Popular ghosts : the haunted spaces of everyday culture

Haunting has long been a compelling element in popular culture, and has become an influential category in academic engagements with politics, economics, and aesthetics. While recent scholarship has used psychoanalysis and the Gothic as frameworks with which to study haunting, this volume seeks to situate ghosts in the cultural imagination. The chapters in __Popular Ghosts__ are united by the impulse to theorize the cultural work that ghosts do within the trans-historical contexts that comprise our understanding of everyday life. These authors study the theoretical and aesthetic genealogies of the spectral, while also commenting on the multiple everyday spaces that this category occupies. Rather than looking to a single tradition or medium, the essays in __Popular__ __Ghosts__ explore film, novels, photography, television, music, social practices, and political structures from different cultures to reopen the questions that surround our haunted sense of the everyday. MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Contents 6 Introduction 10 Part One: Genealogies of the Ghost 26 1 Ghosts: Of Ourselves or, Drifting with Hardy, Heidegger, James, and Woolf 28 2 Beckett’s Ghost Light 44 3 Uncanny Marxism: Or, Do Androids Dream of Electric Lenin? 60 4 Where Are the Dead? A Genealogy of Mediumship in Victoria Glendinning’s Electricity 75 5 The Skeptical Ghost: Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others and the Return of the Dead 89 Part Two: Spectral Politics of the Contemporary 102 6 National Hauntings: Specters of Socialism in Shree 420 and Deewar 104 7 Shadow of the Colossus: The Spectral Lives of 9/11 119 8 Everyday Ghosts and the Ghostly Everyday in Amos Tutuola, Ben Okri, and Achille Mbembe 131 9 The Gentle Irruption of the Hereafter in This Life: Jean Echenoz’s Au piano and Robin Campillo’s Les revenants 143 10 Specters of the U.S. Prison Regime: Haunting Tourism and the Penal Gaze 158 Part Three: Chasing Ghosts In(to) the Twenty-first Century 172 11 The Liveness of Ghosts: Haunting and Reality TV 174 12 Ghost Hunters: Simulated Participation in Televisual Hauntings 187 13 The Haunted Lecture Theater: Ghosts in the Academy in the BBC’s Sea of Souls 200 Part Four: Other Ghostly Spheres 210 14 Genius Loci: Memory, Media, and the Neo-Gothic in Georg Klein and Elfriede Jelinek 212 15 Haunted Habitability: Wilderness and American Haunted House Narratives 225 16 Gothic Affects: Digitally Haunted Houses and the Production of Affect-Value 238 17 Ghosts in the Machine: The Body in Digital Animation 250 18 The Ghost Worlds of Modern Adolescence 264 Part Five: Ambient Ghosts: Spectral Images, Sounds, and Bodies 276 19 The Haunting of the Everyday in the Thoughtographs of Ted Serios 278 20 “Following the Ghost”: The Psychogeography of Alternative Country 293 21 Haunted by a Melody: Ghosts, Transgression, and Music in Twin Peaks 307 22 Occultic Inscriptions: The Modern Ghost-Tattoo in Japan, from Kyôsai to Horiyoshi III 321 Select Bibliography 336 Contributors 346 Index 350 A 350 B 350 C 351 D 351 E 351 F 352 G 352 H 352 I 352 J 352 K 353 L 353 M 353 N 354 O 354 P 354 Q 354 R 354 S 355 T 355 U 355 V 355 W 356 Y 356 Z 356 Introduction -- Genealogies Of The Ghost -- Ghosts: Of Ourselves Or, Drifting With Hardy, Heidegger, James And Woolf -- Beckett's Ghost Light -- Uncanny Marxism: Or, Do Androids Dream Of Eclectric Lenin? -- Where Are The Dead? A Genealogy Of Mediumship In Victoria Glendinning's 'electricity' -- The Skeptical Ghost: Alejandro Amenábar's 'the Others ' And The Return Of The Dead -- Spectral Politics Of The Contemporary -- National Hauntings: Specters Of Socialism In 'shree 420' And 'deewar' -- Shadow Of The Colossus: The Spectral Lives Of 9/11 -- Everyday Ghosts And The Ghostly Everyday In Amos Tutuola, Ben Okri And Achille Mbembe -- The Gentle Irruption Of The Hereafter In This Life: Jean Echenoz's 'au Piano' And Robin Campillo's 'les Revenants' -- Specters Of Hte U.s. Prison Regime: Haunting Tourism And The Penal Gaze -- Chasing Ghosts In(to) The Twenty-first Century -- The Liveness Of Ghosts: Haunting And Reality Tv -- 'ghost Hunters': Simulated Participation In Televisual Hauntings -- The Haunted Lecture Theater: Ghosts In The Academy In The Bbc's 'sea Of Souls' -- Other Ghostly Spheres -- 'genius Loci': Memory, Media And The Neo-gothic In Georg Klein And Elfiried Jelinek -- Haunted Habitability: Wilderness And American Haunted House Narratives -- Gothic Affects: Digitally Haunted Houses And The Production Of Affect-value -- Ghosts In The Machine: The Body In Digital Animation -- The Ghost Worlds Of Modern Adolescence -- Ambient Ghosts: Spectral Images, Sounds And Bodies -- The Haunting Of The Everyday In The Thoughtographs Of Ted Serios -- 'following The Ghost': The Psychogeography Of Alternative Country -- Haunted By Melody: Ghosts, Transgression, And Music In 'twin Peaks' -- Occultic Inscriptions: The Modern Ghost-tattoo In Japan, From Kyôsai To Horiyohi Iii. Edited By María Del Pilar Blanco And Esther Peeren. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 311-319) And Index. "Haunting has long been a compelling element in popular culture, and has become an influential category in academic engagements with politics, economics, and aesthetics. While recent scholarship has used psychoanalysis and the Gothic as frameworks with which to study haunting, this volume seeks to situate ghosts in the cultural imagination. The chapters in Popular Ghosts are united by the impulse to theorize the cultural work that ghosts do within the trans-historical contexts that comprise our understanding of everyday life. These authors study the theoretical and aesthetic genealogies of the spectral, while also commenting on the multiple everyday spaces that this category occupies. Rather than looking to a single tradition or medium, the essays in Popular Ghosts explore film, novels, photography, television, music, social practices, and political structures from different cultures to reopen the questions that surround our haunted sense of the everyday."--Bloomsbury Publishing. Located in the ambivalent realm between life and death, ghosts have always inspired cultural fascination as well as theoretical consideration. This collection uses multiple theoretical perspectives, some of which has not been applied to the ghost before