A critical analysis of the 21st-century fascination with the past, from horror films to haunted music. By William Burns
£9.99 – £23.00
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The future ain’t what it used to be.
Is nostalgia revitalizing or killing 21st-century culture? The concept of nostalgia has seeped into almost all aspects of modern-day media, none more so than horror culture and its borderlands of Hauntology, Folk Horror, and found footage film.
Ghost of an Idea: Hauntology, Folk Horror, and the Spectre of Nostalgia examines the use and effect of nostalgia in the Horror and Hauntological realms. It asks why these genres hold such a fascination in popular culture, often inspiring devoted fanbases. From Candyman to The Blair Witch Project, and Dark Shadows to American Horror Story, are the folk horror and found footage phenomena significant artistic responses to political, social, and economic conditions, or simply an aesthetic rebranding of what has come before? How has nostalgia become linked to other concepts (psychogeography, residual haunting) to influence Hauntological music such as Boards of Canada or The Caretaker? What can the ‘urban wyrd’ or faux horror footage tell us about our idealized past? And how will these cultures of nostalgia shape the future?
Combining the author’s analysis with first-hand accounts of fans and creators, Ghost of an Idea offers a critical analysis of our cultural quest to recognize, resurrect, and lay to rest the ghosts of past and present, also summoning up those spectres that may haunt the future.
Introduction: The Seductive Liar, or Are We What We Used to Be?
Chapter 1: Today is Tomorrow’s Yesterday: The Philosophy of Nostalgia
Chapter 2: The Yearning to Return: Folk Horror and Nostalgia
Chapter 3: The Illusionary Precipice: Found Footage and Nostalgia
Chapter 4: The Longing of the Permanently Lost: Franchise Nostalgia
Chapter 5: An Ethereal Composition of Disjointed Memories: Nostalgia as Catalyst for the New
Chapter 6: The Vice of the Aged: Do They Still Got It or Living Off Past Glories?
Chapter 7: The Enemy of Truth: Is Nostalgia Counter-Revolutionary?
Index
Title: GHOST OF AN IDEA
Subtitle: Hauntology, Folk Horror, and the Spectre of Nostalgia
Author: William Burns
ISBN: 978-1-915316-31-8
Street Date: March 6, 2025
Category: Pop Culture / Hauntology
Retail Price: UK £19.99 / US $27.95
Binding: Paperback
Size: 203mm x 127mm
Pages: 286
Illos: N/A
As the trade paperback, except this special NO-ISBN hardback is exclusive to this website. Because it carries No ISBN number, this edition of the book is off the grid in as much as it doesn’t appear on any database, in any library, cannot be ordered through mainstream bookshops or online retailers.
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