Living with the Living Dead

When humankind faces what it perceives as a threat to its very existence, a macabre thing happens in art, literature, and culture: corpses begin to stand up and walk around. The dead walked in the fourteenth century, when the Black Death and other catastrophes roiled Europe. They walked in images from World War I, when a generation died horribly in the trenches. They walked in art inspired by the Holocaust and by the atomic attacks on Japan. Now, in the earlytwenty-first century, the dead walk in stories of the zombie apocalypse, some of the most ubiquitous narratives of post-9/11 Western culture. Zombies appear in popular movies and television shows, comics and graphic novels, fiction, games, art, and in material culture including pinball machines, zombieruns, and lottery tickets.The zombie apocalypse, Greg Garrett shows us, has become an archetypal narrative for the contemporary world, in part because zombies can stand in for any of a variety of global threats, from terrorism to Ebola, from economic uncertainty to ecological destruction. But this zombie narrative also brings us emotional and spiritual comfort. These apocalyptic stories, in which the world has been turned upside down and protagonists face the prospect of an imminent and grisly death, can also offer uswisdom about living in a community, present us with real-world ethical solutions, and invite us into conversation about the value and costs of survival. We may indeed be living with the living dead these days, but through the stories we consume and the games we play, we are paradoxically learning whatit means to be fully alive.

Garrett's accessible and insightful inquiry into our zombie zeitgeist finds surprising depth in a theme usually dismissed as simple entertainment., accessible, Using his full range of academic qualifications, Garrett skilfully combines literary criticism, cultural studies, and philosophical theology to scout these always gory, sometimes humorous, and potentially insightful creations ... those bewildered by zombies and their popularity will certainly appreciate his analysis and explanations., a very readable and fascinating work ... the breadth of knowledge the author displays about zombie-related media is deeply impressive, Reasoned through with Garrett's academic fervour and backed up with references from pop culture and apostles alike

Greg Garrett is Professor of English at Baylor University, where he teaches classes in fiction and screenwriting, literature, film and popular culture, and theology. The author or co-author of three dozen short stories, a dozen scholarly articles, and twenty books of fiction, nonfiction, and memoir, Dr. Garrett is also Theologian in Residence at the American Cathedral in Paris and a licensed lay preacher in the Episcopal Church. He lives with hisfamily in Austin, Texas.