Zombies go wild in Jane Austen's world

By William Weir • THE HARTFORD COURANT • May 11, 2009


It is true that zombies are not everyone's cup of tea; it is equally true that not everyone cares for Jane Austen. But it is a rare soul who cares neither for zombies nor Jane Austen.

This is the genius of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a surprise best-seller that has hovered near the top of Amazon's sales list this month.

Author Seth Grahame-Smith has struck gold by placing the menace of zombies in Austen's idyllic English countryside, where matters of courtship were previously the most pressing concerns. Supposedly, the book retains 85 percent of Jane Austen's original text; the remaining 15 percent is a zombie story woven throughout. The literary mash-up turns Elizabeth Bennet from feisty heroine to feisty heroine and adept zombie slayer:

"He lumbered toward Elizabeth at an impressive pace, and when he was but an arm's length from her, she plunged the dagger into his chest and pulled it skyward."

It's hard to explain the appeal of zombies to anyone who doesn't already share it; similarly, non-Austenites will never understand the hold that cravats and antiquated social mores have had on so many readers.

Finding common ground
On the surface of it, fusing Elizabeth, the arrogant Mr. Darcy and their horribly well-mannered ilk with drooling, limb-shedding zombies seems as stark a contrast as you could ask for. But Jane Austen books and zombies share at least one thing in common: an improbably long stay in pop culture and a strong connection to their respective fans.

By the Internet Movie Database's count, there have been some 45 Austen-related movies and television productions since 1938. The book-to-screen rush really took off in 1995 with adaptations of Emma, Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility. Then there are the countless novels that play off Austen's works, her life and even the lives of Austen fanatics. And PPZ (as the book's fans call it) will hardly be the end of it. In the works are two movies — one is Pride and Predator, essentially a similar reworking of the book but with aliens; the other is Jane Bites Back, in which the author herself is a vampire.