Interview With the Vampire (Vampire Chronicles, volume 1) by Anne Rice

[james_davis_nicoll]

Can anyone pity poor, unfortunate immortal vampire Louis as much as poor, unfortunate immortal vampire Louis pities himself? Louis plans to find out.

Interview With the Vampire (Vampire Chronicles, volume 1) by Anne Rice

Comments

[hippogriff13]

Barnabas was definitely presented as a tragic figure in the Dark Shadows TV series. According to Wikipedia, the original version of the show (there was a short-lived revival about twenty years later) aired from 1966-1971. "Interview with the Vampire" was published in 1976. So Rice probably watched the show, which quickly became at least a cult hit at the time (it actually spawned at least one spin-off Hollywood movie, way before the one in which Johnny Depp played Barnabas). Given the timing, "Dark Shadows" was probably at least a subliminal influence on Rice's portrayal of vampires, even if the novel version of "Interview with the Vampire" evolved out of a short story she wrote in 1968, as Wikipedia claims.