Sunday, December 7, 2008
A Further Thought on Anne Rice. . .
I wonder (without investigating it) how much of a repudiation of her earlier literary production is implied in her conversion? I mean, what about that Sleeping Beauty series? As an author, she is of course already distanced from her early works, but really. . . I suppose I'm not supposed to think about this, but well. . . "Forgive me Father. . . Just go read chapters 3, 8, 9. . ." Because I had not previously been Baptized, I was spared the pain and mortification of digging up all of my past since--for better or worse. I probably should have had to do so, though I was thankful that I did not. But when one's sins--intellectually speaking--are part of one's professional ouvre? Most creative writers regard their earlier works with some embarrassment and a little contempt (a former professor of mine referred to his "baby book.") I can imagine the discomfort of having spiritual baggage attached also. After all, I've written poetry myself--and published a poem or two. But I wonder about the practical side--what does it mean to have this side of one's faith--or doubt--on display? Perhaps that in itself is a penance.
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There is a very interesting piece by Anne Rice on her website, directed towards her fans (who liked her pre-conversion works, obviously). http://www.annerice.com/Bookshelf-EarlierWorks.html
Also, looking at her website it looks like she's switching from vampires to angels...her new series is called 'Songs of the Seraphim'. Despite some rumors that she might try to write a novel in which her vampire character is 'redeemed' it seems she has decided that it is now impossible for her to write in that universe at all.
Also, in the essay on her Earlier Works, Rice says something I find intriguing, as it jibes with my experience of the Goth movement: "The existence of my Goth audience continues to create misunderstanding. Yet I remain convinced that many of the young “Goth” readers who write to me are hungering for transcendence. They gravitate to these books because they find their environment sterile, secular, and materialistic and to a large extent unsatisfying. They “identify” with my heroes as my heroes search for beauty and for truth."
That is, Rice seems to understand the modern 'Goth' movement as a sort of Romanticism -...which is how I see it as well.
Anyway...it doesn't look like she is particularly ashamed of her earlier works, though I've read other interviews where she was embarrassed, and certainly she shows no interest in writing anything along the same vein...it's an interesting question.
Hi Kate! I've seen some of these things. I read her response to the request that Lestat be "redeemed"--a naive request, and considering that she didn't believe in redemption when she created the character, no, not a possibility! I was a bit bothered by her link to a Lestat "Dark Gift Shop." That kind of made me pause.
I do think she has a good handle on what her readership is doing, and it fits with my experience. I read more books than just hers that led me to seek beauty and truth in ways that were not only separate from God, but denied that t/Truth and b/Beauty could ever be connected with the concept of God.
I don't really want to glean from her interviews & such how she really feels--an impossible thing to know anyway, the conscience of another person. (I know that's not what you're trying to guess either.) I guess in a way the question is tied to the immortality of the book (as Shakespeare saw it). Consider another very public person--an actor or politician, for example. If that person converts, one has only their past actions to judge against their present actions, and the two do not exist simultaneously. One can repudiate one's past actions more easily, I think, than one's past works, since the past works exist in the same present as the author's newly remade 'self.' But I wonder what the practical implications must be? She can't recall all of the volumes. Repudiate profits? Donate the profits to the Church? Start a fund for rehabilitation of vampire-smitten teens? And I wonder what I would have done, faced with Confession... What would you have done?
What an interesting question. most of us are lucky in that our sins are not quite so public. I think if it were me I'd feel a need to find some way to make reparation for the harm those past works might have done. Then again, I could see that perhaps the best thing she can do is continue to write and let her current understanding inform the books she is writing now and hope that readers who like her earlier works will be drawn to read these later books and that the mysterious ways of the Holy Spirit being what they are perhaps good might be brought out of it all.
You're probably right, Melanie. Such a positive take!
I used to work at a bookstore, and one day while shelving, I picked up one of her Sleeping Beauty books and flipped through it. I think my hair caught on fire.
I can see looking back and finding the goodness in her vampire novels (though I've only read one), but in what's basically porn? I don't have an answer (and I didn't read the Sleeping Beauty books, so maybe there's some plot line tucked between all the sex) but it does seem like something that needs to be addressed.
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