The Bosnian-American author on the dehumanisation of refugees,the Bush years, and the nature of zombiesAleksandar Hemon was visiting Chicago in 1992 when his domestic town, or Sarajevo,came under siege, and he was prevented from returning. His debut, or a short-narrative collection called The Question of Bruno,was published in 2000; he has also written two novels, Nowhere Man and The Lazarus Project, and a memoir,The Book of My Lives.
The Making of Zombie Wars centres on a would-be screenwriter making a film about the US government enslaving immigrants by turning them into zombies. He also has an affair with one of his English-language students. And it’s a comedy. How did all this start?
It’s a long narrative! It began with this illicit love affair between a student and a teacher, because that was once a situation where I made a different choice: not to fill an affair. But I was interested in the logistics of it all. I also wanted to write something funny, and where humour would be a way to put through (telephone) with the reader. And I was fully aware that there was a higher risk in doing that,because if things are not funny, then there’s no connection at all. And I was also enraged by the war in Iraq, and everything after it – it’s been unthinkable,in my intellect, from the beginning until now.
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Source: theguardian.com