Professor Varma

 

Like Peter Underwood's support both before and after the first edition of The Highgate Vampire, I received equally enthusiastic support from Devendra P Varma. Many individuals connected to film production had contacted me following the first appearance of my book in 1985, but upon the arrival of the enlarged and completely revised edition half a dozen years later, bids seemed to flood in.

While Highgate Vampire Productions was up and running I ignored what was proffered, and in the wake of Aimee's unexpected death I was a little too shaken to entertain seriously anything suggested.

In the meantime, I had the enthusiastic support of my friends and colleagues, not least my London Secretary, Diana Brewester, fellow researcher Peter Underwood, vampirologist Devendra P Varma, now all sadly deceased, and a great many others. Yet it was Professor Varma's enthusiasm for everything I did in this field which now gives me pause to reflect on the remarkable impact he had.

The Right Honourable Chevalier Professor Sir Devendra Prasad Varma, Ph.D., Honorary Vice-President of the Vampire Research Society, on his return trip from delivering a scholarly address at The Undiscovered Country Conference on Literatures of the Fantastic at UNC (October 1994), suffered an unexpected stroke and slipped into a coma. Dr Varma finally sustained a massive stroke that took his life on October 24th at 4:30 pm New York time. The first of the strokes occurred on October 17th in New York at a colleague's home where he had stopped briefly while returning to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Dr Varma's son, Hemendra, and daughter-in-law, Susan, flew from Canada to New York and were present at his sad passing.

 

Dr Varma was a retired Full Professor Emeritus from Dalhousie University at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Born in Darbhanga, a Himalayan village overlooking Mount Everest on 17 October 1923 to landed gentry parents, he eventually became a British/Canadian citizen. He was an internationally acclaimed scholar and the author of dozens of major articles and books in the scholarly discipline of Gothic Studies, making him the pre-eminent scholar in the field. His text The Gothic Flame was his way of picking up the torch from Montague Summers, before the flame seemingly passed to myself in October 1994. Dr Varma was the keynote speaker for such major literary bodies as The Byron Society (where, at some considerable length, he reviewed my biography of Lady Caroline Lamb and Lord Byron, Mad Bad and Dangerous to Know) and The International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, which granted him the Outstanding Scholar Award. Both the British House of Lords and the Japanese Diet invited Dr Varma for major presentations. His latest book, On the Trail of Dracula, was in preparation at the time of his death.

Dr Varma was excited at the prospect of my proposed sequel to Dracula (Carmel: A Vampire Tale, published in 2000 by Gothic Press), and I dedicated The Vampire Hunter’s Handbook, published in 1997 by Gothic Press, to the memory of my good friend and colleague.

He was decorated Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Caballero Grand Cruz de la Orden de Nuestra Se-ora de Guadalupe) and Knight Officer of the Holy Sepulchre. He held the Order of the Lion and the Black Rose and was a Fellow of the Augustan Society. He addressed the Conference on Literatures of the Fantastic at the University of Northern Colorado held October 14th-16th. At the time of his major address, he was made a full member of Sigma Tau Delta, the International English Honour Society. He was truly a great scholar and a real gentleman in the European style.

My tribute to Professor Varma was first published in the Summer 1995 issue of Udolpho (magazine of The Gothic Society). What follows is an edited and much shortened version of my original obituary from Udolpho magazine:

“The terrible news of the Right Honourable Chevalier Professor Sir Devendra Prasad Varma’s death came upon the light-bearers of the neo-Gothic revival as an earthquake. I received the news by accident whilst glancing through a journal; it could not have struck me with the idea of a more awful and dreary blank in Creation. Few have been held in my affection as the place reserved for Varma. We existed, like Byron and Beckford, in mutual admiration. That admiration reigned for twenty years since it blossomed in 1975 when we were independently published in Peter Underwood’s anthology 'The Vampire’s Bedside Companion.' Varma’s chapter, 'The Genesis of Dracula: A Re-Visit,' was the perfect compliment to my own about the early days of Highgate Cemetery’s vampire infestation. The empathy shared and enthusiasm shown for a world that was already receding was apparent to us. Inevitably, we collaborated on many projects; sadly, few of these ever saw the light of day. But somehow that mattered less than the collaboration itself. The last short story for an anthology to be edited by Varma was proffered at his request around the time of my work on 'Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know' (Gothic Press, 1992). Titled "Aurora," the manuscript remains locked away with his private papers and is now unlikely to witness the dawn, or indeed publication.

“Yet it was Varma’s enthusiasm for my biography of Lord Byron’s tortured lover which ensured its appearance in print. This I acknowledge at the front of the book. His generous support of my work knew no bounds. He wrote: ‘Your welcome letter brings the best news for the academic world that your book on Caroline Lamb may be out by early 1991.’ In fact, it was published in mid-1992 with much prompting by Varma who remained inspirational throughout the latter days of the project. His review in 'The Byron Journal' the following year was extremely flattering, but there was never anything sycophantic about Varma, as anyone who knew him will amply attest. He ‘always’ spoke his mind. Nevertheless, he loyalty never faltered. Not once. There are not so many people about which the same observation could be made.

“My biography of Lady Caroline Lamb was to be the last my dear mother, an avid reader, was to enjoy before death came as an assassin and as a ferocious wraith two years prior to Varma’s sudden and unexpected departure. The pictures contained within its covers include one of my mother and I at Newstead where we often stayed in those all too distant days. This was the cherry on the cake for her. The book itself she loved and it somehow brought a twinkle back to her grey-blue eyes - those Byronic eyes. Varma proved to be the kindest of individuals during this period. He wrote: ‘Heartfelt condolences on your bereavement! We share your sorrows!’ He then quoted Scott:

The light of smiles shall fill again.

The lids that overflow with tears,

And weary hours of woe and pain

And promises of the happy years!

There is a day of sunny rest

In every dark and troubled night

And grief may bide an evening guest

But joy shall come with early light.

“He ended with the words: ‘We have no response for strokes of Fate - only Faith and Resignation.’ Two years later the same fate would clasp poor Varma in its icy clutch.

“Like Summers and I, Varma subscribed unreservedly to a belief in the existence of vampires, the supernatural variety, as defined in every dictionary and chronicled in ancient tradition. His knowledge of the lore of the undead was impressive and our correspondence on this subject immense, running to several bulging files over the years. But his hand grew shaky and his last letters had an erratic quality that was unfamiliar. Nevertheless, his unbridled passion for those things in which we held a common interest burned brightly to the end.

“His final letter spoke of us meeting at St Etheldreda’s Church in Hertfordshire where Lady Caroline is entombed in the Lamb Family Vault, but a crowded schedule would deny us this last opportunity.

“My work "The Grail Church: Its Ancient Tradition and Renewed Flowering" (published on Ascension Day 1995) is dedicated to the memory of my beloved mother. My next book will return to the Gothic genre and be dedicated to my late lamented colleague Devendra Prasad Varma whom I shall ever admire. It only remains for me now to recover the fallen torch, so fatefully dropped in October 1994, and guard its sacred flame until I, too, am no more on this old Earth of ours.

“Fare the well, dear Varma - dear friend in a friendless world!”