Ghosts of My Life

Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures

By: Mark Fisher

Narrated by: Tom Lawrence

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.

©2015 Mark Fisher (P)2020 Repeater Books

An anthology of varying interest

Ghosts of My Life is a collection of essays, blog posts, reviews and other collected works by Mark Fisher. The opening essay on hauntology, Derrida, and an array of pop cultural hauntological expressions, is superb. It also happens to be the longest and most detailed section of the book, with fascinating discussion of the band Japan, and an unlikely connection between their song Ghost of My Life, and its spectral presence in early Jungle tracks. While there are many fascinating observations and wry asides in subsequent chapters in this book, they’re of varying interest. The final two chapters, on the films Inception and Robinson in Ruins, are also worth the price of entry, but overall the book is of varying levels of interest. The narration is incredibly well done, even if Tom Lawrence seems to confuse Sly and The Family Stone, with Sylvester Stallone. The only thing missing in the audio book is a playlist of all the music Fisher discusses!