Anne Rice Tribute
I first read Interview with the Vampire when I was
sixteen. Since then, I have taught Anne
Rice, created courses about her, read nearly all her books, watched media, and
had chapters about her published in books.
I lead a book group on Cry to Heaven, and presented a paper on
Michael Curry at a conference. I even wrote about Rice in my dissertation.
In honors comp at SIUC, I taught The Witching Hour;
my class was enchanted. I later emailed
Anne to tell her I was teaching a course on her, and was there anything she
wanted me to say about her books. I
still have her gracious and kind response, giving me free reign to say what I
felt.
Also, she was my muse because we liked many of the same
things. Dolls, Anne Boleyn, Tudor
history, religion, witchcraft, vampires, Emily Bronte, and more. I am privileged to own some of her books, and
two small dolls from her collection. I
am the director of American Doll and Toy Museum, and Lestat in doll form is,
well, family to us. I made a doll house
inspired by Claudia and Louis, as well as my own Lestat doll of clay. Her quote from Taltos which reads “When
you loved dolls, you learned to love all kinds of people too . . .” sums up
what we feel about dolls, and why we began the museum.
