[Rice's] grand achievement in Memnoch the Devil is the writing of a modern-day Divine Comedy. Interestingly, however, her most hostile critics don't recognize in her novel this marvelous accomplishment...If anything other than a "quick fix" of fear appears in Rice's gothic writing, some of her reviewers yammer that something has gone dreadfully wrong with her story...her latest vampire novel is disappointing, they argue, and, because of their own ignorance of the important history of genre, they miss entirely her point in the novel...This is a book about religion, salvation, and personal confession...Regarding Memnoch's ongoing debate with God about mercy, Rice's novel also echoes John Milton's religious epic Paradise Lost
hoppenstand and browne, introduction to the gothic world of anne rice
