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Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures
(Futuros Próximos #15)
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This collection of writings by Mark Fisher, author of the acclaimed Capitalist Realism, argues that we are haunted by futures that failed to happen. Fisher searches for the traces of these lost futures in the work of David Peace, John Le Carré, Christopher Nolan, Joy Division, Burial and many others.
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Start your review of Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures
Despite the fact that I spend a lot of my free time reading, I'm not the sort of person who goes around saying books have 'changed my life'. I struggle to see how even the most brilliant and memorable books I've read have actually changed me. But Ghosts of My Life might truly deserve that epithet. It is essentially a collection of essays about music, TV, film and novels, but it feels like something much bigger and more significant is shifting beneath its skin. This book has introduced me to enti
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I can’t prove it, but I believe there’s a bit of a cult of personality surrounding thinker/critic/philosopher Mark Fisher. It’s easy to see why. His work The Weird and the Eerie, for example, is must-read material for readers of dark fiction and horror, as clear an explication of the distinction between the weird and the eerie in several media as you will ever read. I also strongly recommend watching his lecture on The Slow Cancellation of the Future, wherein Fisher elaborates on the book curren
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Having read Ghosts of My Life, I now know hauntology refers to the psychological state of being haunted by a future that, for one reason or another, never arrived in one of modernity's many vacant slots. It's a bit more complicated than that though, and if some Deleuzian theoretician cornered me in an alley and browbeat me to a definition, I'd be more inclined to run away than hold my ground and submit a response.
But it is the brevity of explanation, and economy of opinion, that allows the non- ...more
But it is the brevity of explanation, and economy of opinion, that allows the non- ...more
The slow cancellation of the future has been accompanied by a deflation of expectations.
You're killing me, Zero Books, just killing me. Years ago, when Hope and Change were in the air my wife asked me what sort of revolutionary are you? I responded, I'm a janitor -- which is likely a quote from a George Clooney film. Such is the sinew of my critical ontology.
I am now somewhat 0-3 for Zero Books as far as rolling my eyes, a curt "really" being emitted. This collection of recycled blog posts and r ...more
You're killing me, Zero Books, just killing me. Years ago, when Hope and Change were in the air my wife asked me what sort of revolutionary are you? I responded, I'm a janitor -- which is likely a quote from a George Clooney film. Such is the sinew of my critical ontology.
I am now somewhat 0-3 for Zero Books as far as rolling my eyes, a curt "really" being emitted. This collection of recycled blog posts and r ...more
Another work I wish I had discovered back when I was writing my thesis on melancholia and cultural production. Fisher's hauntology essays, the original text from Derrida, and selected Lacanian theory would really have filled out the early sections nicely. I used Kristeva but wasn't ready yet to absorb Lacan in pure form. Am I haunted by the thesis I promised myself but that never appeared? Possibly...
My natural inclinations lead me to be rather inclined to Fisher’s thoughts regarding hauntology. ...more
My natural inclinations lead me to be rather inclined to Fisher’s thoughts regarding hauntology. ...more
If we live in a philosophical era, it is Fisherian. I know that's a bold and perhaps even hyperbolic statement, but I firmly believe it to be true. Musically and cinematically, it's true, and the only reason it isn't true literarily is that the tastes of the "literary fiction"-buying public haven't caught up. We live in a world haunted by the promised futures that never came to be, and the cultural products of our time reflect this haunting. If you're so inclined, I wrote more extensively on thi
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A collection of blog posts and short essays from the past 10 years or so, loosely connected around the notion of "hauntology", which Fisher takes from Derrida's "Specters Of Marx" (although the word first appeared in Christine Brooke-Rose's "Amalgamemnon" in 1984). This contains some interesting views on, amongst other things: Joy Division, adaptations of Le Carre, the works of W.G.Sebald, the music of Goldie and Tricky, the films of Chris Petit and Patrick Keiller. "Hauntology" itself is thinly
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I bought this after enjoying ‘Capitalist Realism’ and having followed the author’s blog (k-punk) on and off for a number of years. This is actually a compilation of writings published there and for other magazines and websites, and I think some of it was familiar to me, but there was nothing here that I minded re-reading. The title, and the beautifully written introductory essay on ‘Sapphire and Steel’, had actually led me to believe that this would be a more personal and perhaps biographical bo
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the only cultural criticism book that made me cry...
A collection of essays on the "lost futures" of popular culture in the face of neoliberalism and capitalist realism. Not being a pop culture aficionado like Fisher, a lot of the music history went over my head. I learned more about the underground British experimental hip hop scene of the 1990s than I cared to know. It is a very personal work; the essays rely heavily on Fisher's own experiences of the pop culture phenomena he encountered, and so the connections he draws between pop culture and t
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There was really no way this was ever going to get anything less than a five-star rating. It's a culmination of just about everything that excites me: it's non-fiction that leans into biographic tendencies, it's philosophical writing that combines hauntology, post-marxism, and a certain melancholia and applies it to subjects dear to my heart (The Caretaker, post-punk, Hyperdub and the existential comedown after the rave has ended, and the slow-burning cancellation of the future we had collective
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I'd probably rate this higher if I cared as much about most of the pop culture he writes about. The introductory essay on hauntology is good, and might be a good diagnosis of our point in history. The Joy Division essay is profound, which makes me wish I could muster up as much interest in pieces on The Shining, Burial, Inception, Kanye West, etc. RIP Fisher, but I wish some of our most interesting thinkers weren't so obsessed with pop culture. Then again, it's the way of the world isn't it?
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Jan 08, 2021
Lena B
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Mark Fisher: *talks about music and films I've never listened to/watched and know nothing about*
me: haha so true, king!!! ...more
me: haha so true, king!!! ...more
A collection of essays and blog posts loosely based on Derrida's Spectres of Marx and the hauntological aspects of contemporary pop culture. A few interesting snippets stuck with me but I found myself unable to connect with a number of the references and so wasn't able to immerse myself as deeply in the surrounding and supporting material as I'd have liked.
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Don't be fooled, this is just a reprint. The ghosts of Mark Fisher's life are actually blogs, mostly from his old k-punk journal, which you can read for free online. Or print out at the library. The only thing to recommend Blogs of My Life as a physical book, besides the nice teal cover, is the introduction, written specifically for this volume. To be fair it's a very good introduction. In fact, I think it contained more insight and just plain good writing than the rest of the essays combined, a
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I bought this a while back, and sadly didn't get to it until Mark's death this year. I was an avid reader of his old blog (k-punk) for years, so the quality of the essays here don't surprise me at all, but as someone who hadn't had a chance to read his work in years at this point it was such a joy to hear his voice again. Politically, philosophically, aesthetically, I can't think of many (or maybe even any) modern writers who have been as big an influence on me as Mark is/was, and the work here
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Half of the materials didn't speak to me as I was not acquainted with the western popular cultural artifacts being reviewed. But still, great introductory essay on hauntology though, among a few others memorable essays/blogs.
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hm. on one hand, i think that this book has a valuable point in merging derrida's concept of hauntology with facets of contemporary music. this was something i found particularly valuable for what i am interested in studying (based on some of my academic research i spent with a professor.) on the other hand, many of the articles published in this collection are pretty insubstantial. something i'll probably come back to.
the introduction to this, however, was pretty good. the underlying concept th ...more
the introduction to this, however, was pretty good. the underlying concept th ...more
A powerful book and worth the time to read it. But it does feature essays that are too self standing for my liking. However there are resonant sentences about time, space and nostalgia to render the book of value.
If you are interested in time and nostalgia, there are resonate sentences of value. Enjoy them.
If you are interested in time and nostalgia, there are resonate sentences of value. Enjoy them.
This would be a better book if I knew all the media it talks about
There was a sense that the ghosts of this boy's life were of the raving variety, and them ghosts what dance are the least interesting of them all, least in my experience. He interviewed the DJs what came from the underground of London. They were an obscure bunch. I didn't know if I'd like em so I didn't listen. I closed my eyes and my ears to this here book and that has kept the ghosts from getting at me too. You see, Fisher is a hauntologist he is always believing that haunting people is the be
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Mark Fisher’s collection of essays, interviews, and reviews in this book amounts to what is an extended rumination on the cultural effects of late capitalism. Exploring artists varying from Joy Division and Christopher Nolan, Burial and William Basinski, he furthers Hauntology in a truly meaningful way. I see this book as being a great extension of Capitalist realism, as much of the ideas formalised in that book are seen here and expanded upon in places with particular detail. His writing style
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K-punk certainly knows his music. Although some of the album recommendations were pretty hard to listen to, it was overally an enjoyable experience. I especially enjoyed reading his essay on Nolan’s inception (thank God I can finally justify my 1.5/5 star inception rating on letterboxd) and the process of commodification of the unconscious.
dnf on page 98. Fisher was an astounding writer, but I'm just not enjoying this.
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'Hauntology' hangs over this book like a spectre. The concept remains elusive, emerging as a trace spanning the music of Burial, The Caretaker, and Darkstar. Fisher thereby sets in motion the concept of 'Hauntology' through the aesthetic qualities of the writing itself. Nonetheless, at times the trace can be 'too' elusive, forever out of reach, as if it isn't even there.
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It's clear to me that now the period from roughly 2003 to the present will be recognised - not in the far distant future, but very soon - as the worst period for (popular) culture since the 1950s.
A collection of essays and interviews, mostly from k punk and Wired with a focus on UK electronic music. The red thread through all of this is the concept of hauntology, when you're haunted by a possible future, one that the past had promised. You thought progress would keep on going and you'd live to 1 ...more
I found the first 100 pages of GHOSTS OF MY FUTURE fascinating, taking the final scenes of the early-1980s TV show SAPPHIRE AND STEEL as a starting reference and moving on to contend that the last forty years have seen a “slow cancellation of the future”. Expectations and fantasies about what the coming years might bring faded away or have proven impossible, leaving us haunted by spectres of things that never came to pass. The term itself, ‘Hauntology’, is a French pun, a corruption of ‘ontology
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A quick and vaguely interesting read. If large parts of it went over my head, it was mainly due to me not having the same taste in music as Fisher, or not having read the same books.
The theme of “hauntology” is pretty underdeveloped, it’s mainly just a spring board from which Fisher can launch his essays on popular culture. That was the main disappointment for me - it wasn’t the book I was expecting it to be.
There were times when I did feel Fisher just needed to lighten up and allow himself to ...more
The theme of “hauntology” is pretty underdeveloped, it’s mainly just a spring board from which Fisher can launch his essays on popular culture. That was the main disappointment for me - it wasn’t the book I was expecting it to be.
There were times when I did feel Fisher just needed to lighten up and allow himself to ...more
The intro essay is a banger. The rest of the book illuminates its thesis in parts, brings out its contradictions in others.
Better review soon.
Better review soon.
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Mark Fisher (1968 – 2017) was a co-founder of Zero Books and Repeater Books. His blog, k-punk, defined critical writing for a generation. He wrote three books, Capitalist Realism, Ghosts of My Life and The Weird and the Eerie, and was a Visiting Fellow in the Visual Cultures department at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database wit ...more
Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database wit ...more
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“The slow cancellation of the future has been accompanied by a deflation of expectations. There can be few who believe that in the coming year a record as great as, say, the Stooges’ Funhouse or Sly Stone’s There’s A Riot Goin’ On will be released. Still less do we expect the kind of ruptures brought about by The Beatles or disco. The feeling of belatedness, of living after the gold rush, is as omnipresent as it is disavowed. Compare the fallow terrain of the current moment with the fecundity of previous periods and you will quickly be accused of ‘nostalgia’. But the reliance of current artists on styles that were established long ago suggests that the current moment is in the grip of a formal nostalgia, of which more shortly.
It is not that nothing happened in the period when the slow cancellation of the future set in. On the contrary, those thirty years has been a time of massive, traumatic change. In the UK, the election of Margaret Thatcher had brought to an end the uneasy compromises of the so-called postwar social consensus. Thatcher’s neoliberal programme in politics was reinforced by a transnational restructuring of the capitalist economy. The shift into so-called Post-Fordism – with globalization, ubiquitous computerization and the casualisation of labour – resulted in a complete transformation in the way that work and leisure were organised. In the last ten to fifteen years, meanwhile, the internet and mobile telecommunications technology have altered the texture of everyday experience beyond all recognition. Yet, perhaps because of all this, there’s an increasing sense that culture has lost the ability to grasp and articulate the present. Or it could be that, in one very important sense, there is no present to grasp and articulate anymore.”
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It is not that nothing happened in the period when the slow cancellation of the future set in. On the contrary, those thirty years has been a time of massive, traumatic change. In the UK, the election of Margaret Thatcher had brought to an end the uneasy compromises of the so-called postwar social consensus. Thatcher’s neoliberal programme in politics was reinforced by a transnational restructuring of the capitalist economy. The shift into so-called Post-Fordism – with globalization, ubiquitous computerization and the casualisation of labour – resulted in a complete transformation in the way that work and leisure were organised. In the last ten to fifteen years, meanwhile, the internet and mobile telecommunications technology have altered the texture of everyday experience beyond all recognition. Yet, perhaps because of all this, there’s an increasing sense that culture has lost the ability to grasp and articulate the present. Or it could be that, in one very important sense, there is no present to grasp and articulate anymore.”
“The depressive experiences himself as walled off from the lifeworld, so that his own frozen inner life – or inner death – overwhelms everything; at the same time, he experiences himself as evacuated, totally denuded, a shell: there is nothing except the inside, but the inside is empty. For the depressive, the habits of the former lifeworld now seem to be, precisely, a mode of playacting, a series of pantomime gestures (‘a circus complete with all fools’), which they are both no longer capable of performing and which they no longer wish to perform – there’s no point, everything is a sham.”
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