Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

In The Vampire Lestat, Anne Rice aspires to create a vampire character with a deeper sense of self, one who develops and evolves through his efforts, driven by his calling to become a rock star. Published in 1985, during a time marked by the effects of existentialism and postmodernism, an era characterized by the dominance of rock and roll culture, religious crises, and the widespread suffering caused by AIDS. The study aims to reveal how the image of the postmodern vampire has changed. It analyzes Rice’s novel from a cultural materialist perspective, focusing on the cultural influences present in 1985. Moreover, the novel is examined using Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope, which is associated with the relationship between space and time. The concept contributes to creating contrastive meanings in a particular place at a particular time. In the text, Rice exhibits this image as purely postmodernist, suffering from loneliness, eager for companionship, highly sympathetic, and a metaphor for an epidemic, AIDS.