Pause lecture : vampire literature, The Strain by Chuck Hogan et Guillermo del Toro

1 Le contexte

The Strain est le premier volume d'une trilogie consacrée à une relecture du mythe du vampire. Le second opus s'appelle The Fall, le troisième The Night Eternal.

Sans trop vouloir trop en dire sur ces livres qui se lisent comme des thrillers, le livre se concentre sur la biologie des vampires, les vampires propagent un virus qui transforme les humains en vampires. Ce virus prend la forme d'un ver, qui 'vampirise' le système immunitaire humain, son corps subit une série de transformations plus effrayantes les unes que les autres (notamment le 'stinger' qui permet au vampire de se nourrir et de se reproduire...).

Le fait qu'un des auteurs du livre soit Guillermo del Toro, le réalisateur du cultissime Labyrinthe de Pan, explique le côté très cinématographique de certaines scènes, le rythme effréné de chaque chapitre et la scène finale digne d'un film à grand spectacle (un futur 'blockbuster'?).
Si vous aimez les histoires de vampire, les thrillers, l'occulte, les grands sentiments et les anti-héros ces livres sont pour vous...

Tout a commencé sur une piste déserte ;-)) (source Wikipedia) :

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Ephraim "Eph" Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing.

So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city - a city that includes his wife and son - before it is too late.

2 Les documents

2.1 Présentation de Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

2.2 Book trailer : the Strain

"Created for the "Spread The Strain" contest, this is a trailer for the new novel by Guillermo del Toro and acclaimed novelist Chuck Hogan. The darkly thrilling book conceives vampires as a plague, and depicts humanity's struggle for survival as the vampire strain spreads.

The trailer was illustrated, animated, scored, and edited by Christopher King, with invaluable technical assistance and tutelage from Joel Potter. Alison Potter provided the voice of the old woman."

The jail scene :

The dog shed scene :

2.3 Excerpt

 

3 Let's make the most of it

3.1 Commencer par regarder l'interview

a) prendre des notes sur les deux auteurs (qui sont-ils ? quelles sont leurs réussites ?)
b) prendre quelques notes sur les genres présents dans ce livre (literary genres), leur façon d'écrire à deux (division of labour) etc.
Le document est long (50 minutes) les deux repérages ci-dessus se basent sur les premières minutes du document

3.2 Travailler ensuite sur la compréhension des 'book trailers'. 
Pick out information about :
a) the characters
b) the setting
c) what's happening
d) the vampires as evil + description
e) general atmosphere
Do you feel like reading this book ? Why or why not ?


3.3 Let's assume you feel like reading them but you want to make sure (a trilogy = three books !!!) you will like the authors' style and the story itself... 
Read the first pages of the book (document 2.3) then ... it's up to you !