Author Anne Rice, Who Led the Revival of Vampire Genre in American Pop Culture, Passes Away at 80 Years Old

▲ Anne Rice [Image source=AP News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Anne Rice, the American author who wrote the original novel of the movie 'Interview with the Vampire,' has passed away at the age of 80.

According to the AP News on the 12th (local time), Rice's son and writer Christopher Rice announced on Facebook that Rice died due to complications from a stroke.

Rice is regarded as a figure who led the revival of vampire fiction, one of the American popular culture genres.

Rice wrote more than 30 novels, selling over 150 million copies worldwide.

The AP News praised, "Rice reinvented the blood-drinking immortal being as an anti-hero."

Among her works, the 'Vampire Chronicles,' which made Rice famous, also became a bestseller. The Vampire Chronicles is a series consisting of 13 volumes. 'Interview with the Vampire,' published in 1976, is the first work in this series.

This novel tells the story of Lestat, an 18th-century noble-born vampire, and Louis, who became an immortal being by drinking his blood but is filled with human anguish.

'Interview with the Vampire' gained worldwide popularity and was made into a movie of the same name in 1994.

Rice wrote the screenplay herself, and star actors such as Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas, and Kirsten Dunst all appeared, leading to box office success.

This movie later became the catalyst for the boom of vampire genre works such as the American TV drama 'The Vampire Diaries' and the 'Twilight' movie series.

The AP News reported that 'Interview with the Vampire' contains homosexual codes and stated, "Some critics called it cheap eroticism, but millions of readers and other critics saw this work as the most significant interpretation of vampires since Bram Stoker's 'Dracula.'"

Rice revealed in a past memoir that her novels are "about people whose lives have been broken for various reasons," and that "the pain of the outcasts and the ways they are excluded from human life itself are major themes of my novels."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.