Carmilla is an Gothic novella by Irish author Sheridan Le Fanu and one of the early works of vampire fiction , predating Bram Stoker 's Dracula by 25 years. First published as a serial in The Dark Blue —72 , [ 1 ] [ 2 ] the story is narrated by a young woman preyed upon by a female vampire named Carmilla. The lead character is the original prototypical example of the lesbian vampire , expressing romantic desires toward the protagonist.
The story is often anthologised , and has been adapted many times in films, movies, games, television and other media. Carmilla , serialised in the literary magazine The Dark Blue in late and early , [ 3 ] was reprinted in Le Fanu's short-story collection In a Glass Darkly Comparing the work of two illustrators of the story, David Henry Friston and Michael Fitzgerald—whose work appears in the magazine article but not in modern printings of the book—reveals inconsistencies in the characters' depictions.
Consequently, confusion has arisen relating the pictures to the plot. Le Fanu presents the story as part of the casebook of Dr. Hesselius, whose departures from medical orthodoxy rank him as the first occult detective in literature.
Laura, the teenaged protagonist, narrates, beginning with her childhood in a "picturesque and solitary" castle amid an extensive forest in Styria , where she lives with her father, a wealthy English widower retired from service to the Austrian Empire. When she was six, Laura had a vision of a very beautiful visitor in her bedchamber. She later claims to have been punctured in her breast, although no wound was found.
All the household assure Laura that it was just a dream, but they step up security as well and there is no subsequent vision or visitation. Twelve years later, Laura and her father are admiring the sunset in front of the castle when her father tells her of a letter from his friend, General Spielsdorf.
