The American writer Anne Rice, icon of ‘dark’ literature, who with her ” Vampire Chronicles ” and the saga dedicated to the witches of the Mayfair family has sold over 150 million copies worldwide, has died at the age of 80. He had achieved international success with “Interview with the vampire” (1976, published in Italian by Longanesi), becoming a cult author of horror fiction, generating a new vampire mythology, an unprecedented incarnation of the intensity of pain and the experiences of a life lost forever. The 1994 film of the same name, directed by Neil Jordan, starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, Christian Slater and a young Kirsten Dunst, was based on the novel that opened the ‘new gothic’ trend.
Anne Rice, that she had earned the nickname “vampire lady”, passed away surrounded by her family on Saturday night (December 11) from complications from a stroke. The announcement of the disappearance was made by his son Christopher Travis Rice (himself a novelist, born in 1978) in a statement posted on Facebook and Twitter. The writer will be buried in the family mausoleum at New Orleans’ Metairie Cemetery in a private ceremony.
Born as Howard Allen Frances O’Brien in New Orleans on October 4, 1941, the son Christopher remembers that his mother passed away 19 years after her husband, the poet Stan Rice, married in 1961 and died of a brain tumor in 2002. And the inspiration for the creation of her character is owed to her husband. famous, the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, undisputed prince of darkness.
In Italian, Anne Rice’s novels are published by Longanesi and Tea. The “Vampire Chronicles” series includes the titles “Interview with the Vampire”, “Chosen by Darkness”, “Queen of the Damned”, “The Body Thief”, “Memnoch the Devil”, “Armand the Vampire”, “Merrick the Witch “,” The Vampire Marius “,” The Blackwood Vampire “,” Blood “,” Prince Lestat “. The saga “The witches of Mayfair” sees among its titles “The hour of the witches”, “The incarnate demon” and “Taltos, the return”.
Anne and her future husband met in California while attending journalism school and married when she was 20 and he just turned 19. The couple moved to the campus of San Francisco State University, where they then taught creative writing together until 1988. They later settled in New Orleans. It was her husband who encouraged Anne Rice to devote herself to fiction, after a series of positive tests: it was thus that in 1976 the first and most successful novel, ” Interview with the Vampire ”, was born.
In 2004, two years after her husband died, the writer put her New Orleans home up for sale and moved first to Florida and then to California with her son. In 2005 he announced his farewell to neo-Gothic fiction following his decision to embrace the Christian faith after a long period of atheism, thus writing novels inspired in part by biblical stories and the life of Jesus Christ: among them “Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt” (2005) and “Christ the Lord: Road to Cana” (2007). In 2008 he published the story of his conversion, “Called Out of Darkness”.
Also in 2008 the writer, who flaunted her Catholic faith, stated: “Angels are the new vampires of the literary world”. And he published “Angel Time,” the first chapter of a new series of novels titled “Songs of Seraphim.” He also decided to throw away the memorabilia, plaques, and accolades from his previous vampire novels.
In his tormented religious journey, in 2010 the writer made known her detachment from the Catholic Church while continuing to define herself as a believer. Hoping to find great success, in 2014 Anne Rice retraced her steps and wrote again about vampires, after the last book of the “Vampire Chronicles” entitled ” Blood “appeared 2003. In 2014 appeared “Il principe Lestat” (the last one translated into Italian) followed by “Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis” (2016) and “Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat” (2018). With these books he wanted to continue the story of Lestat and start a new phase of the “Chronicles of the Vampires”, reconnecting all the threads of the previous books and opening new scenarios.
(from Paolo Martini)