Geneviève Dieudonné

Geneviève Dieudonné is a character appearing in a number of works by Kim Newman.

Overview

According to Newman, there are three versions of Geneviève for each series of his (Warhammer Fantasy, "Anno Dracula", and "The Diogenes Club"). Each has a different middle name but each is a "trans-continual cousin". [http://www.johnnyalucard.com/ad.html Anno Dracula: The Background] ] All of them share a number of similar features, however: she is a beautiful blonde female vampire from Brittany (or its otherworldly equivalent), turned by the vampire elder Chandagnac when she was sixteen. Although she is around 400 years old by the time the stories with her are set, she still resembles a sixteen year old. According to Newman, her first name comes from a woman he once knew, while her last name comes from Albert Dieudonné. [http://www.johnnyalucard.com/introgen.html An Introduction to The Vampire Genevieve] ]

Variants

Warhammer Fantasy

Genevieve Sandrine du Pointe du Lac Dieudonné originally appeared in the Warhammer Fantasy novel "Drachenfels", written under Newman's pen name Jack Yeovil. She later appeared in the novel "Beasts in Velvet", several short stories collected in "Genevieve Undead" and "Silver Nails", and the complete collection, "The Vampire Genevieve". According to Newman, "the reason she doesn't have an accent on her name in GW books is that word-processing/printing techniques were so primitive back then that putting in accents was a major pain and used only on special occasions, like when listing her last name, Dieudonné."

In the fictional setting of Warhammer Fantasy, Genèvieve was born in Bretonnia in the year 1839 of the Imperial Calendar. She was given the Dark Kiss by Chandagnac in 1855, and traveled with him for some time. Their destinations included the Empire, Cathay (where she studied magic and martial arts), and Araby (where she was a slave). After Chandagnac's death, she worked at a vampire tavern for a century, before joining a band of adventurers. During this time and afterward, she became a mercenary, spy, a convent-dweller, an actress (for a single show) playing herself, a wanderer, and an assassin. After foiling a plot to start a war between vampires, she settled down and married her lover, the playwright Detlef Sierck. [ [http://www.hiveworldterra.co.uk/Encyclopedia/definition_Genevieve.html Hive World Terra Encyclopedia - Genevieve Dieudonne] ]

Newman has stated that Genevieve is one of the most popular characters of Warhammer Fantasy and that "a lot of girls were taken with Genevieve as an unusual, non-princessy identification figure (all the Jack Yeovil books have action heroines with Marvel Comics-style 'problems' beyond beating up the next bad guy)."

Anno Dracula

Geneviève Sandrine d'Isle Dieudonné is a major character in the first novel in Newman's "Anno Dracula" series, "Anno Dracula". The "Anno Dracula" series combines characters and situations from numerous different works of fiction (in a manner reminiscent of the Wold Newton Universe or "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen") and Newman credited himself as Jack Yeovil in the back of the book. ["Anno Dracula" afterword]

Her fictional background is gradually revealed throughout the series. She was born in 1416 Brittany. Her father was a doctor, and she learned much from his trade. Disguised as a boy, she fought for Joan of Arc;"The Bloody Red Baron"] in 1432, after her death, she was given the Dark Kiss by Chandagnac."Anno Dracula"] In the following years, she had a variety of occupations, including nurse, courtesan, slave, and soldier, once more disguising herself as a male to fight under both Francis Drake against the Spanish Armada and Napoleon during the French invasion of Russia. She was a good friend and implied lover of Carmilla Karnstein.

In 1888 (during the events of "Anno Dracula"), several years after Count Dracula takes over Britain, Geneviève helps Diogenes Club agent Charles Beauregard hunt down the vampire-killer known as "Silver Knife", who is eventually revealed to be Jack Seward, who she had worked with at Toynbee Hall. Shortly after, she helps Beauregard, whom she has become a lover with, assassinate Queen Victoria on orders of Mycroft Holmes, thus dissolving Dracula's claim to the British throne. In the sequel, "The Bloody Red Baron", Geneviève is absent; according to Newman, this was because she "was becoming too strong a character for her own good" and it allowed him to build up another character, Kate Reed, in her stead. She is mentioned often in the book, however, and is said to have moved to an orange farm in California (which, from later works, would make her one of the first vampires in California, much less the United States)." [http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/originals_archive/newman/newman1.html Castle in the Desert] "] However, she returns as a main character in the third (and so far final) book in the series, "Judgment of Tears", where in 1959 she has to cope with the deaths of both Dracula and her lover Beauregard."Judgment of Tears"] According to Newman, he brought her back because he realized her story still was not finished. [ [http://www.mania.com/dances-undead-conversation-kim-newman_article_22851.html Dances With the Undead: A Conversation with Kim Newman] ]

However, she appears in several of the short stories set afterwards. In the 1970s, under the name "Gené Dee", she becomes a private investigator after assisting Philip Marlowe in a case, although she finally retires from the business after a 1981 investigation involving Orson Welles and a cheerleader called "Barbie the Vampire Slayer"."The Other Side of Midnight"] Her further exploits are unknown, although she will presumably appear in the upcoming fourth novel, "Johnny Alucard". According to Newman, he still has plans for her as of May, 2008. [ [http://intemblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/casting-play-interview-with-kim-newman.html Casting a play: Interview with Kim Newman] ]

A devout Roman Catholic, she spent much of her early life wondering if she truly was damned as her priest had stated, but later learned to ignore and outgrow such self-destructive sentiments. However, she is still very conscious of her responsibilities, and refused to pass along the Dark Kiss in almost all situations. She was also a forward-thinking and imaginative person, harboring an interest in horror, science fiction, alternate history, and dystopian fiction. She read "Napoleon and the Conquest of the World", "Dracula", "Big Brother", "I Am Legend", and "On the Beach" when they came out, and for a time wished to be an astronaut after reading works of Arthur C. Clarke.

In a proposed "Anno Dracula" movie, Newman had hoped to cast first Isabelle Adjani, and then Juliette Binoche as Geneviève. [ [http://www.mania.com/dances-undead-kim-newman-part-2_article_23033.html Dances with the Undead: Kim Newman, Part 2] ]

The Diogenes Club

Genèvieve has appeared in a number of Newman's Diogenes Club books and short stories, along with several "Anno Dracula" characters including Beauregard, Edwin Winthrop, and Catriona Kaye. Although she is reticent about her past, it presumably resembles that of her "Anno Dracula" counterpart up to the late 19th century, where Dracula's invasion of England succeeded in the "Anno Dracula" timeline and failed (if it occurred at all) in the main Diogenes Club timeline. In this timeline, she remained in England throughout the 20th century, doing occasional work with the Diogenes Club.

This version of Genèvieve appears in the short story "The Big Fish", battling Lovecraftian menaces alongside Edwin Winthrop during World War II; ["The Big Fish" was first published in "Interzone" in 1993, and most recently collected in "The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club"] four stories in the "Seven Stars" sequence ("The Trouble with Barrymore", a sequel to "The Big Fish"; [cite web |url=http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Chron8.htm |title=The Wold Newton Universe Crossover Chronology, part VIII |accessdate=2008-07-21 |first=Win Scott |last=Eckert |authorlink=Win Scott Eckert |date= |work=The Wold Newton Universe web site ] "The Biafran Bank Manager"; [cite web |url=http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Chron10.htm |title=The Wold Newton Universe Crossover Chronology, part X |accessdate=2008-07-21 |first=Win Scott |last=Eckert |authorlink=Win Scott Eckert |date= |work=The Wold Newton Universe web site] "The Dog Story"; and "The Duel of Seven Stars" [cite web |url=http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Chron12.htm |title=The Wold Newton Universe Crossover Chronology, part XII |accessdate=2008-07-21 |first=Win Scott |last=Eckert |authorlink=Win Scott Eckert |date= |work=The Wold Newton Universe web site ] ); and in the short story "Cold Snap", featuring 1970s Diogenes Club agent Richard Jeperson. ["Cold Snap" first appeared in the collection "The Secret Files of the Diogenes Club", 2007]

Other

Geneviève Dieudonné is briefly mentioned in "In the Air", the first segment of Newman and Eugene Byrne's alternate history work "Back in the USSA". In it, she is a schoolgirl around sixteen years old in a 1951 Kansas that is part of the United Socialist States of America, and has a love song written for her. She is presumably not a vampire in this universe, and it is unexplained how a girl in a poor town in Soviet Kansas had a French name.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.epinions.com/content_415510138500 The Vampire Genevieve: Gothic Warhammer Fantasy at it's Vampiric Best!]
* [http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Chron8.htm The Original Wold Newton Universe Crossover Chronology Part VIII]
* [http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/AnnoDracula.htm The Anno Dracula Character Guide]