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Good at Being Evil: the Demons of The Vampire Chronicles 187nessed the evolution of human species, being themselves exterior to it. 59 BecauseChristian theology is not compatible with the Wiccan theories ofnatural spirits, all the spirits in Memnoch the Devil are suddenly relegated tothe status of dead human souls. Even the most powerful among them (suchas Amel) are explained as souls of dead people, who have just “forgotten”their origins. 60 Their previous knowledge of natural evolution is not accountedfor, and remains insoluble.On some occasions, the characters themselves comment on the mostobvious contradictions. Lestat especially is good at this: he at first puts theblame for the inconsistencies on the unreliable narrator; Louis had been ignorantin the first novel, or telling plain lies. As the contradictions pile upeven in his “own” novels, the same explanation will not do. Change in thenarrative universe is reduced into evolution in character: “My views arechanging,” Lestat warns. “The atheism and nihilism of my earlier years nowseems shallow, and even a bit cocky.” 61 When the narrating self is adopted asthe sole criterion for purpose and direction, the whole series starts to soundhollow and emptily self-referential. The Devil (in Memnoch the Devil) all butadmits that he must offer Lestat his last adventure, because all the other possibilitiesfor the narcissistic super-hero have already been used:You challenged every form of authority, you sought every experience. Youburied yourself alive twice, and once tried to rise into the very sun to makeyourself a cinder. What was left for you – but to call on me? It is as if youyourself said it: ‘Memnoch, what more can I do now?’ 62The exploration and transgression of limits has become the sole imperativein Rice’s vampire series. The demonic elements perhaps figure soprominently in these novels because they articulate the implicit conflictsthat narcissistic fantasy (an immortal, superhuman and radically autonomousself) runs into. The simultaneous rejection and celebration of flesh is atypical example of this logic; the wisdom of the flesh is invoked to attackvarious (religious) ideas or authorities – and the religious intertext is used tosave the narcissistic self from the taint (and corruption) of corporeal existence.Lestat wants everything, and the fictional universe mutates very fastin order to satisfy the demand – so fast, that eventually it is in danger of losingall identity, and becoming everything and nothing. It could even beclaimed that the compulsive story-telling in the Vampire Chronicles existsnot to reveal something, but in order to hide and cover this final emptiness;it is narrating at length about the search for “truth” in order not to face thetruth.This double bind actively functions in the demonic features of the series’intertextuality. The quest for the meaning of life and especially for new59 QD, 307.60MD, 216.61 MD, 106.62MD, 134-35.
188Demonic Texts and Textual Demonsreligious answers is the compulsive subject-matter of the Vampire Chronicles.The atheistic and Wiccan systems are incorporated into the texture ofhorror fiction, and in their turn rejected, as the Christian intertext isadopted in Memnoch the Devil – supposedly to end Lestat’s story in a suitablyspectacular and philosophical manner. As it stands, however, this novelis such a tormented and curious mixture of ingredients that even those readerswho had enjoyed other parts of the Vampire Chronicles reported mixedfeelings and disappointment. 63 What is it that makes Memnoch the Devil socontroversial, then?AMBIVALENT CELEBRATION OF IMPURITYThe heterogeneous quality of different traditions or conflicting elementsforced together is captured figuratively in a statue that acts as an augury forthe appearance of Memnoch, the novel’s Devil.Feathered wings. I [the hiding vampire Lestat] could see that now. Notreptilian, feathered. But the face, classical, robust, large nose, the chin …yet there was a ferocity in the profile. And why was the statue black?Maybe it was only St. Michael pushing devils into hell, angry, righteous.No, the hair was too rank and tangled for that. Armor, breastplate, andthen of course I saw the most telling details. That it had the legs and feetof a goat. Devil. 64The description does not follow any single alternative of the traditionalways of presenting the devil. Instead, it takes the tradition of fallen angels(upper part) and the folk tradition of hairy, animal-like devils (lower part)and puts them together, into a chimera of our contradictory conceptions ofevil. Analogously, Rice’s novel takes the seemingly serious theological andphilosophical questions about justice, God, and purpose in universe, andcombines them with comical or farcical episodes, or scenes from horror fiction.In the end, the text seems to struggle with its own objectives and hoversambiguously at the limit between religiosity and irreverent blasphemy.In some instances Memnoch the Devil bears a strong resemblance toClive Barker’s play “History of the Devil” (see the next chapter). Particularlythe middle part of the novel, which consists of a journey through historyin the company of the Devil, is comparable to Barker’s work. Bothhighlight untraditional moments that supposedly are the historical truth behindChristian Scriptures. Both Rice’s and Barker’s Devils meet Jesus, andcome out of the encounter as intellectually (and even morally) superior.Rice’s Devil, the archangel Memnoch, is the first and best among the angels;his dispute with God is concentrated on the role and destiny of consciousbeings (humans). God (and his alter-ego Jesus, as well) is depicted as a totallydetached and even cruel Creator, who is unable to sympathise or iden-63 See e.g. the Internet newsgroup alt.books.anne-rice .64MD, 34.
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Note on this editi
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TAMPERE STUDIES INLITERATURE AND TE
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Tampere Studies in Literature and T
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ments, and also such further lines
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IllustrationsCover: “Possessed Re
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The BeginningsAnd Jesus asked him,
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The Beginnings 3mons form an import
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The Beginnings 5negative, demonic a
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The Beginnings 7chapter four), but
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The Beginnings 9scious conflict, fo
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The Beginnings 11that is produced o
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The Beginnings 13The History of the
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The Beginnings 15emphasised that su
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The Beginnings 17turalism,” but i
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The Beginnings 19the materials I ha
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1. The Ancestry of the DemonicÑH.
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 25ness
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 27scrib
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 29tic o
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 31It sh
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 33of th
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 35able
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 37The f
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 39and t
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 41- in
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 43Chris
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 45[…]
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 47of th
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 49serpe
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The Ancestry of the Demonic 51tween
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2. The Demonic in the SelfBut ancie
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The Demonic in the Self 55Individua
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The Demonic in the Self 57should be
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The Demonic in the Self 59tack in t
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The Demonic in the Self 61A number
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The Demonic in the Self 63tion. 36
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The Demonic in the Self 65the nethe
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The Demonic in the Self 67sciousnes
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The Demonic in the Self 69influence
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The Demonic in the Self 71LEADER:Yo
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The Demonic in the Self 73Particula
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The Demonic in the Self 75NIETZSCHE
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The Demonic in the Self 77ing into
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The Demonic in the Self 79Nietzsche
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3. Unravelling the Demonic TextThe
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 83in o
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 87stru
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 89ies,
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 91open
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 93ill-
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 95both
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 97woul
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 99demo
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 101Thi
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 105“
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 107wor
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Unravelling the Demonic Text 109Bot
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PART II
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114Demonic Texts and Textual Demons
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5. Mothering a Demon:Rosemary’s B
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The EpilogueIf there are answers to
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BibliographyA note on this bibliogr
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Index2001: A Space Odyssey; 207abje
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