Carmilla

By J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, et al.

Book Overview

Before Dracula, there was Carmilla-the original vampire classic that inspired generations of Gothic horror.

In a secluded castle deep in the Styrian mountains, young Laura's quiet life is shattered when a mysterious carriage accident brings the enchanting Carmilla to her door. Beautiful, secretive, and irresistibly magnetic, Carmilla awakens in Laura emotions she cannot explain-and a terror she cannot escape. As illness spreads and strange shadows stir in the night, Laura begins to uncover a chilling truth: her beloved guest is not what she seems.

Written twenty-five years before Dracula, Carmilla introduced literature's first female vampire and one of the earliest portrayals of forbidden love. Seductive, eerie, and unforgettable, this Gothic masterpiece explores desire, danger, and the haunting power of the supernatural.

Perfect for readers who love:

Gothic horror classicsDark romance and supernatural suspenseDracula, Frankenstein, and Rebecca

Newly added in this illustrated Yellow Leaf Press edition:

10 classic gothic paintings, from Bierstadt to Van GoghAn afterword explaining Carmilla's historical context & significance

Enter the darkly romantic world of Carmilla-where love and death intertwine.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1956716254
• ISBN13: 9781956716252
• Release Date: January 1
• Publisher: Yellow Leaf Press
• Length: 124 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A bootleg print

The book is a 5/5, that's no question. It's a classic! This review is for the cheap, bootlegged(?) print that the paperback seems to be. I figured after spending ten dollars, I'd have a book that was at the very least bookshelf worthy; this isn't! The cover is pixalated and cheap looking, there's no spine, and the cover is warped and noisy. (Yes, noisy.) Do NOT buy this version of the book. (A great read regardless of physical quality, of course!!)

Wish I would’ve ordered elsewhere

Like the previous one star reviews, the cover of this book is incredibly pixelated and not a legitimate copy. I’m very disappointed and wish I wouldve bought elsewhere…

The print looks bad?

As a previous commenter stated, this print version (create space publisher) looks bootleg. The cover is extremely pixelated and looks bad. I also am questioning the legitimacy of this version? I get it’s an independent publisher but cmon… wish I had known this is what I would get when I bought it, I would’ve gone with a different version.

Loved the content, hated the book print

This review is not about the content (loved this book), but the print itself. There's no way I received a legitimate copy (paperback, new). It looks more like a pamphlet; there's not even a spine. The front cover is extremely pixelated, as if they downloaded it and stretched it to fit, but it wasn't high enough resolution. I can only describe what I received as a bootleg copy. I expected much more for $11, so be careful!

Love

Love a good vamp book, very Obvious who was the villain tho lol. Which is why I couldn’t understand why they didn’t realize then I forgot how long ago this story was written. Either way very good book.

An interesting read

Overall, I enjoyed the book. Mostly, I was researching classic vampire literature when I ordered it, but was also interested in the lesbian undertones. Also Carmilla is portrayed as somewhat abusive/negatively, the actual romance was not which I thought was intriguing for how old the writing is. It's written in a diary type format, and although I found the plot to be a bit bland and without much climax, it was short enough to be enjoyable and interesting.

New Condition!

Not even a crease on the spine, much smaller and shorter book than I expected!

A classic

I'm surprised that Carmilla still lives in the shadow of Dracula. It's a short read, but definitely a must for anyone interested in gothic literature. Its take on vampires will be new to people only familiar with media inspired by Dracula.

Love will have its sacrifices. No sacrifice without blood

The vampire has always been used to convey sexuality -- and one of the earliest ones, the title character of "Carmilla," is no exception. Years before Bram Stoker ever dreamed of Dracula. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu wove together a luscious, haunting gothic mystery that centers around a lovely, immortal young woman with a taste for blood. When a mysterious carriage crashes at their schloss, Laura's father offers to take care of a young lady named Carmilla, who has been stunned by the collision. Laura herself is struck by how similar the girl looks to a strange figure that visited her as a child -- and Carmilla claims that they've had some sort of mutual vision of one another. Even more striking, Carmilla immediately becomes VERY attached to Laura ("You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever"), and Laura is strangely entranced by Carmilla's speech. As the days go by, Laura is increasingly bespelled by Carmilla, despite the young woman's strange behavior (and her weird resemblance to an ancient painting in the schloss, of a woman named Mircalla -- get it?), and is becoming increasingly ill and nervous. But when they visit an old friend, he reveals the shocking truth about Carmilla's true nature... and what she will do to Laura. "Carmilla" is a true gothic novel in the best sense of the word -- a lushly-written little novella filled with ruined palaces, abandoned villages, moonlight and blood. And Le Fanu injects a not-so-subtle lesbian subtext into the story, since Carmilla seems to be as infatuated with Laura as she is hungry for her blood. Lots of kisses, adoring speeches, and Carmilla constantly creeping into Laura's bedroom. And Le Fanu's writing is utterly exquisite. He swathes this eerie little story in a ghostly wrap of lush writing ("Over the sward and low grounds a thin film of mist was stealing like smoke, marking the distances with a transparent veil") and some deeply creepy moments, such as Laura waking to see Carmilla covered in blood. Le Fanu also sketches out his characters quickly and effectively, despite the novella's brevity. Laura is a sweet ordinary girl who seems both weirded out and entranced by Carmilla, and Carmilla herself is a larger-than-life character -- sensual, obsessive, vibrantly erotic and extremely creepy, except when she goes off on crazy rants about how much she hates hymns and funerals. Stoker brought the vampire into the limelight, but "Carmilla" seductively introduced the vampire's eerie allure long before that. Luscious and eerie.

High Praise for a Genre I'm Not Even Totally Into!

J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla is included in its entirety in a compilation book of Irish literature that I own. I wasn't impressed with a lot of the stuff I was looking at in it, but one day when I was ill from work, I leafed through the compilation to Le Fanu's mini novel and, once I began to read it, couldn't put it down until I was finished. This is highly unusual for me because I'm not big on gothic stories. However, this novella is addictive, fast paced, and one gets caught up in it as they read by sheer imagination when fueled by exceptionally talented writing. I also thought the vampiress was showing strong lesbian traits, but wondered if Le Fanu could ever have gotten his work published if that were the case. No matter, as the story sucks you into its darkness (no pun intended) and you can actually feel Laura's growing despondency as Carmilla slowly drains away her life force rather than the Dracula-like depictions of quick attacks we often get in movies and the like. I think I was almost as creeped out by her violently emotional outbursts at the sound of a church choir and Laura seeming to take it in stride. Intriguing and engaging, never dull, and able to transport the reader right to that eery place and time, Carmilla is a novella that takes a short time to read and still leaves you wanting more. Leave it to the Irish, who are responsible for most of the Holloween customs we follow today, to give us a timelessly stylish and truly frightening story such as this one!

Highly Influential Novella

After seeing numerous films which all contain the Carmilla female vampire character, I was curious to check out the original material. As soon as I found out that the book actually predates Dracula I deiced it is a must read. As the phenomanly popular Dracula set ground rules for vampires which are so rarely deviated from in both literature and film, despite the fact that European vampyre lore varies dramticly in each region, I was curious to see how the vampire was portrayed before Bram Stoker.Carmilla certainly is different. Both the vampire's appearnce and methods differ enormously from Count Dracula and his many spin offs. It is impossible to explain the story with out giving too much away as this is such a short story.Carmilla is, I feel, influential in an interesting way. There are nowhere near as many direct film incarnations of Carmilla as there are of Dracula, 'Vampire Lovers' is a fairly direct adaptation of the novella (the Midnight Movies double feature disc Countess Dracula/Vampire Lovers has a special feature with actress Ingrid Pitt reading from Carmilla), the Carmilla character has a big part in 'Blood Spattered Bride' and also Carmilla makes a brief appearance in 'Twins of Evil'. However there is a heavy lesbian overtone present in Carmilla which while tame today was sure to be racy at the time of writing. It seems that this principle has being carried over into film just as faithfully as Bram Stoker's sunlight destroys vampires rule (in Carmilla vampires can walk around in the sun). Thus thanks to Carmilla, whenever there is a female vampire in any film she is automatically a lesbian! Some of my favourites are 'Vampyros Lesbos', 'Vampyres', 'Female Vampire', 'Shivers of the Vampire' and of course the previously mentioned Carmilla films.I am glad I read Carmilla, it is an interesting and well written novella with a different take on vampires which is fresh and original due to it being older. In retrospect Carmilla has also spawned the beloved lesbian vampire film genre and it was awesome to read about the first lesbian vampire ever!