‘The Vampire Is Prone to Be Fascinated with an Engrossing Vehemence, Resembling the Passion of Love’

Carmilla, Queer Abjection, and Secular and Religious Modes of Patriarchy

Abstract

Carmilla, by Sheridan Le Fanu, is a classic of lesbian and queer literature, offering a surprisingly explicit (for its day) and shockingly tender (in its way) dark lesbian romance. Underexamined, however, is the way in which Le Fanu, through Carmilla’s persecution and ultimate undoing, examines the symbiotic relationship between secular and religious politics as disciplinary arms of patriarchy, who act violently against queer subjects that are made abject by both men of science and men of God. In this article I examine how Le Fanu presents the dual operating of these forces against Carmilla, and how his subtle sympathy for both the vampire and Laura probes at the limitations of these forces’ ability to discipline queerness. I do so with reference to how this same symbiotic relationship remains apparent in our own day, especially regarding the anti-transgender moral panic that regularly dominates our headlines, analysing how Carmilla relates to our current moment through policy analysis and contemporary feminist theory. With this context in mind, I trace the ancestry of our current moment to the similar patriarchal crackdowns of Le Fanu’s time and before, exploring how Carmilla herself prefigures many of the ways these forces operate against transgender people today.