Commentaire de texte en littérature britannique sur une nouvelle de Robert Block "The Living Dead"

Résumé du document

How is fear created in Bloch´s writing of “The Living Dead”? And to what extent does Bloch´s short story revisit the vampire theme in order to tell us about history and human nature?

Extraits

[...] First of all, we would like to underline Bloch's use of the lexical field of words that refer to the theatre. His protagonist, an actor masqueraded as a vampire, chooses to play the role of his lifetime rather than to live his proper life. Here are just a few references among numerous other examples one could cite: "it was time to play the game" (l.10), "play the supreme role" (l.17), "the actor's dream come true" (l.18-19), "the role was his and he'd played it well" (l.35), "the curtain must come down [ . [...]

[...] And as it was dark now - the moon had vanished behind a cloud" (l.115). In this respect, it is of interest to note Bloch's use of repetition of the words "dark" or "darkness" throughout his story. Amongst other instances, one can quote the following ones: "his hair was dark, but not as dark as his eyes" "in true darkness" (l.18), "his actual aversion [ . ] to darkness" (l.84), "the darkened truck" (l.92), "in the darkness of the crypt" (l.129). [...]

[...] For example, Karon refers to the Count Barsac character "as guardian angel. Rather, as guardian demon" (l.25). A story based on historical references: "The Living Dead" as a metaphor for Nazi plunders during WW2 The author provides important background information on the theme of WW2 and Nazi occupation. Most interesting of all is how he refers to works of art looted by the Nazi regime: cache of Air Marshal Goering's art treasures now rested safely and undisturbed within the crypt" (l.41-42). [...]

[...] Conclusion : Keeping the foundations of horror literature, Robert Bloch revisits the genre and the vampire theme. The writer takes us by surprise both in a humorous and scary manner by an unexpected reversal of the power balance, what is in hindsight not very surprising from a writer who many times remarked that he had "the heart of a little boy", quipping keep it in a jar on my desk" Apparently dealing with a traditional vampire story, Bloch leads us skilfully to two additional themes. [...]

[...] l.154), short sentences and frequent line breaks provide rhythm and tension to the tale. Eerie darkness and spooky descriptions of the best horror grip the reader Bloch's use of extra spooky descriptions creates insidiously a feeling of discomfort in the readers' minds, as is customary in horror writing. Playing with his readers' nerves, he delights in describing shadows, various dark sounds ("the rumbling echoes", l.2 ; "he'd screamed like a woman" ; scraping sound", l.140 ; "now there was only silence", l.141 ; mumbling [ . [...]