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.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Journal of Horror Studies |
Volume | 14 |
Issue | 1 |
Pages (from-to) | 29-45 |
Number of pages | 17 |
ISSN | 1751-939X |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2023 |
Keywords
- Danish literature
- The Anthropocene
- West India
- global weirding
- horror
- pulp fiction