In recent years, these immortal creatures gave enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in modern literature and imagination. Modern authors have, in a sense, dusted off the age-old myth. It is this vampire renaissance that inspired two University of Arkansas professors to invite the undead into their classrooms and offices as objects of scholarly study. Within the text, Arenberg finds a vein of morbid fascination as well as a redefinition of beauty that could qualify as drop-dead good looks. What happens in the novel as these two worlds converge is that both the characters and the reader lose interest in the living.
Life becomes less interesting, and the dead come to hold our fascination.
Part of this fascination comes from Hebert's portrayal of the vampiric characters. She dresses them in Victorian clothes, according to Arenberg, making them not just immortal but timeless. It's a redefinition of beauty. No longer is beauty linked to vitality, but it becomes a dark appeal. This reversal of interests and images is typical of French-Canadian literature, said Arenberg.