This text explores the recent transformation of zombie from cult genre to a figure that pervades western culture. Rutherford explores why this figure has gathered such momentum in the last decade and asks why the stock zombie scenarios of ghouls tearing bodies to pieces, of survivors bludgeoning their zombie loved ones, and of civilisation in ruins hold such fascination for contemporary audiences.

Since the controversy and acclaim that surrounded the publication of Disgrace (1999), the awarding of the Nobel Prize for literature and the publication of Elizabeth Costello: Eight Lessons (both in 2003), J. M. Coetzee's status has begun to steadily rise to the point where he has now outgrown the specialized domain of South African literature. Today he is recognized more simply as one of the most important writers in the English language from the late 20th and early 21st century. Coetzee's productivity and invention has not slowed with old age. The Childhood of Jesus,...