Proposals are being sought for an edited collection of essays on the
theme of Zombies in Literature and Film. Essays should address both
literature and film as subjects and be aimed at an interdisciplinary
academic audience. Interest has been shown by Cambria Press for a 2007
publication date, as part of their series in Literature, Film and Theory.

The following topics may provide thematic focus but should not be taken
as limitations:

= Zombies and the Sacred/Profane - addressing elements of the Sacred,
the Holy, or other religious elements and iconography in literature and
film.
= Zombies and the Law - addressing the relation between zombies and
authority or government. Destruction/Creation of the Law and/or laws,
connections to apocalyptic narratives, etc.
= Zombies and the Family - addressing the zombie's relation to family
narratives, including the threat to the family and/or breakdown of the
family order, but also childbirth (i.e. monstrous children), and the
formation of "family" enclaves in response to external threat.
= Zombies and Master/Slave narratives - Zombies and loss of
control/freedom. Voodoo, themes of Slavery, etc.
= Parodic Zombies - Zombie comedies, camp, and or ironic representations
of zombies.

This collection situates itself in the growing body of what critic
Jeffrey Cohen terms "monster theory," an academic genre employing
multiple critical perspectives. While we are primarily concerned with
traditional zombie narratives, a plurality of works could be considered
appropriate as primary texts. Standard zombie narratives may include the
following: plague accounts such as Boccacio's _Decameron_ and Defoe's
_Journal of the Plague Year_; gothic era texts such as the anonymous
"Life in Death"; contemporary biological horror tales such as Matheson's
_I Am Legend_; Lovecraft's tales of de-evolutionized cultic worshipers;
zombies in contemporary comics; Bela Lugosi's _White Zombie_, 1960s-80s
standards such as Romero's _Night of the Living Dead_ or B-movie works
such as _Virgin Among the Living Dead_, _Night of the Comet_ or the
recent movies, _28 Days_, et al., that have revived the genre. Essays
may also reconsider typically non-monstrous films from a
zombie-perspective (Tolkien's "Ringwraiths" as zombies, _Fight Club_ as
a zombie narrative, etc.)

Please send abstracts (500-1000 words in length) or completed essays
(4000-8000 words in length), preferably as an e-mail attachment, in Word.
Deadline for Abstract submission: July 3rd, 2006.

Send materials or questions to the editors:
Kevin Meaux, MFA, and Dr. Steven J. Zani, Associate Professor of English

e-mail: kwm1977_at_hotmail.com and zanisj_at_hal.lamar.edu

Kevin Meaux and Steven J. Zani
English and Modern Languages
P.O. Box 10023
Lamar University
Beaumont, TX 77710

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Received on Sun Apr 16 2006 - 09:05:15 EDT