Audiobook · read by volunteers
Carmilla
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814–1873)
Read by Elizabeth Klett · 16 chapters · 3 h 17
About the book
A young woman living in a lonely castle in Styria receives an unexpected visitor: a girl of her own age who has been left in her family's care after a carriage accident. Carmilla is charming, mysterious and strangely drawn to her new friend, and as the nights go by, a pattern of illness and bad dreams begins to disturb the household. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's novella of 1872, one of the first great vampire stories, builds a sense of dread through atmosphere, suggestion and a narrator who describes what she has seen with growing alarm. Sixteen chapters and just over three hours, read by LibriVox volunteers. A classic of Gothic horror that still chills. Slow, elegant and unsettling, it is a perfect read for a stormy night and a fine entry into the vampire tradition. The story works through suggestion and the careful accumulation of detail.
Introduction
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814 to 1873) was an Irish writer who became a master of the ghost story and the tale of mystery. Carmilla was first published in 1872, and it was soon gathered into a collection of stories titled In a Glass Darkly. It tells of a young woman, drawn to a female vampire, and it predates Bram Stoker's Dracula by more than twenty years.
What makes the novella remarkable is its restraint. Le Fanu does not rely on grand effects. Instead, he builds a slow, dream-like atmosphere in which the ordinary world is gradually invaded by something unnatural. The story is told by the young woman herself, years after the events, with the unease of someone who has not quite put the experience behind her. The relationship between the two women has also drawn the interest of modern critics, who see in it a daring treatment of desire and friendship.
Carmilla has been adapted many times for the stage, the screen and the radio, and it still holds up well as a story to be heard. The recording consists of sixteen chapters and lasts about three hours and twenty minutes. It is read by volunteers of LibriVox. It is ideal for lovers of Gothic fiction and for anyone who wants to know where the vampire story began to take its modern form, long before the more famous version of the legend. Because the story is short, it is easy to hear in one or two sittings, and the sixteen chapters are brief enough to be enjoyed one at a time. Those who know vampire tales only from the cinema may be surprised by the quiet, almost conversational voice.
Public domain
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu died in 1873: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text