Anne Rice grew up in New Orleans amid a
broad spectrum of physical and artistic
stimulation. She was raised in an unusual
manner and exposed to high ideals that gave
her a sense of personal specialness. Her
imagination took over and she populated a
fantasy world, responding to dark mystery and
the supernatural. Although her sense of
nuance and her southern and Irish heritage
may have influenced her style enough to have
made her a successful writer, it seems to
have been the dramatic events in her life that gave to her work the emotional richness
that has captured so many readers.
Anne experienced a series of losses, including her mother's death, that threatened to
fragment and crush her. She felt the tug of surrender to despair as well as the urge to
resist, paralleled by her desire to get educated in an era when such values were
suspect to people her age. From childhood, she felt different from others, never quite
matching social expectations. She wavered between wanting to be accepted and
wanting to be herself. Each time she asserted herself, she became stronger, but life
seemed darker.
In her twenties, she wrote pornography and erotica, fascinated with the freedom of male
experience and with her own masculine qualities. It would take another tragedy,
however-- the loss of her five-year-old daughter-- before she found the subject that
tapped the pain, intensity, and imagery of the crush of life experiences and lost values:
the vampire.
Noting the compulsion and sensuality of the vampire mythology, Anne utilized her own
physical intensity to draw out the erotic qualities. She put her vampires into
relationships that paralleled the gay experience just when being gay meant exhibiting
the courage of political pioneers. Expressing her personal desires and experiences
through metaphor, she connected with establishment and renegade alike.
Buoyed by her success, Anne explored other subjects that obsessed her, blending
aspects of her life and values into the lives of her characters. Her next two books traced
the breakdown of structure once again, but were not successful. Anne had to consider
whether to yield to what editors told her would sell or to stick with her own visions. Since
conformity had never been high on her list, she decided on the latter.
Anne Rice's work reflects her life. She searches for clarity of expression as a way to
establish clarity of values. She uses her novels to push herself closer to an intimate
contact with the essence of life, including the socially forbidden areas. Her life give
authenticity to her characters, but her work also includes mythic qualities. Having lived
through a decade of social unrest and possessing the facility to channel into her writing
us to ourselves-- something we might otherwise miss. A biography of Anne Rice would
invite us to see how the universal and highly contemporary elements in her novels can
broaden our own self-understanding.
-- Except from Prism of the Night by Katherine Ramsland
Timeline-
1941
Howard Allen O'Brien (Anne Rice) is born on October 4 in New Orleans
1957
Her family moves from New Orleans to Richardson, Texas.
There she meets her husband -to-be, Stan Rice, in high school.
1959
Anne graduates from High School
1961
She marries Stan Rice
1964
The Rices move to San Francisco, at the height of the hippie movement.
1966
Michele is born.
1969
The Rices move to Berkeley.
1972
Michele dies of leukemia before her sixth birthday
1973
Anne writes 'Interview With The Vampire'. The book is written in 5 weeks.
1974
Anne meets literary agent Phyllis Seidel at a writer's conference; Seidel subsequently sells the novel to Knopf.
1976
The novel is published to mixed reviews.
1978
Christopher is born.
1979
'The Feast of All Saints' is published.
1982
'Cry to Heaven' is published and her short story, 'Master of Rampling Gate,' is
published in Redbook magazine.
1983
'The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty,'is published under the pen name A. N. Roquelaure
1984
'Beauty's Punishment,' is published under the pen name A. N. Roquelaure
1985
'Exit to Eden,' is published under the pen name Anne Rampling.
'Beauty's Release,' is published under the pen name A. N. Roquelaure
'The Vampire Lestat,' is published.
1986
'Belinda,' is published under the pen name Anne Rampling.
1988
'The Queen of the Damned,' is published.
1989
The Rices move to New Orleans.
'The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned,' is published.
1990
'The Witching Hour,' is published.
The first book about Anne Rice, 'Prism of the Night' by Katherine Ramsland, is
published.
1992
'The Tale of the Body Thief,' is published.
1993
'Lasher,' is published.
1994
'Taltos' is published.
The motion picture, 'Exit to Eden,' is released in October.
The motion picture, 'Interview With The Vampire,' is released in November.
1995
'Memnoch the Devil,' is published
Anne Rice hosts the Memnoch Ball, under the auspices of The Vampire Lestat
Fan Club.
1996
'The Servant of the Bones,' is published.
1997
'Violin' is published
(For a more detail chronology, consult 'Prism of the Night,' by Katherine Ramsland)
