Zombie (novel)

Zombie  

First edition cover art.
Author(s) Joyce Carol Oates
Cover artist Leonard Telesca
Language English
Genre(s) Fiction
Publisher E. P. Dutton
Publication date October 1995
Pages 181 pp
ISBN 0-525-94045-6
OCLC Number 32168426
Dewey Decimal 813/.54 20
LC Classification PS3565.A8 Z43 1995
Preceded by What I Lived For
Followed by We Were the Mulvaneys

Zombie is a 1995 novel by Joyce Carol Oates which explores the mind of a serial killer. It was based on the life of Jeffrey Dahmer.

In this novel, a man in his 30s seeks to create a "zombie" out of an unsuspecting young man. Bokors in Haitian folklore would create zombies through voodoo rituals and magic. Dahmer in the sense is acting like a Bokor when creating his “zombies”.[1] He intends to find a perfect young male companion and re-wire his brain, thereby turning the victim into a mindless sex slave.[2]

The book won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel.[3]

Currently, a short film adaptation is in production shooting in Boston, Massachusetts. The film stars Bill Connington, who also wrote the screenplay, and is directed by Tom Caruso.

References

  1. ^ Hurston, Zora (1990). Tell My Horse. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. pp. 113-200. ISBN 978-0-06-169513-1. 
  2. ^ Johnson, Greg. Invisible Writer: A Biography of Joyce Carol Oates. New York: Dutton, 1998, p. 201
  3. ^ http://www.bookwire.com/bbr/awards/BBR-winners96.html Boston Book Review's Fisk Fiction Prize
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