Usages mémoriels et politiques de la figure du zombie dans Le ciel de Bay City de Catherine Mavrikakis et La nuit des Juifs‑vivants d’Igor Ostachowicz
Zombies in Catherine Mavrikakis’ Le ciel de Bay City and Igor Ostachowicz’s Night of the Living Jews: Political and Memorial Significance

Author(s): Jessy Neau
Subject(s): Cultural Essay
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: Zombies; Holocaust fiction; ruins; Warsaw; Americana; Polish literature; Quebec literature;
Summary/Abstract: This paper aims to shed light on the various uses made of the zombie to evoke contemporary memory of the Holocaust in two novels published in Quebec and Poland: Mavrikakis’ Le ciel de Bay City; (2008) and Igor Ostachowicz’ Night of the Living‑Jews; (2012). In these two works; zombies are linked with what Giorgio Agamben has called “bare life” of death camp prisoners and survivors; but they also establish a connection between both past and present catastrophes; as well as urban or suburban spaces in which they are deployed. The borrowing of a figure coming largely from pop culture composes an interesting scheme to represent the impossible mourning in contemporary imaginary.

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