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moominlove's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked these essays! I will have to re-read after I watch/read/listen to the stuff he referenced but it was still great. I really appreciated the essays about the eerie as it's kind of a non-tangible thing and kind of hard to explain but I think Fisher did a good job breaking it down and helping me understand where that eerie feeling comes from. I love weirdo shit.
buckshotlaureate's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
err_emma's review against another edition
4.25
Kind of unraveling in parts but the work of a genius.
catmilkremedies's review against another edition
4.0
Fisher explores so much in such a short time—adding a new perspective on horror which I appreciated. The fact he points out Lovecraft is not /scary/ per se, but Weird, rly elucidates something i had been ignoring a while. NOICE
emannuelk's review against another edition
4.0
Leitura acadêmica. E uma das melhores que fiz nos últimos tempos. Fisher é bastante compacto, se utilizando de uma série de ensaios para criar uma tipificação consistente das representações do weird e do eerie através de diversas media. É particularmente interessante sua forma de incluir música em um âmbito de análise que geralmente não a inclui. Afinal, se filmes e séries podem ser vistos sob os parâmetros da teoria literária, por que não também a música? Mais do que isso, no entanto, é perceptível o rigor técnico e o conhecimento enciclopédico do autor. Leitura essencial para quem se interessa por esses efeitos nas artes, sejam em seus modos mais fantásticos ou mesmo quando estão presentes em histórias realistas. A abordagem de Fisher também é bastante simples, podendo ser lida mesmo por quem não vem da área acadêmica ou não conhece as obras discutidas em cada um dos capítulos.
zshadow126's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
neilkavanagh's review against another edition
4.0
The Weird is more interesting than the Eerie, but all the essays are interesting reads - my copy is covered in post-it notes.
adorableautist's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Mark Fisher is difficult to pin down as a writer. He is best known as a political philosopher, or perhaps some appreciate him more for his ontological musings. But for me, Fisher is first and foremost a hipster blogger. To be clear, I don't mean to be dismissive of Fisher with that label, I only mean that he is consistently at his best when he is pontificating on the complex minutia of some niche piece of media.
Of his published works, 'Ghosts of My Life' is probably the strongest example of his impassioned, even panicked, musings on some cultural fixture only vaguely acknowledged outside of specific subcultures. It would be easy, then, to reduce 'The Weird and The Eerie' to a continuation of Fisher's meandering essay style from 'Ghosts of My Life' or his blog 'K-Punk'. In many ways that reduction might be accurate, but 'The Weird and The Eerie' is unique in its stylistic and philosophical marriage to Freud's essay on 'The Uncanny'. Where 'Ghosts of My Life' was self indulgent enough to thoroughly explore all the parameters of Fisher's fixations, 'The Weird and The Eerie' is altogether more restrained. It focuses resolutely on its titular subject matter, often at the expense of any other political or ontological analysis.
Where Fisher's 'Capitalist Realism' was about the political supplanting the psychological, and 'Ghosts of My Life' was about the ontological supplanting the political, then 'The Weird and The Eerie' returns its attention to the psychological with a singular focus that feels distinctly out of character. Unfortunately, this is to its detriment. While the book isn't without insights, many of the essays feel dispassionate, a truly fatal blow for an author who's greatest strength is his almost disproportionate passion for what he writes about. His definitions of the titular 'weird' and 'eerie' are compelling and will likely stick with me, but this is likely the one Fisher book I will never return to.
Of his published works, 'Ghosts of My Life' is probably the strongest example of his impassioned, even panicked, musings on some cultural fixture only vaguely acknowledged outside of specific subcultures. It would be easy, then, to reduce 'The Weird and The Eerie' to a continuation of Fisher's meandering essay style from 'Ghosts of My Life' or his blog 'K-Punk'. In many ways that reduction might be accurate, but 'The Weird and The Eerie' is unique in its stylistic and philosophical marriage to Freud's essay on 'The Uncanny'. Where 'Ghosts of My Life' was self indulgent enough to thoroughly explore all the parameters of Fisher's fixations, 'The Weird and The Eerie' is altogether more restrained. It focuses resolutely on its titular subject matter, often at the expense of any other political or ontological analysis.
Where Fisher's 'Capitalist Realism' was about the political supplanting the psychological, and 'Ghosts of My Life' was about the ontological supplanting the political, then 'The Weird and The Eerie' returns its attention to the psychological with a singular focus that feels distinctly out of character. Unfortunately, this is to its detriment. While the book isn't without insights, many of the essays feel dispassionate, a truly fatal blow for an author who's greatest strength is his almost disproportionate passion for what he writes about. His definitions of the titular 'weird' and 'eerie' are compelling and will likely stick with me, but this is likely the one Fisher book I will never return to.