Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2008 The Shambling James Robert Snodgrass Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES THE SHAMBLING By James Snodgrass A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2008 Copyright © 2008 James Snodgrass All Rights Reserved The members of the Committee approve the Dissertation of James Snodgrass defended on May 1st, 2008. _____________________ David Kirby Professor Directing Dissertation _____________________ John Marincola Outside Committee Member _____________________ Erin Belieu Committee Member _____________________ Elaine Treharne Committee Member Approved: ______________________________ Ralph Berry, Chair, English Department The Office of Graduate Studies has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... v This Zombie Movie............................................................................................................. 7 The Trouble with Zombies.................................................................................................. 8 Bicuspid .............................................................................................................................. 9 Anteater............................................................................................................................. 10 Zombie as Personal History.............................................................................................. 11 Canine ............................................................................................................................... 12 Admission ......................................................................................................................... 13 Second Abscess................................................................................................................. 15 Finger Food....................................................................................................................... 16 Lateral Incisor ................................................................................................................... 17 Zombie Oblique ................................................................................................................ 18 Lower Incisor.................................................................................................................... 19 Zombie Susquehanna........................................................................................................ 20 First Molar ........................................................................................................................ 21 The Occultist’s Witness .................................................................................................... 22 Second Abscess................................................................................................................. 24 The Shaved Survivalist ..................................................................................................... 25 Eruption............................................................................................................................. 26 Anasazi Zombie ................................................................................................................ 27 Temporal........................................................................................................................... 28 Cinematoxique .................................................................................................................. 29 Anteriors ........................................................................................................................... 30 Twitch Blasphemy ............................................................................................................ 31 Pulp ................................................................................................................................... 32 Third Molar....................................................................................................................... 34 On the Death of Ingmar Bergman..................................................................................... 35 Central Incisor................................................................................................................... 36 The Tubercular.................................................................................................................. 37 Posthuman......................................................................................................................... 38 The Zombie that Ate Paris ................................................................................................ 39 iii Dentures ............................................................................................................................ 40 Query................................................................................................................................. 41 Enamel .............................................................................................................................. 42 Unmessage ........................................................................................................................ 43 Canine ............................................................................................................................... 44 Doom Spine ...................................................................................................................... 45 Premolar............................................................................................................................ 46 Troll_Boner_69................................................................................................................. 47 Abscess ............................................................................................................................. 48 Ego Soup........................................................................................................................... 49 Root Canal ........................................................................................................................ 50 Union Meeting of the Dead............................................................................................... 51 Ruins ................................................................................................................................. 52 Zombie Commune ............................................................................................................ 53 Roach & Kiss .................................................................................................................... 54 Bicuspid ............................................................................................................................ 55 Section Six ........................................................................................................................ 56 Second Bicuspid................................................................................................................ 57 Cloud of Vitriol................................................................................................................. 58 Bone .................................................................................................................................. 59 Postzombie........................................................................................................................ 60 Second Premolar ............................................................................................................... 61 Posthumous....................................................................................................................... 62 Incisor ............................................................................................................................... 63 Schizophrenique................................................................................................................ 66 Wisdom............................................................................................................................. 67 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ............................................................................................ 68 iv ABSTRACT The Shambling is a collection of poems that centers around the American cinematic image of the zombie, a creature brought back from the dead and bent on consuming the flesh of the living. Unlike the ghost who returns from the dead in order to right some wrong, the zombie returns from the dead without a reason and can not be stopped. Unlike the ghost, the zombie is corporeal and its threat is not to the individual or to a closed group, but to all of civilization. The zombie haunts me because it is without origin and it seeks no conclusion. Thus zombie as an image and a mythology is open for exploration. Because the zombie is a dark image, I use it as a mode of psychological reaction, a reaction against literary expectation, as a reaction against poetic propriety and as an idea of