Primeros reseñadoresChristopher M. Moreman

On the surface, the zombie seems the polar opposite of the human—they are the living dead; we, in essence, are the dying alive. But the zombie is also “us.” Although decaying, it looks like us, dresses like us, and sometimes (if rarely) acts like us. In this volume, essays by scholars from a range of disciplines examine the zombie as a thematic presence in literature, film, video games, legal language, and philosophy, exploring topics including zombies and the environment, litigation, the afterlife, capitalism, and the erotic. Through this wide-ranging examination of the zombie phenomenon, the authors seek to discover what the zombie can teach us about being human.

The figure of the zombie is a familiar one in world culture, acting as a metaphor for “the other,” a participant in narratives of life and death, good and evil, and of a fate worse than death—the state of being “undead.” This book explores the phenomenon from its roots in Haitian folklore to its evolution on the silver screen and to its radical transformation during the 1960s countercultural revolution. Contributors from a broad range of disciplines here examine the zombie and its relationship to colonialism, orientalism, racism, globalism, capitalism and more—including potential signs that the zombie hordes may have finally achieved oversaturation.