* Illustrated
Black swans, wind-tossed trees, a ruined castle, dreams of nobility in ruin, visions of something which rises from the heart of the darkness ... and the fateful appearance of a lovely young woman, enchanting, who wants only to share her secrets with a young English girl who dwells with her father in the forests of Styria.
There is one secret, the most horrible and alluring of them all, that must never be shared ... not even with the beloved. Unlocking the mystery carries a horrible price, one that can never be forgiven. And in the end, which shall be the greater: eternal love, or death?
Sheridan le Fanu's 1872 masterpiece, the novella CARMILLA, tells the tale of a young and isolated noblewoman who finds companionship with Laura, an English girl. A rapidly spiraling sequence of strange events begins to enfold Laura as the noble girl—Carmilla herself—develops an unbridled passion for Laura, her one and only newfound friend who seems to understand her.
The story is notable for several daring innovations: a vampiress (female) protagonist; a fearless erotic portrayal of immortal and mortal love; strong implications of lesbianism; and a meticulous, elevated style. These innovations raise le Fanu’s narrative into (arguably) the first example of the vampire tale as high art. This novella deeply impressed Bram Stoker, and directly informed his development of the classic vampiric archetype in his own Dracula. Furthermore, the character of Baron Vordenburg in Carmilla would serve as the progenitor of Stoker’s own classic depiction of the worldly vampire hunter in Van Helsing.
This Wonderland Imprints illustrated edition features the masterpieces of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Edmund Dulac, John Everett Millais, Sidney Sime, John William Waterhouse, and others.
Black swans, wind-tossed trees, a ruined castle, dreams of nobility in ruin, visions of something which rises from the heart of the darkness ... and the fateful appearance of a lovely young woman, enchanting, who wants only to share her secrets with a young English girl who dwells with her father in the forests of Styria.
There is one secret, the most horrible and alluring of them all, that must never be shared ... not even with the beloved. Unlocking the mystery carries a horrible price, one that can never be forgiven. And in the end, which shall be the greater: eternal love, or death?
Sheridan le Fanu's 1872 masterpiece, the novella CARMILLA, tells the tale of a young and isolated noblewoman who finds companionship with Laura, an English girl. A rapidly spiraling sequence of strange events begins to enfold Laura as the noble girl—Carmilla herself—develops an unbridled passion for Laura, her one and only newfound friend who seems to understand her.
The story is notable for several daring innovations: a vampiress (female) protagonist; a fearless erotic portrayal of immortal and mortal love; strong implications of lesbianism; and a meticulous, elevated style. These innovations raise le Fanu’s narrative into (arguably) the first example of the vampire tale as high art. This novella deeply impressed Bram Stoker, and directly informed his development of the classic vampiric archetype in his own Dracula. Furthermore, the character of Baron Vordenburg in Carmilla would serve as the progenitor of Stoker’s own classic depiction of the worldly vampire hunter in Van Helsing.
This Wonderland Imprints illustrated edition features the masterpieces of Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Edmund Dulac, John Everett Millais, Sidney Sime, John William Waterhouse, and others.
