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

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.

Poignant and Brilliant

I have recently read the book, but on seeing it on here I decided to give the audio version a go as well, if only because it was read by Tom Lawrence who has done a fantastic job narrating Fisher's other works. And, I have to say Lawrence does not disappoint. It is brilliantly read throughout and he really brings the text to life, you can almost feel that you're in the lecture room yourself.

On the book itself, this is the final lectures of the great Mark Fisher examining the role of the counter-culture and the failure of the left to capture it's spirit, ideas of accelerationism to lead us into a post-capitalist landscape, and of course, critiques of capitalist realism. It has all his usual thought-provoking insights, lucid analysis, good humour and extraordinary intellect.

Sadly, the course was never finished and all they have is the first five lectures. However, there is still more than enough to sink your teeth into. The final pages are very poignant, but at least we can still enjoy the works he left behind.