Isak Dinesen’s weird voodoo novel

Peter Mortensen

doi:10.1386/host_00060_1

Isak Dinesen’s weird voodoo novel

Institut for Kommunikation og Kultur - Engelsk

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avis › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › peer review

Abstract

With its awkward generic shifts, odd repetitions, confusing spatial dislocations, unstable characters and inconclusive supernatural horrors, I here argue, bilin-gual Danish author Isak Dinesen’s The Angelic Avengers weirds our expe-rience of living in a familiar, predictable and rule-governed universe. In my analysis, I especially foreground Dinesen’s use of West Indian voodoo, which is a prominent weirding device largely overlooked by the novel’s relatively few critics. Dinesen, I argue, wrote her novel amidst a widespread international voodoo and zombie vogue, tapping into popular representations of Caribbean witchcraft in nonfiction, pulp fiction and film. In The Angelic Avengers, I argue, Dinesen appropriates voodoo themes and characters, to conjure the pres-ence of ominous agencies that trouble enlightened reason’s ability to explain and master the world.

Originalsprog	Engelsk
Tidsskrift	Journal of Horror Studies
Vol/bind	14
Nummer	1
Sider (fra-til)	29-45
Antal sider	17
ISSN	1751-939X
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1386/host_00060_1
Status	Udgivet - apr. 2023

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Isak Dinesen’s weird voodoo novel

Abstract

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