How? Update classics with plotlines about zombies, of course.
The new book by Seth Grahame-Smith, published by Chronicle Books, combines the original text by Jane Austen with new, expanded accounts of flesh-eating zombiism. Furthermore, it comes with “20 illustrations in the style of C. E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice)”.(Possible correction: it's actually Quirk Books, which I suppose is a Chronicle Books imprint.) The publisher's website describes the book as follows:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton-and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers-and [sic] even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead.*Austen's got her own loyal following, of course. Further, the copyright has long expired on Pride and Prejudice, and I suppose this is a form of fan fiction. I'd love for students to comment on this kind of book in terms of the issues we're discussing: building readership, maintaining literary quality, and so forth.
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*Note, by the way, how the publisher's description incorrectly uses a hyphen (-) instead of an em dash (—).
