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English 2342: Special Topics
Zombie Literature
Instructor: Dr. Joy Kennedy-O’Neill
Office: B-227
Email: joy.kennedy@brazosport.edu
The Class
Prerequisite: English 1301. This is a sophomore level class that assumes students have
experience with writing research papers, doing literary analysis, and using MLA
style. Disclaimer: Zombie fiction and films have violence, disturbing imagery, and
profanity. Students who are unable to view or read such material should consider another
course. We will be engaging these texts seriously, critically, and thoroughly.
Content
This class studies how the zombie is a metaphor for contemporary societal fears and
concerns. Students will examine the marginalized groups that the zombie represents through
time, as well as the zombie’s roots in Haitian voodoo tradition. Students will read novels,
short stories, and academic research. Students will also write essays, including one research
paper.
REQUIRED READINGS:
Books:
American Zombie Gothic by Kyle Bishop
World War Z by Max Brooks
Day by Day Armageddon by J. L. Bourne
Pride, Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen & Seth Grahme-Smith
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Rot and Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
Short Stories:
Herbert West: Re-animator H. P. Lovecraft
(www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/hwr.asp)
Lazarus by John Connolly (hand-out)
Selections from The American Mediterranean (1912) by Stephen Bonsal
Selections from The Magic Island (1929) by W. B. Seabrook
RECOMMENDED:
These books may be discussed in class but are not required reading.
The Serpent and the Rainbow by Wade Davis
The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
A Passage Into Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie by Wade Davis
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
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