I posted recently on Facebook referencing AMC's The Walking Dead.
The post arose from reading reviews of the latest episode and the palpable relief on the part of reviewers and fans alike that finally the peaceable kingdom of the farm has been shattered by the firing squad slaughter of a barnload of zombies.
And I have to admit to a sense of relief myself.
Large segments of second season episodes have steered away from violent confrontation with zombies toward a more nuanced treatment of character. Which has not been without interest, but with which rafts of fans became raveningly impatient for more than food for thought.
I have to admit, I blamed the writers. Looking back on scene after scene of anguished indecision, I was certain something better could have been done. Something could have made us happier to pause from the zombie hunt long enough for some meaty character development.
But I recanted. "Then again," I asked, "can anyone write in a Zombie Apocalypse world?
I read in high school. It wasn't assigned. I found it in the library. Had to put it down after a couple of chapters because I couldn't remember anybody. Russian names. They whizzed in one eye and out the other leaving behind no distinguishing characteristics.
A few weeks later I checked it out again. This time I assiduously sounded out each and every name as I came to it and this time, after a couple of chapters, they started sticking. This time I read the whole thing. And loved it. War - and - Peace. Both. That is, I didn't skim the Peace bits in search of the next War bit - or vice versa.
Leo Tolstoy could not have envisioned a world with zombies, but he had the next best thing. Napoleon. And a battlefield from which the dead did not arise.
But I don't know that even he could have done any better with The Walking Dead, knowing that an insatiable appetite for the smack of a hatchet in a zombie brain waited just outside the study door.
Still and all, I wished for more. War and Peace - and Zombies? Best be careful what I wish for.