Hauntology’s appeal arises from a sensed cultural death

Evidence

If there is a current coalescence of fascination around hauntology, there is also a mounting anxiety about the death, dearth, end of pop. A few examples: this atrocious piece on the “death of black music” (significant only for the statistics it cites), Simon’s 05 round-up for Frieze, and a number of recent threads on Dissensus. The suspicion is inescapable: part of the reason why hauntology should appeal to us so much now is that, unconsciously, and increasingly consciously, we suspect that something has died. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1082

Categorization

• XREF: Lays out the hauntology theme that rhizomatically ties to the rest of Fisher’s collected work (Ghosts of My Life, ‘the slow cancellation of the future’). — connects to: Photography’s capture of lost moments has an inherently hauntological dimension — Mark Fisher, Ghosts of My Life: Writings on…, 349; Cultures do not die but become undead, persisting as mere lifestyle options — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 1084; A public figure’s death can crystallize the collapse of an entire cultural era.