Zombification: Stories from National Public Radio [Paperback]

Andrei Codrescu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 1995

"The world is undergoing zombification. It was gradual for a while, a few zombies here and there, mostly in high office, where being a corpse in a suit was de rigueur . . . The worst part about zombies raging unchecked is the slow paralysis they induce in people who aren't quite zombies yet."

Never at a loss for a trenchant comment or off-beat imagery, National Public Radio's Andrei Codrescu has long been considered an eloquent if often sardonic expert on the absurdities of American culture. The essays in Zombification (all taken from this poet's popular commentaries for NPR) were broadcast during the late 1980s and early 1990s, a period that witnessed the collapse of Communism, radical changes in American politics and society, and the birth of new nations. These large subjects—along with lively riffs on dozens of topics, both timely and timeless, both everyday and strange—are treated with Codrescu's inimitable wit, insight, and candor.

Included here are "Seven Embryos for Seven Lawyers," "Dali in Vegas," "Culture Vultures and Casserole Widows," and other classics.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The clerk at my neighborhood store thinks I'm eccentric because I'd rather read yesterday's New York Times than today's Seattle Post Intelligencer. He'll say, "Today's Times hasn't come in yet; that's yesterday's." I tell him, "I prefer the writing in the Times." To which he replies, "But that's yesterday's news!"

Similarly, this collection of Codrescu's essays on NPR's All Things Considered between 1989 and 1993 may strike you at first as cute but now irrelevant two-page vignettes about current events no longer current. But Codrescu grew up in totalitarian Communist Bloc Romania, and his antennae are continually honing in on the subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which events are defined, filtered, massaged, and reported by the media -- and how in turn the media define, filter, and massage us into numbness: zombification. These are timeless essays about the eternal dysfunctional codependency of power and belief. Highly Recommended.

From Publishers Weekly

Codrescu ( Road Scholar ) is well-known as a freewheeling editorialist of the American radio airwaves, and as a kind of American consciousness: his alternative sensibility gets and loses its bearings cogently, searching for fresh perspectives. This stubborn and amusing miscellany collects the author's NPR commentaries from 1989 to 1993. The Romanian-born poet and commentator is briskly topical and, occasionally, puckishly silly; one supposes that Codrescu sometimes takes seriousness unseriously mainly in order to make the most of it. But on the other hand, he can go dizzy in earnest, rather like a musical improviser. The two tendencies let him consider paradoxes crisply and rhythmically. This can mean fantasizing about filling Chicago's Sears Tower with "the largest commune in the world" or complaining that autobiography "has become a form for the rich and famous, as if the rest of us have no lives at all." The limits of Codrescu's oral form do become apparent, as most entries here fill no more than a full page. So we want more description, analysis and shenanigans--but listen anyway.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 307 pages
• Publisher: Picador (February 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031211933X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312119331
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,927,259 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrei Codrescu (codrescu.com) was born in Sibiu, Transylvania, Romania. His first poetry book "License to Carry a Gun" won the Big Table Poetry award. He founded Exquisite Corpse: a Journal of Books & Ideas (corpse.org), taught literature and poetry at Johns Hopkins University, University of Baltimore, and Louisiana State University where he was MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English. He is a regular commentator on NPR's All Things Considered since 1983, has received a Peabody Award for writing and starring in the film "Road Scholar. In 1989 he returned to his native Romania to cover the fall of the Ceausescu regime for NPR and ABC News, and wrote "The Hole in the Flag: an Exile's Story of Return and Revolution." He is the author of books of poetry, novels, essays; the most recent are "The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara and Lenin Play Chess," (2009) "The Poetry Lesson" (2010) and "whatever gets you through the night: a story of sheherezade and the arabian entertainments" (2011), all published by Princeton University Press.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An observational gem. Thought provoking, honest, and funny., March 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Zombification: Stories from National Public Radio (Paperback)

Andrei Codrescu manages to say so much,yet keeps the book moving quickly. The anecdotes and observations, obviously personal to Codrescu, each hold some universal truth. His style is a strong complement to our ever shortening attention spans. Briskly paced, sharp and funny; once you begin reading, you will find the book difficult to put down.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Entertaining Look At Society's problems, June 20, 2000

By 

Richard Ballard "rjballard" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zombification: Stories from National Public Radio (Paperback)

Andrei Codrescu writes essays for National Public Radio. He emigrated to the United States from Communist Romania. His appreciation of European and American culture is evident in his writings.

Mr. Codrescu defines zombification as indifference to suffering caused by overexposure to the media. Our television sets are portals that harden our hearts and deaden our nerves to the plight of the poor, the persecuted, and the dying. We relate to other people as shadowy images rather than as real people. Andrei Codrescu's message is serious, but he discusses these issues in an entertaining manner.

Examples of Mr. Codrescu's essays include 'Escape from Politics' ("the Republican National Convention. It's the kingdom of the Overambitious."); 'Riots' (after witnessing the 1967 Detroit riots "Gangs have stepped into the vacuum left by suppression of radical politics."); 'Advice to the New Chief: Inauguration Day, 1993' ("Be sure to carry a tool kit with you at all times. In the next years everything is going to fall apart."); and 'Soviet Maps: Reality and Its Next of Kin' (Repressed people "have learned to navigate by their stomachs: that's one infallible compass.")

Andrei Codrescu's essays are well-crafted and entertaining. One rereads them for their societal insight. Mr. Codrescu observes much, says much, and leaves additional clues for the reader.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Insightful Look At Society, June 27, 2000

By 

Richard Ballard "rjballard" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Zombification: Stories from National Public Radio (Paperback)

Andrei Codrescu, a Romanian immigrant and English professor, writes essays for National Public Radio. His essays demonstrate his appreciation of European and American culture.

Mr. Codrescu defines zombification as indifference caused by overexposure to suffering. Our television sets are portals that harden our hearts and deaden our nerves to the plight of the poor, the persecuted, and the dying. We relate to other people as shadowy images rather than as real people. Andrei Codrescu's observations are serious, but he discusses them in an entertaining manner.

Examples of Mr. Codrescu's observations include: (after witnessing the 1967 Detroit riots) "Gangs have stepped into the vacuum left by suppression of radical politics."; (to the President) "Be sure to carry a tool kit with you at all times. In the next years everything is going to fall apart."; and (cynical people) "have learned to navigate by their stomachs: that's one infallible compass."

Professor Codrescu's essays are well-crafted, entertaining, and merit rereading for their societal insight.