“Victorian Zombie” will emphasize the pleasures of critical inquiry into mid-to-late nineteenth-century texts that articulate human experience – particularly the macabre, monstrous encounter with the living dead. We will read novels, short stories, and poetry, and consider film and ballet about zombies in Victorian culture. This context is useful for situating larger questions about race, gender, and nationality, as we will emphasize the role of the zombie body in literature. Close reading practices, argumentation skills, exploratory discussion, and academic-level composition will aide students in their development as interesting writers, critical thinkers, and epicureans who glut themselves on the multifarious pleasures of literature. This course satisfies the writing requirement (W) at the University of Washington, as students will compose two 5-page academic essays.