Kiersten White would not be 16 years old when he first read the ‘Dracula ‘, by Bram Stoker. In love since I was a child of everything Gothic, that tragic love story loved her. However, when he closed the book he had a strange bitter aftertaste in his stomach. I even felt a strong nervous irritation. Luckily, he could soon locate what the problem was, Lucy Westenra.
The character of the intimate friend of Harker mine, Dracula’s first London victim was nothing more than a capricious toy at the expense of the men of the novel, first his three suitors and then the fateful count that makes it a vampire. «If you read the novel, you love Mina from the beginning because it is written to get you in love. She is the good wife, the quiet, full and responsible woman. Meanwhile, Lucy is described for you to laugh at her and belittles like someone capricious and something silly. She is the Victorian figure of the innocent woman dragged by lust until she transforms into a monster, ”says White in statements to ABC.
The impression of injustice towards the character was so great that White, one of the phenomena of ‘boom’ of the Gothic romance, could only write his own version of the character. The result is the electrifying novel ‘Immortal Lucy’ (Umbriel) In what imagines the life of the ‘Stokerian’ character if they had not killed her in the novel. «I have preserved the joy and innocence of the character, but I have given him an arc of rediscovery to make the peace of herself and accept himself as a vampire. He wanted to empower her, that it was a strong woman, but not in a masculine, physical and moral sense, but in a safe woman, full of compassion and love, ”he says.
In the novel, Dracula He did not die either. He continued alive and will eventually chase our protagonist in search of claiming what is his. In this way, we read Lucy’s diary of 1890 and we see it in the London today, where he will discover love in the figure of the mysterious iris. “It always seemed to me that Lucy had to be ‘queer.’ If you read ‘Dracula’, the only one who says that it is his great love and that he wants more than anyone is mine. Neither the cowboy, nor the doctor, nor his fiance tell him anything, so it seemed natural to evolve in this way, ”White confesses.
Value Dr. Frankenstein’s wife
The writer is a specialist when reimagining secondary characters from great novels and giving them a new approach. He already did it with Elizabeth LapDr. Frankenstein’s submissive woman. «I love the novel of Mary Shelley. It is my favorite book. When reading it, I always see in the figure of Elizabeth to that of Shelley herself, who was always in abusive relationships that none and minimized her enormous talent. For me it was an act of justice to give all its value to Elizabeth as we have managed to give value to Shelley as an author, ”says White.
Within this genre, his great masterpiece is a historical novel where he dares to turn the famous Vlad the impalerthe character who gave rise to Stoker Dracula, in a woman. «When I investigated the terrible character I saw how his cruelty was nothing more than a mask, a need for protection against a violent world capable of eating you alive if you let see the minimum weakness. It seemed obvious that this is the exact role of many women today. They are obliged to offer a hard and implacable face abroad so as not to demonstrate any weakness, ”he says.
The author says that at the moment she does not plan to abandon her gothic feminist and that she has new readaptations of classics in mind. «As a child he was a very nervous person, Full of anxietyand in those strange and fascinating Gothic worlds he found the comfort he needed. Who is not going to like the most unfortunate romanticism, ”he asks.
What is clear is that the criticisms that have emerged today against the success of the ‘Fantasy romance ‘especially after the ‘boom’ of Rebecca Yarros, They have a strong misogynist component. «You have to be careful, of course, not to fall into the romantization of toxic relationships, but we must not underestimate the critical judgment of our readers. It is easy to judge and criticize what a woman wants and wants. The romantic novel has always been belittled not because he speaks of love, but because women are written and women read, with which many already reject him without having read a single word, ”says White, which these days is in Barcelona to participate in the Crush Festival, a great meeting of authors and fans of novels already (Young Adults). In its second edition it has already been established as an essential event.
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