52 pages • 1 hour read
T. KingfisherWhat Moves the Dead
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Literary Context: “The Fall of the House of Usher”
What Moves the Dead is based on “The Fall of the House of Usher,” a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and published in 1839. The short story is written from the perspective of an unnamed male narrator who is visiting his friend, Roderick Usher. As a work of Gothic fiction, much of the story is devoted to developing a dark, foreboding tone through detailed descriptions of the ominously cracked and rotting house of Usher. In Poe’s original work, the Usher family’s house is deteriorating and covered in fungus, and Roderick’s and Madeline’s health conditions are notably poor. After Madeline dies, Roderick’s mental health rapidly declines, and he comes to the narrator in the night to show him glowing lights coming from the tarn outside. Roderick also declares that he can hear Madeline. The door opens, and the narrator sees Madeline and flees. When he looks back, he sees that the roof of the house is on fire (Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Fall of the House of Usher.” 1839. Project Gutenberg).
What Moves the Dead mirrors the Gothic horror style of “The Fall of the House of Usher” while adding additional characters—Eugenia Potter, Denton, Angus, Mary, and Aaron—and introducing a range of modern elements and themes. The role of the fungus in Poe’s version is more implicit; the narrator never confirms that Madeline died from a fungal infection, but the state of the house and the glowing lake in “The Fall of the House of Usher” suggest that a dangerous fungus from the tarn may have caused Madeline’s death and reanimation and Roderick’s declining physical and mental health. Despite T. Kingfisher’s creative additions to the story, What Moves the Dead is considered to be an honest rendition of Poe’s story.
Genre Context: Science Fiction
What Moves the Dead is a multi-genre text that invokes the same elements of horror and Gothic literature exhibited in “The Fall of the House of Usher.” However, the novella also incorporates distinct elements of science fiction, which are primarily developed through the presence of Eugenia Potter. Although works of science fiction are often set in the future, What Moves the Dead nonetheless fits the specifications of the genre because it uses both realistic and exaggerated aspects of science to develop its plot and themes. Miss Potter is an unofficial mycologist who is the fictional aunt of Beatrix Potter, the real-world scientist, author, and illustrator who wrote The Tale of Peter Rabbit. While Eugenia Potter is not an official mycologist, she has a strong academic interest in fungi and is only barred from a career in mycology because of society’s arbitrary restrictions on women’s professional development. Miss Potter provides much of the scientific information found in the novel; her introduction in the text coincides with the introduction of mycology as a recurring motif, and she identifies stinking redgills, which are similar to naturally occurring mushrooms such as stinkhorns or stinking brittlegills. Miss Potter also provides information on hyphae, water-based fungi, fungal infections, and fungicides.
Another realistic science fiction element is the sentient fungus, which resembles the real-world cordyceps fungus. Cordyceps, or Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, is a parasitic fungus that infects insects like ants and takes over their nervous systems. The fungus forces its host to climb and then erupts from the insect and releases spores, which then infect a new host and continue the fungus’s lifecycle. While cordyceps is a real fungus, its hosts are limited to insects and other small creatures such as spiders (Heyward, Giulia. “The Zombie Fungus from ‘The Last Of Us’ is Real—but Not Nearly as Deadly.” NPR, 30 Jan. 2023). Ultimately, the science fiction elements, including Miss Potter’s contributions and the sentient fungus’s similarities to cordyceps, enhance the realism of the story, which in turn enhances the horror elements by imbuing the text with a sense of plausibility.
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