Memnoch the Devil was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1995. The novel opens with Lestat in contemporary New York, stalking a victim — Roger, a drug dealer and collector of religious antiquities — when he is approached by a figure who claims to be the Devil. But this Devil — who calls himself Memnoch — is not the figure of Christian demonology. He is an angel who opposed God’s treatment of humanity and was cast out not for rebellion but for compassion.
Memnoch takes Lestat on a tour of creation: they witness the evolution of life on Earth, the emergence of human consciousness, the moment God fell in love with humanity (and the corresponding moment when Memnoch argued that God’s love was possessive and cruel). They visit Heaven — which Lestat finds beautiful but coercive — and Hell, which Memnoch has organized not as a place of punishment but as a way station where souls gradually achieve the understanding necessary to enter Heaven. Memnoch’s argument is that God set up an unjust system (creating beings capable of suffering and then demanding their worship) and that the Devil is trying to fix it from below.
The novel’s theological ambition is enormous. Rice engages seriously with the problem of evil, the nature of divine love, the relationship between suffering and redemption, and the question of whether a just God would create a Hell. Lestat witnesses the Crucifixion — held the dying Christ, received a wound from a Roman soldier — and brings back the Veil of Veronica (the cloth bearing the imprint of Christ’s face). Rice’s own Catholic faith, which she had abandoned and would later return to, permeates every page.
Collecting Memnoch the Devil
First edition (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1995): Hardcover with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine/fine: $25–$60
- Very good: $10–$25