Are the Companion Guides really official?I suppose that, no matter what I say, people will still believe their own theories, including the one that I don't really exist.
But I did explain in the introductions to those books how Anne and I created the vision for them together. She wanted them to be very detailed and rich with trivia and background, and she certainly supplied all the quotes. Also, I doubt that I could have put in the original short story of Interview with the Vampire without Anne's approval. I'm always dismayed by readers who insist that I don't even know Anne Rice. . . . It's a strange thing to say. On the other hand, perhaps their skepticism is a compliment to my imagination - to be able to make all that up and get away with publishing it! Wow! Anyway, Anne and I faxed things back and forth until she was happy with the way it was going and then served as a consultant throughout--always providing quotes and resources to help me "track" her imagination. Admittedly, there is a certain amount of interpretation involved and I explained that in the introduction.
If readers ask me why I said something in this way or that, I can usually defend it from the text of the novels. I tried to make no personal judgment of characters, relying on judgments from the context of the novels and providing page references for them.
Since most of the Chronicles are from Lestat's point of view, and since he viewed Armand as nihilistic and "the embodiment of thirst itself," that's what I wrote. And since he (and Anne! ) viewed Louis as dependent and somewhat helpless and unwilling to use his full powers, that's the way I presented it. I personally don't feel that way. I prefer Armand and Louis to Lestat. I have private opinions of what motivates them and what they might be outside Lestat's view, as I'm sure many other readers do. That's partly the fun of good fiction- to be able to take it beyond its apparent boundaries in the direction of one's own imagination. Only people who know me know my true opinions about the various characters."
Who are your favorite characters?
"Above all, I love Louis. I find him rich with potential, thoughtful, philosophical, intelligent, dark, and measured in what he does. He has depth. The next character I love is Julien, and then Armand. I also liked Lasher as a ghost.
I know that people think I give Louis a bad rap, but in fact, it is Lestat who presents him as being limited, and Lestat's point of view is Anne's preferred perspective.
Someone once said to me that Louis is obviously braver than I give him credit for because he has not ended his existence and that takes strength. However, even Armand says that he doesn't end things because he's too afraid to do so. (He calls himself coward on that score, p. 102, QD.) It doesn't necessarily require greater courage to live than to die, so that argument proves nothing.
Louis clearly does not make full use of his powers (that we know of), as Lestat points out in BT, but Lestat attributes to him a certain fearfulness when in fact his decision may be based on more wisdom than Lestat can grasp. But we don't get to know that because the books, largely, are told from Lestat's perspective, replete with his own subjective ideas about other people. Depending on which character you prefer, you'll call his perspective accurate or revisionist or projected.
Yet, it was certainly not my place to speculate on Louis' "true" motivations or degree of courage. I do that elsewhere in papers I have written on the subject."
From "Interview With The Author"
From a private e-mail September 9th, 1999 -
"The truth is, I HAVE gotten flak about my descriptions of Louis in the Vamp Comp., but what I wrote is not my actual opinion.
I think Louis is reserved and refined, and he likely uses his powers as a vampire would--in the shadows, not ostentatiously. That he did NOT use them to make Lestat a vampire in BT was laudable--and even funny. He knew that he could. And since he reads Lestat's books, he knows what powers he has and what Lestat believes about him. To his credit, he does not act out childishly on these false and limited views, but remains quiet, as a wiser person would."
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