Many novelists use vampires as their subject matter, but not all authors are created equal.
Take for example two modern day vampire writers, Stephanie Meyer and Anne Rice, who are both popular and highly acclaimed for their ability to portray sensuality but are quite different in their writing styles and the manner in which they portray their vampires.
While Meyer’s writing is geared more towards a younger generation of readers, usually between the ages of 12 to 15 with a healthy sprinkling of 40+ fans, Rice’s books are definitely reserved for more mature readers, usually those over 18.
Meyer’s story line portrays the struggled existence of a young teen, desperate to have sex, yet ultimately unwilling to lose her virginity, and is protected by her vampire lover. Rice, on the other hand, portrays the vampire as being purely based around all the sensations that give the illusion of sex without it ever being the genuine article and have little to no human characters that do not die or become vampires after a chapter or two.
Alongside with the sensuality that has become a staple for modern day vampires, both authors are able to portray the pained existence that has also come to be associated with the vampire over the years. In other words, the struggle of having to take a life in order to preserve one’s self.
Aside from the amount of detail and style of writing each author puts into their works, there are two things that set Meyer and Rice apart — vampire mortality, and vampire emotion.
In Meyer’s books, vampires can no longer be killed by the light of day, however while some may think this an entirely new approach to the dark creature, Meyer is not the first writer to allow vampires to walk in the light. Bram Stoker first introduced this idea with his novel Dracula, however The Count isn’t about to start sparkling like a disco ball any time soon. While many would argue that sparkling is hardly frightening, a vampire that cannot be killed by conventional means is horrifying – that is the way it would be if all of Meyer’s vampires were as blood crazed as vampires were originally portrayed as.
Aside from being diurnal, Meyer’s vampires have a softer side and are ultimately more human than a vampire should be. On the flip side, Rice provides us with what is known as the Stoker Affect. That is, having vampires that are relatable, but are in the end ultimately godless killing machines, who can be harmed only by the light of day, which leaves us with a monster invulnerable to the conventional chinks in their armor.
Despite their obvious differences, Rice and Meyer are successful in their own rights.
The Twilight Saga has stemmed three movies thus far and released billions of dollars worth of merchandise since it touched the shelves, while The Vampire Chronicles has resulted in two movies, and a Broadway play, along with a few rare pieces of merchandise, and has stemmed such spoof movies as Vampires Suck.
Anne Rice’s texts have been quoted in such table-top roll-playing games as
Vampire: The Masquerade, and her novel Ramses the Damned loosely inspired the Mummy series, staring Brenden Fraiser.
While it is difficult to compare two obviously stark contrast writers, the media has done it’s fair share of it, and I have tried to do so here in order to give you some more options for reading material in this age where vampires have become the trendy thing.
All in all, Rice and Meyer are two sides of the same coin, but as someone who grew up reading vampire lore, I would recommend Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles over Stephanie Meyer’s The Twilight Saga any day.