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put aside everything else and decided to focus entirely on
answering the questions that had dogged me all my life. The
decision came in July of that year . . . I decided that I would
give myself utterly to the task of trying to understand Jesus
himself and how Christianity emerged. (Christ the Lord: Out
o f Egypt, “Author’s Note,” 309)
Significantly, Rice adds that, at this point in time, “I was ready. I was ready to
do violence to my career . .. Nothing else mattered . . . I consecrated myself and
my work to Christ” (309). A little more than three years later, in the fall of 2005,
Christ the Lord: Out o f Egypt was published in hardcover by Alfred A. Knopf.
The phrase “New York Times Bestseller” graces the mass market paperback
edition that appeared in 2006, suggesting that the book had succeeded, like
Interview with the Vampire over thirty years ago, in capturing the popular
attention. On March 4, 2008, The Road to Cana, the second volume of the
Christ the Lord series, was published and quickly became a bestselling title, and
Rice plans to produce additional volumes.
Most critics in the popular press, almost all of whom discuss Rice’s journey
from Catholicism to atheism and back as regards the subject matter of her new
works, seem to have received Out o f Egypt and The Road to Cana well. Writing
in The New York Times, Janet Maslin comments that the former has “the slow
but inexorable rhythm of an incantation. The restraint and prayerful beauty of
[it] is apt to surprise her usual readers and attract new ones” (El, E9). David
Gates, in Newsweek, writes that, “in the novel’s best scene, a dream in which
Jesus meets a bewitchingly handsome Satan—smiling, then weeping, then
raging—Rice shows she still has her great gift: to imbue Gothic chills with
moral complexity and heartfelt sorrow” (54-55). On the latter, Library Journal
writes that Rice “once again paints a powerful account of Christ’s humanity
while staying true to orthodox Christianity” (60). The reviewer adds that “it will
inspire readers to see Jesus in a new light” and “is a novel that both religious and
secular audiences can appreciate and enjoy” (60). In any case, with the Christ
the Lord series, the transformation from the popular vampire to the popular
Christ Anne Rice has attempted to effect, continues. But whether or not giving a
profound, distinctive, and authentic voice to Jesus Christ Himself will prove as
effective and powerful a means of trying to justify the ways of God to men on
the secular level as The Vampire Chronicles were, remains to be seen.
College of Southern Nevada
Works Cited
Anthony Patricia
Gates, David. “The Gospel According to Anne.” Review of Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt
by Anne Rice. Newsweek 31 Oct. 2005: 54-55.
Maslin, Janet. “A Boy Tells Of Angels, Bethlehem and Family.” Review of Christ the
Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice. New York Times 3 November 2005, late ed.: El,
E9.
Milton, John. Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. The Signet Classic Poetry Series.