One has to wonder at her own agendas, coupled with the question of how good a liar she might be. Carmilla herself meanwhile gives lots of mixed signals, especially in hindsight. Inevitably you speculate on what kind of relationship the two developed, amid what seems like hundreds of subtle hints. And at the heart of it, tragedy, no matter what your interpretation. The exact nature of the tragedy, however, remains in the eye of the beholder. Or the mind of the reader.

SV: You've assembled over four hundred footnotes for the novel. How did you first start compiling Carmilla facts?

D.M.B.: In my teens! The fact is, I’ve always been fascinated by vampires, by history, and by writing. Carmilla grabbed enough of my imagination that some details immediately set up red flags in my mind. Styria, for example, where the story takes place. Most folks probably haven’t a clue such a place exists. Yet back in the 1980s I had a temp job at JFK Airport in New York. One day I chatted with a nice middle-aged lady, just arrived from Europe, and asked where she came from. Her reply, “Gratz.” Immediately, I said, “Oh, the capital of Styria.” And her jaw dropped all the way to the floor! But I began researching in earnest not long after reading Leslie Klinger’s The New Annotated Dracula (one of the best Christmas presents ever).

SV: How long did it take you to create The Annotated Carmilla?

D.M.B.: I began assembling everything in Spring 2010. The book was published via Createspace in February 2011. Fortunately (for me, in terms of time), the book just isn’t that long. Only four hundred or so footnotes. Actually a lot of those footnotes ended up taking fairly ordinary items like swans and expanding the surface information with lesser-known facts—like the legend of Leda (Helen of Troy’s mother), the belief that black swans were mythical until a new species was found, and that swans were considered especially delicious.

SV: Carmilla was published in 1872, twenty-five year's before Dracula debuted. Why do you think Carmilla isn't as well known as Bram Stoker's classic vampire novel?

From The Vampire Lovers, a Carmilla adaptation.

D.M.B.: Well, Dracula is an action-packed murder mystery, with at least two outright love stories, a shipwreck, a chase across Europe by train and horseback, several murders, even such lurid stuff as an insect-eating madman and the attempted rape of a lawyer by three beautiful dead women! Exciting stuff! Carmilla on the other hand, remains a fraction of the length of Stoker’s novel. Instead of a cast of dozens, it focuses on just two people, on their relationship. Unlike the wonderful potboiler about an evil, foreign nobleman, this story is all about atmosphere and ambiguity—not least because of the period in which readers first encountered it. Among other things, this makes it trickier to translate into a dramatic medium like radio, stage, or film. Most adaptations end up changing major elements in order to create a more exciting story, almost always at the expense of the central character, Laura. Mostly she becomes a cookie-cutter ingénue, saved by a suitably masculine love interest her own age.

SV: What is you favorite piece of Carmilla trivia?

D.M.B.: That changes day to day! Right this second—and please forgive the indelicacy—I’m reminded of the scene where Carmilla seems to have vanished from her bedroom. Three doors in the room are described. One to the room itself, the second to balcony, and third to a dressing room. Given the size and grandeur of the house (really, a mansion built at first as a castle) wouldn’t one expect a fourth door? Yet there isn’t for the simple reason of the era. No bathrooms.

SV: Please tell us a little about the preface and introduction of your book.

D.M.B.: Ah! I’ve been online friends with Andy Boylan (aka Taliesin of the famous vampire blog) and really love his take on the genre. I thought he’d be a marvelous person to write about Carmilla in context of vampire fiction in general, not only because he’s eminently qualified, but he’s also known as an expert. He has street cred, as it were. Or undead cred. Happy to say he seemed very pleased to write it and did a bang-up job! But I also wanted something in-depth about Le Fanu himself. So, the man I contacted for advice was Leslie Klinger. He very kindly made some recommendations that didn’t directly pan out, but the folks he put me in contact with had some recommendations of their own. And so on. Eventually, David A. Sutton, who is both a genuine scholar as well as a horror author, agreed to write an introduction on Joseph Le Fanu. Made for fascinating reading, as well.

SV: Where can readers buy The Annotated Carmilla?

D.M.B.: I published through Createspace.com, and you can buy a copy at www.createspace.com/3507727.

SV: Thanks so much joining me at Suburban Vampire and for helping to bring this classic tale to the public's attention.

How to find D. MacDowell Blue online:

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