Prompt:
The contemporary vampire tale has become a means of exploring a relationship with a complex and contradictory character, revitalizing the plot of forbidden love. In your reading for the week what pairs of ideas or representations does the author place in opposition to one another?
Response:
Note: Having already been more than passably familiar with both of this week's reading suggestions, Anne Rice's Interview with a Vampire and the first couple of Vampire Academy Books, I chose a different vampire themed novel from the provided "Buffy's Book Club" list. The book I read was Sunshine by Robin McKinley. As a preteen, my mom and I where huge fans of her book Blue Sword and after I found out that the book's female protagonist not only shared my family nickname but also spelt it correctly. (Rae NOT Ray) it seemed like such serendipity that I decided I must immediately read this book for our vampire literature week.
In my opinion Robin McKinley's world building in her book Sunshine, while at times a little scattered, does take a unique approach to vampirism. (or about as unique as you can get with centuries old mythos that has been reworked thousands of times) McKinley creates a new vampire fusion that pays homage to the classic blood thirsty monster while at the same time touching upon the more modern concept of an empathetic vampire who's existence blurs the lines between human and monster. The "good vampire" in this case is a centuries old vampire named Constantine and, as par for the course in modern vampire fiction, Con is "not like other vampires." He mentions on several occasions that he is trying to be more considerate of humanity than his nemesis Bo but, interestingly enough, it is not quite clear wether or not he actually stops killing humans all together or just doesn't torture them anymore. McKinley doesn't go full on vegetarian vampire here and her character Con retains enough "otherness" about him to constantly remind the reader that he is in fact a creature of the night and not just the mysterious bad boy who sits next to you in Bio.
In contrast to Anne Rice's sensual monsters, who are overcome by guilt and passion, McKinley's vampires seem entirely devoid of remorse, conflict, or even passion. They seem to experience emotions on an entirely removed and wholly different level. It's a little "vulcan-esque", though definitely not as endearing as our beloved Spock. Constantine lacks any inner turmoil over his vampire-ness and the morality of feeding upon humans when he himself used to be one and even though he hated the vampire who turned him that was more due to personality conflicts than any moral dilemma on his part. Even a whirlwind "forbidden love" between Rae and Con, though perfectly set up, ultimately never comes to fruition. In fact, Constantine is mainly described by Rae as alien, terrifying, and just downright ugly; not the start of a budding human/vampire romance despite the sexual magnetism.
As far as the rest of the mythology is concerned, Robin McKinley keeps it pretty classic. No sparkling just plain old torching in the sunlight, super strength, hypnotic eyes, and needing invitations to cross thresh holds. However, after toggling back and forth between classic and modern interpretations of vampires McKinley does in fact diverge from the commonly accepted lore to add a unique wrinkle to this vampire story. Her vampires themselves exist quite literally in a alternate physical reality, bending space and time to travel and living in pocket dimensions un reachable to humans. That part is pretty cool, and trippy. I'm still not quite sure how it works.
