Generation Zombie - (Contributions to Zombie Studies) by Stephanie Boluk & Wylie Lenz (Paperback)

About the Book

"These sixteen original essays by an interdisciplinary group of scholars examine how the zombie has evolved over time, its continually evolving manifestations in popular culture, and the unpredictable effects the zombie has had on late modernity"--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

Growing from their early roots in Caribbean voodoo to their popularity today, zombies are epidemic. Their presence is pervasive, whether they are found in video games, street signs, hard drives, or even international politics. These eighteen original essays by an interdisciplinary group of scholars examine how the zombie has evolved over time, its continually evolving manifestations in popular culture, and the unpredictable effects the zombie has had on late modernity. Topics covered include representations of zombies in films, the zombie as environmental critique, its role in mass psychology and how issues of race, class and gender are expressed through zombie narratives. Collectively, the work enhances our understanding of the popularity and purposes of horror in the modern era.

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Review Quotes

"demonstrates that zombies, as a field, has the heft to sustain serious academic inquiry...contributes to the field because it links zombies to some of the foundational questions of modernity and specifically the instability of many modernity's assumptions...a fun and engaging critical field to a casual reader or students of cultural studies...many of these essays make important claims...Zombie experts should take note.... most interesting...This collection provides a range of exciting lines of flight and ample evidence that zombies are, and have long been, an important trope in the articulation of anxieties related to our globalist future."-Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts; "zombies have come to stand for everything from conformity and consumerism to dangerous science and the military industrial complex... fertile ground here for those of us who like to deconstruct pop-culture and seek out all the hidden undercurrents...extremely literary essays that investigate a series of thought provoking topics...very interesting...fascinating...extremely engaging and thought provoking"-Bricks of the Dead; "collects some academic perspectives on z-horror, including zombie origins, environmental contagion, living-dead crowd psychology, and zombies on campus"-C&RL News; "presents 16 essays that examine the zombie's evolution, continually evolving manifestations in popular culture and effects on modernity. Topics include the zombie in film, zombie as environmental critique and issues of race, class and gender"-CBQ.

About the Author

Stephanie Boluk is an assistant professor in Cinema and Digital Media and the English Department at University of California, Davis. She lives in Oakland, California. Wylie Lenz is an assistant professor of English in the humanities and social sciences department at Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, Florida.