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 October 17th 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 passed to Seán Manchester 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 Dr Manchester’s 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 his colleague’s proposed sequel to Dracula (Carmel by Seán Manchester, published in 2000
by Gothic Press). Dr Manchester dedicated The Vampire Hunter’s Handbook, published in
1997 by Gothic Press, to the memory of his good friend and fellow
vampirologist.
Dr Varma 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, Dr Varma 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.
Seán Manchester’s tribute to his colleague 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 Dr
Manchester’s 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 in terms of
being published. 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 reaching
completion. Titled Aurora, the manuscript remains locked away with his
private papers and is now unlikely to see the dawn.
“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 very few 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 me, 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 most recent 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 dear 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!”
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