The Anthropocene and the Undead

Reviews / Votes

The undead, in their many forms, have never been more popular and never felt more relevant than in a cultural landscape plagued by global pandemic and ecological disaster, making Simon Bacon's Anthropocene and the Undead a timely analysis. Bringing together a dream-team of cultural commentators discussing representations of the Anthropocene and its demise across film, television, literature and theatre through the prism of the undead, this book offers a richly nuanced consideration of the fractured relationship between humanity and the natural world. The chapters are provocative, insightful and richly interconnected, inviting reflection and action. -- Stacey Abbott, University of Roehampton There is a cascade of books examining the Anthropocene, but this collection stands out for its brilliant elucidation of the many ways the 'undead' represent a present era that is increasingly defined by humans' impact on the planet. Expertly organized and contextualized by Simon Bacon, essays consider the ways in which the 'undead' figure identity, space, time, life, death and undying in the Anthropocene. Reading both cultural texts and material reality, the essays collectively illuminate how everything about life on Earth is becoming an 'undying' that is also, inevitably, an ongoing history of the evolution of life on Earth. -- Dawn Keetley, Lehigh University