Postcapitalist Desire

The Final Lectures

By: Mark Fisher

Narrated by: Tom Lawrence

Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Edited with an introduction by Matt Colquhoun, this collection of lecture notes and transcriptions reveals acclaimed writer and blogger Mark Fisher in his element - the classroom - outlining a project that Fisher's death left so bittersweetly unfinished.

Beginning with that most fundamental of questions - ''Do we really want what we say we want?'' - Fisher explores the relationship between desire and capitalism, and wonders what new forms of desire we might still excavate from the past, present, and future. From the emergence and failure of the counterculture in the 1970s to the continued development of his left-accelerationist line of thinking, this volume charts a tragically interrupted course for thinking about the raising of a new kind of consciousness, and the cultural and political implications of doing so.

For Fisher, this process of consciousness raising was always, fundamentally, psychedelic - just not in the way that we might think....

©2021 Mark Fisher (P)2021 Repeater Books

Much more interesting than I expected

The introductory essay is really fantastic, and all of the texts under discussion in the lectures are intensely thought-provoking. Like any good class, this is like a gateway drug to other, denser texts, both giving you a taste of them and initiating you into potential approaches toward them. The issues at stake in these conversations are exactly what should be discussed on the left in our present moment. I know I’m not alone wishing there was more - but am thankful for what we have.

Amazing ideas from a man who was too brilliant

After reading many of Mark Fischer’s work I’m thankful that he was able to exist in this world and write beautifully for as long as he did. The only thing keeping me alive is the fact I am a much simpler man with a small tamagotchi where my cerebral cortex should be. Honestly I’m mad he killed himself, I have no right to be, but I’m still upset. I wanted to read what old man Mark Fisher would have written and the insight he would have today. I’m sure all people doing the good work of critique will carry on, but it’s small consolation considering the solutions and insight Mark displays in this book. It is well worth a listen 10/10 - also capitalist realism should be read first if you haven’t.

This lecture series made me start reading Lyotard

I will never forgive it for that. How can I be using phrases like "I will never forgive" in such a positive review? Jesus Christ, if you'd read Libidinal Economy, you'd regret it too. But, like me, you'd be glad you regret it. Anger and regret are part of the text.

Just like hope and earnest desire to connect with it are part of the text of becoming part of this lecture series through these recordings. To listen to this is to become part of the future, and see yourself and others that way.