Mark Fisher
Mark Fisher | |
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Website | k-punk |
Mark Fisher (11 July 1968 – 13 January 2017), also known under his blogging alias k-punk, was an English writer, music critic, political and
Fisher published several books, including the unexpected success
Early life and education
Fisher was born in
After teaching philosophy at a further education college,[8] Fisher began his blog on cultural theory, k-punk, in 2003.[9] Music critic Simon Reynolds described it as "a one-man magazine superior to most magazines in Britain"[1] and as the central hub of a "constellation of blogs" in which popular culture, music, film, politics, and critical theory were discussed in tandem by journalists, academics, and colleagues.[10] Vice magazine later described his writing on k-punk as "lucid and revelatory, taking literature, music and cinema we're familiar with and effortlessly disclosing its inner secrets".[11] Fisher used the blog as a more flexible, generative venue for writing, a respite from the frameworks and expectations of academic writing.[12] Fisher also co-founded the message board Dissensus with writer Matt Ingram.[1]
Career
Subsequently, Fisher was a visiting fellow and a lecturer on Aural and Visual Cultures at
Fisher was an early critic of
Capitalist realism
In the late 2000s, Fisher re-purposed the term "capitalist realism" to describe "the widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it".[20] He expanded on the concept in his 2009 book Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?,[21] arguing that the term best describes the ideological situation since the fall of the Soviet Union, in which the logics of capitalism have come to delineate the limits of political and social life, with significant effects on education, mental illness, pop culture, and methods of resistance. The result is a situation in which it is "easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism."[21] Fisher writes:
Capitalist realism as I understand it ... is more like a pervasive atmosphere, conditioning not only the production of culture but also the regulation of work and education, and acting as a kind of invisible barrier constraining thought and action.
As a philosophical concept, capitalist realism is influenced by the
Following the publication of Fisher's work, the term has been picked up by other literary critics.[25]
Hauntology
Fisher popularised the use of Jacques Derrida's concept of hauntology to describe a pervasive sense in which contemporary culture is haunted by the "lost futures" of modernity, which failed to occur or were cancelled by postmodernity and neoliberalism.[26] Fisher and others have drawn attention to the shift into post-Fordist economies in the late 1970s, which he argued has "gradually and systematically deprived artists of the resources necessary to produce the new".[27] In contrast to the nostalgia and ironic pastiche of postmodern culture, Fisher defined hauntological art as exploring these impasses and representing a "refusal to give up on the desire for the future" and a "pining for a future that never arrived".[28][29][page needed] Discussing the political relevance of the concept, Fisher wrote:[26]
At a time of political reaction and restoration, when cultural innovation has stalled and even gone backwards, when "power ... operates predictively as much as retrospectively" (Eshun 2003: 289), one function of hauntology is to keep insisting that there are futures beyond postmodernity's terminal time. When the present has given up on the future, we must listen for the relics of the future in the unactivated potentials of the past.
Fisher and critic
The Weird and the Eerie
Fisher's posthumous book The Weird and the Eerie
Acid Communism
At the time of his death, Fisher was said to be planning a new book titled Acid Communism,
On Vanishing Land
Following Fisher's death, the Hyperdub record label started a sub label called Flatlines which published an audio-essay by Justin Barton and Fisher in July 2019. Fisher and Barton edited together music from various musicians which was made to accompany the text, and Barton, working in part with suggestions from Fisher, wrote the text for the audio-essay, which "evokes a walk along the Suffolk coastline in 2006, from Felixstowe container port ('a nerve ganglion of capitalism') to the Anglo-Saxon burial ground at Sutton Hoo". Both Barton and Fisher narrate the essay.[37] Adam Harper wrote about the elements of Hauntology in On Vanishing Land, as well as its relation to the environmentalist movement.[38] In a review for The Quietus, Johny Lamb referred to On Vanishing Land as a "shocking revelation of the proximity of dystopia."[39]
Critique of political economy
Fisher critiqued economics, claiming that it was a bourgeois "science" that moulds reality after its presuppositions, rather than critically examining reality. As he stated it himself:
From the start, "economy" was the object-cause of a bourgeois "science", which hyperstitionally bootstrapped itself into existence, and then bent and melted the matter of this and every other world to fit its presuppositions – the greatest theocratic achievement in a history that was never human, an immense conjuring trick which works all the better because it came shrouded in that damp grey English and Scottish empiricism which claimed to have seen off all gods.[40]
Personal life
In an article posted to the k-punk blog on 29 September 2004, Fisher wrote about having experienced sexual abuse in his early twenties.[41]
Death
Fisher died by suicide at his home on King Street, Felixstowe on 13 January 2017 at the age of 48, shortly before the publication of his latest book The Weird and the Eerie (2017). He had sought psychiatric treatment in the weeks leading up to his death, but his general practitioner had only been able to offer over-the-phone meetings to discuss a referral. Fisher's mental health had deteriorated since May 2016, leading to a suspected overdose in December 2016, when he was admitted to Ipswich Hospital.[42] He discussed his struggles with depression in articles[43] and in his book Ghosts of My Life. According to Simon Reynolds in The Guardian, Fisher argued that "the pandemic of mental anguish that afflicts our time cannot be properly understood, or healed, if viewed as a private problem suffered by damaged individuals."[44]
Legacy
Fisher has been posthumously acclaimed as a highly influential thinker and theorist.
Bibliography
- The Resistible Demise of Michael Jackson (editor). Winchester: Zero Books, 2009. ISBN 978-1-84694-348-5
- ISBN 978-1-84694-317-1
- Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures. Winchester: Zero Books, 2014. ISBN 978-1-78099-226-6
- Post-Punk Then and Now (editor, with ISBN 978-1-910924-26-6
- The Weird and the Eerie. London: Repeater Books, 2017. ISBN 978-1-910924-38-9
- Flatline Constructs: Gothic Materialism and Cybernetic Theory-Fiction (foreword by exmilitary). New York: Exmilitary Press, 2018. ISBN 978-0-692-06605-8
- k-punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher (2004–2016) (edited by Darren Ambrose, foreword by ISBN 978-1-912248-29-2
- Postcapitalist Desire: The Final Lectures (edited and with an introduction by Matt Colquhoun). London: Repeater Books, 2020. ISBN 978-1-913462-48-2
Notes
- ^ As an example, Fisher devoted about a third of the essay in defence of the controversial working class activist and comedian, Russell Brand, against "posh lefties". This was a decade before the Sunday Times newspaper and Channel 4 television in the UK published allegations of sexual misconduct by Brand, which he denied. The accusations were made six years after Fisher died.
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Mark Fisher's K-punk blogs were required reading for a generation Archived 20 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine" by Simon Reynolds, The Guardian, 18 January 2017
- ^ Niven, Alex (19 January 2017). "Mark Fisher, 1968-2017". Jacobin. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
- EThOS uk.bl.ethos.340547. Archived from the originalon 24 December 2010.
- ^ Fisher, Mark (1 June 2011). "Nick Land: Mind Games". Dazed. Archived from the original on 9 June 2018. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
- ^ a b "Mark Fisher 1968–2017". The Wire. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
- ^ Reynolds, Simon. "D-Generation". Melody Maker. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
- ^ "Whitemagic". Archived from the original on 17 August 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
- S2CID 142588084.
- ^ "Mark Fisher". Zer0 Books. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- ^ frieze Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b Koshy, Yohann (20 February 2017). "The Revolution Will Be Weird and Eerie". Vice. Archived from the original on 28 February 2018. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- Jacobin Magazine. Archivedfrom the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
- ^ "Fisher, Mark, Goldsmiths, University of London". gold.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 22 June 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
- ^ Fisher, Mark (22 November 2013). "Exiting the Vampire Castle". Archived from the original on 4 February 2018.
- ^ "Exiting the Vampire Castle". openDemocracy. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
- ^ Vansintjan, Aaron (29 October 2017). "Beyond Bloodsucking" Archived 23 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine. openDemocracy. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
- Feminist Current. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
- ^ Cowdrey, Katherine (16 January 2017). "British music writer Mark Fisher dies aged 48". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 21 January 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
- ^ Mankowski, Guy. "Post-Punk Then and Now: a review Archived 15 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine", 3:AM magazine, 22 December 2016.
- ^ Capitalist Realism, p. 2
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84694-317-1(pbk.); 1846943175 (pbk.).
- ISBN 978-1-84694-317-1.
- ^ Capitalist Realism, p. 8
- ^ Capitalist Realism, p. 15
- S2CID 142588084. and Alison Shonkwiler and Leigh Claire La Berge, ed. (2014). Reading Capitalist Realism. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press..
- ^ a b "Mark Fisher – The Metaphysics of Crackle: Afrofuturism and Hauntology". Archived from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
- ^ "The Metaphysics of Crackle: Afrofuturism and Hauntology". Archived from the original on 15 June 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
- ^ Simpon, J. (2015). William Basinski: Musician Snapshots. SBE Media.
- ISBN 978-1-78099-226-6
- ISBN 978-1-5013-2610-3.
- ^ "The Weird and the Eerie | Repeater Books | Repeater Books". Repeater Books. Archived from the original on 16 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- ^ Daniel, James Rushing (7 March 2017). "The Weird and the Eerie". Hong Kong Review of Books. Archived from the original on 29 March 2018. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
- S2CID 149095699.
- ^ Thacker, Eugene (27 June 2017). "Weird, Eerie, & Monstrous: Review of The Weird and the Eerie by Mark Fisher". boundary2. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
- ^ "Mark Fisher Anthology To Be Released". The Quietus. Archived from the original on 12 November 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
- ^ "k-punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher (2004–2016) | Repeater Books | Repeater Books". Repeater Books. Archived from the original on 16 July 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
- ^ "On Vanishing Land, by Mark Fisher & Justin Barton". Hyperdub. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ "Retracing Mark Fisher and Justin Barton's Eerie Pilgrimage | Frieze". Frieze. 23 July 2019. Archived from the original on 5 March 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- ^ Lamb, Johny (25 July 2019). "The Quietus | Features | The Lead Review | Into The Nerve Ganglion: Mark Fisher & Justin Barton On Vanishing Land". The Quietus. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
- OCLC 1023859141.
- ^ Fisher, Mark (29 September 2004). "Why I am so fucked up..." k-punk. Archived from the original on 23 July 2023. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
- ^ "Renowned writer and K-Punk blogger Mark Fisher from Felixstowe took own life after battle with depression Archived 20 July 2022 at the Wayback Machine", Ipswich Star, 18 July 2017
- ^ E.g. "Why mental health is a political issue Archived 17 January 2018 at the Wayback Machine" by Mark Fisher, The Guardian, 16 July 2012
- ^ Reynolds, Simon (18 January 2017). "Opinion: Mark Fisher's K-punk blogs were required reading for a generation". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 May 2017. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
- ^ Seaton, Lola (20 January 2021). "The ghosts of Mark Fisher". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
- ^ Arcand, Rob (14 December 2018). "The Marxist Pop-Culture Theorist Who Influenced a Generation". The Nation. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
- ^ Niven, Alex (13 January 2021). "Our Debt to Mark Fisher". Tribune. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
- ^ Doyle, Rob (30 March 2019). "Is Mark Fisher this century's most interesting British writer?". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 18 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
- ^ Reynolds, Simon (19 January 2017). "Mark Fisher's K-punk blogs were required reading for a generation". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 May 2017. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
- ^ Luckhurst, Roger (9 March 2019). "The Necessity of Being Judgmental: On "k-punk: The Collected and Unpublished Writings of Mark Fisher"". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on 15 January 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
- ^ Mankowski, Guy (11 January 2018). "Remembering a Time Before the Great Culture War". Zer0 Books Youtube Channel. Archived from the original on 19 March 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ Scovell, Adam (11 January 2018). "Remembering Mark Fisher With The Caretaker's "Take Care. It's A Desert Out There..."". The Quietus. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
- ^ "The Caretaker and Boomkat donate proceeds from Take Care, It's A Desert Out There in memory of Mark Fisher". The Wire. 25 July 2018. Archived from the original on 25 July 2018. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
External links
- "An Extract From Mark Fisher's Ghosts Of My Life". thequietus.com. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
- 2012 podcast discussion with Mark Fisher – discussing issues relative to the recession, insurrection, and Really Existing Capitalism
- K-Punk Blog Archive – Mark Fishers "K-Punk" Blog
- Mark Fisher Tribute Site & Video Archive
- Dissensus forum