On Paths Unknown discussion

Ok, let rip with those spoilers, but only up to the end of chapter 13. I know this is a quick read, but some of us don't have time and the surprises come quickly in this story.

Okay, first thing - the setting. I don't know where Styria is, but this is nevertheless the classical Gothic setting- the looming schloss or castle set in the gloomy countryside in a dark forest, complete with moat and drawbridge. Hmm, I wonder by whose standards this is "modest"? Heheh.

Styria appears to have been a duchy in the Austrian Empire (or Austro-Hungarian beginning in 1867; not sure which side of the timeline our tale falls on). Either way, that puts it in close proximity to the area the vampire craze originated in a century earlier, which Le Fanu and the English Romantics seem to have been aware of. I'm still researching a bit and I am impressed by the dimension of realism this adds to the whole story.

I also thought the opening descriptions of the schloss were wonderful, and I had to laugh at the narrator claiming modest means. One of the things that I found charming was the way the narrator presents. You can tell she is a sheltered, privileged, naive nineteen year old, but at no point did I feel she was foolish or played for laughs or drama. Her bafflement is realistic for who she is and what is happening. I found that refreshing.

Thanks for all the research and background that you're adding, Amy!

Mmmmm..... Interesting 'incident' that she experienced as a child already. I wonder how that fit in with events of later on. Let me continue and see...

...so... the "dream" that the narrator thought she had as a child, could possibly actually not have happened at all - could actually have just been a suggestion planted in her mind, just as the "memories" of his "former association" with the "lady of noble birth" had been planted in General Spielsdorf's mind.

There's a lot about identity going on on this story; the attraction between the young ladies would appear to be a sort of narcissistic thing; like that of people feeling attracted to their mirror image. Even though they don't look physically alike, Carmilla mirrors the narrator's experiences.

Hmmm... and is Carmilla really as young as she appears to be?

Last thread here, btw : https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I find the different names of Carmilla amusing since it is just a shuffling around of her name in the title: Millarca and Mircalla. This kind of shuffling usually signifies to me the flexibility and allusiveness of identity.

Yolande wrote: "I find the different names of Carmilla amusing since it is just a shuffling around of her name in the title: Millarca and Mircalla. This kind of shuffling usually signifies to me the flexibility an..."

Indeed! Interesting that she still physically looks the same, and also interesting that that fact never seemed to phase the father much.... (on the portrait).