Becoming a Vampire

The nature of transformative experience.

I opened the Metanoia conference in D.C. last week with one basic question: “How would you go about making the decision about whether or not to become a vampire?”

It’s the question posed by the Yale professor L.A. Paul in her 2014 book Transformative Experience. I admit that I initially dismissed both the book and the question as ridiculous when I first read it last summer—but I’ve since warmed up to it. I find the question highly generative, even if I find holes in Paul’s theory.

I was at least disturbed enough by the question that I took it into my undergraduate class this spring—a course called The Foundations of Agency, which I taught with the novelist Jordan Castro—and asked our students to help me decide whether or not I should become a fabulous vampire, hosting lavish parties in my new Embassy Row mansion before I dine on unsuspecting guests each night. Wouldn’t that be fun?, I asked?

Being a good Girardian, I ramped up the social pressure after some initial hemming and hawing an…