LITR 4632: Literature of
the Future
Student Future-Visions Presentation 2009
Karina Ramos
Summer 2009
Literature of the Future
Dr. Craig White
Future Vision Presentation
World War Z
An Oral History of the Zombie War
By: Max Brooks
Objectives
1) Narratives of the Future
Apocalyptic – Evolutionary - Alternative
2) Visions of the Future
low tech; actual reality—rough, messy, hot, real, hungry for power.
3) Teaching, Learning, Testing
This book was specifically written to teach the survivors what to do if the outbreak ever happens again.
Questions
Why are people so afraid of zombies when they don’t appear to have any special powers?
Summary
The global pandemic that cause mass hysteria is believed to have originated in China although it did not become known truly to the world until its outbreak in Cape Town, South Africa where after became know as African Rabies. Some countries take action to quarantine the sick while others deal with the outbreak with small skirmishes with the “zombies”. This book is an account of how individual humans and their governments dealt with the war.
The Results of the War
The Zombie War killed an estimate of 1 billion people
Areas in the north, where the undead are frozen solid during the winter months must got through a yearly cleaning each year during the thaw each year
Some wildlife species became extinct
Governments collapsed while others became stronger
The World Post-War
US: Relocated its capital to Hawaii and established the area west of the Rocky Mt. as a safe zone
Mexico: Changed its name to Azteclan at some point during the war
Cuba: Democracy with the world's most thriving economy and international banking capital
The World Post-War
Tibet: Achieved independence and its capital, Lhasa, is the world's largest city.
China: Become a democracy but has been vastly depopulated.
North Korea; Completely empty, the entire population thought to have relocated underground
Pacific Continent :The oceanic society created by refugees
Questions
Should the zombies here be considered characters in the telling? Or are they just the problem?
With today's technology would a pandemic of this kind be possible in the near future?