Rethinking Literature . . . Zombie Style

So Bear, the good guy that he is, sent me this link today, to the genius that is Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and it got me to thinking about how this could spawn a whole course of literary study.  As Bear suggested, something like “19th Century Literature and Zombies” probably works.  I am also quite partial to “Zombie Criticism of Great Literature” which challenges the reader to consider the context of every book they read within the greater scope of a zombie apocalypse society.  Bear and I have already brain stormed some genius ideas for Huckleberry Finn.

The funny thing about it, is that my pursuit of zombie criticism is not really a joke (though maybe not actually by looking at other works of literature).  I personally think that it would be interesting to write a whole book about zombies through a critical lens, contemplating the monsters as a form of postmodern archetypes of society and humans in general.  If I am to ever write this book I would carefully look at recurring themes in zombie movies, novels, and comic books as well as paying special attention to some philosophical ideas like the concept of self and mind/body duality.  I think there is a lot of material available for some serious scholarly study.  It would be great, right up my alley. 

But yeah, zombie 19th century literature is a pretty badass idea.  I love it as both a fan of zombies and 19th century literature.

~ by Nathaniel on February 2, 2009.