Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía Volume 6 Issue 1 The Transatlantic Undead: Zombies in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Article 8 Literatures and Cultures Undermining Authoritarianism: Retrofitting the ombieZ in "Seminário dos ratos" by Lygia Fagundes Telles James R. Krause Brigham Young University, Utah,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/alambique Part of the Portuguese Literature Commons Recommended Citation Krause, James R. (2018) "Undermining Authoritarianism: Retrofitting the Zombie in "Seminário dos ratos" by Lygia Fagundes Telles," Alambique. Revista académica de ciencia ficción y fantasía / Jornal acadêmico de ficção científica e fantasía: Vol. 6 : Iss. 1 , Article 8. https://www.doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/2167-6577.6.1.8 Available at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/alambique/vol6/iss1/8 Authors retain copyright of their material under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License. Krause: Undermining Authoritarianism “Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold…” William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming” “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.” Star Wars Episode IV “This is the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.” Mother Goose At present, the zombie phenomenon has invaded all facets of popular culture including—but certainly not limited to—film, television, videogames, literature, music, social media, fan culture, and even smartphone applications. Undoubtedly, the creativity and artistry of many of these cultural expressions will withstand the test of time while capricious imitators, seeking to capitalize on the “zombie renaissance”1 will continue to crank out hordes of zombie-themed schlock until such activities cease to be lucrative.