Customer Reviews

Vampire God: The Allure of the Undead in Western Culture

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While I read this book primarily for background for a journal article I'm writing on Flannery O'Connor's use of a mummy by one of her characters in her novel, Wise Blood, I have to say that readers will be VERY pleased to have access to this thorough, humorous and helpful discussion of vampires for their papers, theses, and -- yes -- nightmares.

Mary Hallab, Ph.D. draws upon a long and distinguished teaching career and publications explicating works by Henry James, Angela Carter, William Blake, Edgar Allan Poe, Washington Irving and Herman Mellville, to provide us with a thorough exploration of vampire myth and lore from their early appearance in Greek and Slavic folklore, through the Romantic period, right through to its' present starring role in present-day popular culture.

Hallib contends that men and women have always been fascinated by vampire lore because of our deep-down desire for immortality. Argues that through explorations of literature and film versions of vampires acting out roles in which they refuse to accept everyman's destiny of dying and decaying to dust -- those involved are able to wrestle with their own fear of death. Indeed, the very discussion of vampires over the ages has allowed for code-worded conversations about individual doubts regarding death and the nature of one's soul.

The book is divided into six chapters: (1) Vampires and Science; (2) Vampires and Society; (3) Vampires and Psychology: Body, Soul and Self; (4) The Religious Vampire: Reason, Romantics, and Victorians; (5) The Religious Vampire: The Twentieth Century; and, (6) The Vampire God: Nature and Numinious. Graduate students will forever be in her debt for the extensive chapter-by-chapter notes and list of "Works Consulted" that follow the text.

The conversational tone of the text will be a welcome respite from other less humorous books for all those young scholars out there thirsting to write their first college term paper on Buffy and friends.

Highly recommended for college, university and public library collections.

R. Neil Scott
Middle Tennessee State University

Interesting book, kind of dry though. You will find Hallabs point of view interesting, but at the end of the book you'll realize that there could have been more.