IV 15 259-261: wikipedia on 'the undead"

[Mark Kohut]

Goes way back in folklore...inclu Arabian Nights.....Poe, Lovecraft......1929 book "introduced the word 'zombie'"--Time mag sez.......Haitian voodoo sources fed in 20th Century.........

Plan 9 from Outer Space is 1959.

Zombies not free from their 'masters' until late sixties; could not walk until a year later....

yes, Romero's film is when concept went wide in the culture, says the Great Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie




--- On Wed, 11/18/09, Heikki Raudaskoski <hraudask at sun3.oulu.fi> wrote:

> From: Heikki Raudaskoski <hraudask at sun3.oulu.fi>
> Subject: Re: IV 15 259-261
> To: pynchon-l at waste.org
> Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 9:50 AM
> 
> 
> Was the resurgence of "Plan 9 from Outer Space", another
> zombie flick  
> (among other things), already under way?
> 
> 
> Quoting John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com>:
> 
> > There was Val Lewton's great "I Walked With a Zombie"
> in 1943 but I'm
> > not aware of many others (and the kind of zombie
> depicted in that film
> > is radically different to the one we're now familiar
> with).
> >
> > btw, recently read a fascinating article on real
> Haitian zombies:
> > http://www.mensjournal.com/into-the-zombie-underworld
> >
> > No idea what this 'men's journal' site is but ended up
> suckered into
> > reading the whole essay.
> >
> > On Thu, Nov 19, 2009 at 12:15 AM, Paul
> Mackin   
> > <mackin.paul at verizon.net>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Kohut"
> <markekohut at yahoo.com>
> >> To: "John Bailey" <sundayjb at gmail.com>
> >> Cc: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> >> Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 7:12 AM
> >> Subject: Re: IV 15 259-261
> >>
> >>
> >> Night of the Living Dead made in my old hometown.
> I know someone a zombie
> >> extra, in it.
> >>
> >> I do not think Zombies were at all in the public
> consciousness.
> >>
> >> Me: Weren't there a few (maybe a lot) of zombi
> movies back in the 30s or
> >> 40s?
> >>
> >> Vague recollection.
> >>
> >> P
> >>
> >> I do know another guy who is writing a book on
> Zombies. He has said the
> >> growth of them in popular culture, all forms, has
> been masive.
> >>
> >> --- On Wed, 11/18/09, John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >>> From: John Bailey <sundayjb at gmail.com>
> >>> Subject: Re: IV 15 259-261
> >>> To: "pynchon -l" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> >>> Date: Wednesday, November 18, 2009, 2:03 AM
> >>> Re: Zombies. Night of the Living Dead
> >>> [1968] arguably redefined the
> >>> concept of the zombie in the US, and indeed
> made it a
> >>> figure of
> >>> popular culture in a way it hadn't been
> before. For the
> >>> P-listers
> >>> around at the time of IV, were zombies really
> part of the
> >>> public
> >>> consciousness? I know there's been a massive
> resurgence in
> >>> popularity
> >>> lately but are all of the zombie refs in IV
> appropriate to
> >>> the times?
> >>>
> >>> On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 5:50 PM, Joseph Tracy
> <brook7 at sover.net>
> >>> wrote:
> >>> > Fritz calls to tell Doc Shasta landed 2
> days ago at
> >>> LAX
> >>> >
> >>> > Fritz Drybeam- Interesting name- Given
> the context,
> >>> one thinks of the noir
> >>> > film director Fritz Lang. Drybeam made me
> think of a
> >>> beam of light. Film
> >>> > noir is all about harsh angular lighting.
> FD is
> >>> using the Arpanet to look
> >>> > into hidden things but how useful his
> searches are is
> >>> not clear, and on 258
> >>> > he tells Doc that the FBI is watching
> back and asking
> >>> him why he is so
> >>> > interested in Shasta.
> >>> >
> >>> > The line that jumps for me on this page
> is "Glenn
> >>> Charlock is still dead,
> >>> > but hey, who cares about the criminal
> element ,
> >>> right?"
> >>> >
> >>> > He keeps complaining till Fritz says it's
> Doc's
> >>> problem now. Fritz has
> >>> > been spending too much time with the
> Arpanet and needs
> >>> to get back to
> >>> > chasing down skips and deadbeats. There
> is a constant
> >>> tension between
> >>> > working to address real crimes of
> violence and serving
> >>> the quasi legal
> >>> > machinery and interests of the powers
> that be.
> >>> >
> >>> > Fritz doesn't want to look into Puck;
> seems to know
> >>> this is dangerous
> >>> > territory.
> >>> >
> >>> > Clearly, my reading in the chapter
> summary of of the
> >>> incident with the gold
> >>> > copper traces and Noguchi was wrong. I
> missed the joke
> >>> with 'calling in the
> >>> > lab' and Doc was referring to an historic
> incident
> >>> where Noguchi was
> >>> > suspended for a month. No p-listers seem
> to have
> >>> noticed or cared.
> >>> >
> >>> > The recurrent theme of Zombies shows up
> when Doc
> >>> watches a Zombie Movie but
> >>> > falls asleep before the part at the end
> that confuses
> >>> him. Zombies seem to
> >>> > be IV's Thanatoids, a rather darker take
> on the living
> >>> dead. Still we get
> >>> > the idea that Doc thinks about Zombies as
> karmically
> >>> real and doesn't want
> >>> > to be one. This movie is about 2
> brother's rivalry
> >>> over a woman , ending
> >>> > when one( manipulated buy a voodoo
> priest) stabs the
> >>> others wife and he and
> >>> > she end up dead, floating in the surf.
> Maybe P is
> >>> forecasting how Doc is
> >>> > manipulated by Bigfoot into a violent
> confrontation
> >>> with AP and PB.
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> 
> 
> 
>