Alamandael

Submission note: A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the School of English, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora.

Alamandael is a generically hybrid novel that utilises the forms of Gothic horror, science fiction and detective fiction. The tale is set in contemporary Melbourne, and follows the struggle between a Nazi vampire (Reinhard) and a genetically-altered Australian vampire hunter (Alex). There are three main plotlines to the story: the revenge plot, the love plot, and the ambition plot. The revenge plot follows Reinhard’s quest to eliminate a group of Catholic priests who murdered his father, who was also a vampire. The love plot centres on Alex and her lesbian relationship with an American exchange student, Lily. The ambition plot relates to the title character, the angel Alamandael. After the completion of his revenge quest, Reinhard sees the angel as a vehicle to power, and she inspires his megalomaniacal quest to restore Hitler’s Reich. Reinhard hatches a plot to unseat the Australian government and seize power for himself; his plans are opposed and ultimately defeated by Alex and her allies. The companion essay Of Fathers, Sons and Unholy Spirits: Frankenstein, Dracula, Alamandael explores the relationship between nineteenth-century Gothic literature and twentieth and twenty-first century science fiction. Narratives in both forms rely heavily on technology, and it is this link between the genres that is examined. The essay focuses particularly on the ways in which these technological narratives portray the marginalised figures of the woman and the Jew. Alamandael radically alters the racial morality of earlier Gothic novels by locating the central source of anxiety in the figure of a Nazi, rather than a Jew; and the implications of this are examined. In conclusion, I explore the ways in which Alamandael has attempted to develop or transgress the limits of the Gothic genre, and the ways in which those same limits and expectations may have circumscribed my efforts.