Interview With The Vampire

About Interview With The Vampire

Interview with the Vampire is a vampire novel by Anne Rice written in 1973 and published in 1976. The novel, the first to feature the enigmatic vampire anti-hero Lestat, was followed by several sequels, collectively known as The Vampire Chronicles. A film version, Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles, was released in 1994 starring Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas and Tom Cruise. An Australian Band Savage Garden's name was inspired by this book.

Published in 1976, Interview with the Vampire quickly became a cult success, and a prominent influence on present Goth culture. The novel was set apart from its predecessors of the vampire genre by its confessional tone from the vampire's perspective, touching on existential despair and the sheer boredom of lifeless immortality.

Rice reported in her biography that the themes of vampirism and the tone of the book echoed the loss of her daughter Michele from leukemia in 1972. Interview is distinct from its sequels in its sombre tone, and subsequently the perspective shifts to that of the vivacious Lestat. Nevertheless, it remains the best-selling and best-received of Rice's books.