Episode 11: Art is a Haunting Spirit

Episode 11: Art is a Haunting Spirit

Author: SpectreVision Radio April 25, 2018 Duration: 1:16:25
M. R. James' "The Mezzotint" is one of the most fascinating, and most chilling, examples of the classic ghost story. In this episode, Phil and JF discover what this tale of haunted images and buried secrets tells us about the reality of ideas, the singularity of events, the virtual power of the symbol, and the enduring magic of the art object in the age of mechanical reproduction. To accompany this episode, Phil recorded a full reading of the story. Listen to it here. REFERENCES M.R. James, "The Mezzotint" Robert Aickman, English author of "strange stories" Edgar Allan Poe, "The Oval Portrait" Walter Benjamin, "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" Marshall McLuhan, The Book of Probes Clement Greenberg, American art critic J.F. Martel, Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice Marcel Duchamps, Fountain Henri Bergson, Laughter John Cage, American composer David Lynch (director), Twin Peaks: The Return Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition Vilhelm Hammershøi, Danish painter Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle Martin Heidegger, What is Called Thinking? Stanley Kubrick, [The Shining](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shining(film))_ Ferruccio Busoni, Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music David Lynch on why you shouldn't watch films on your phone Nelson Goodman, American philosopher Pablo Picasso, Guernica Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master Martin Heidegger, Basic Writings Phil Ford, "No One Understands You" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the heart of Weird Studies, a podcast from SpectreVision Radio, you’ll find long-form conversations between Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel. Their discussions aren’t simple reviews or straightforward analyses; instead, they wander through the tangled undergrowth where art and philosophy meet, giving generous time to concepts that resist easy understanding and to creative works that fracture our ordinary sense of the world. This podcast deliberately lingers in that ambiguous space, treating the “weird” not as a genre but as a particular mode of experience-one that reveals the cracks in what we comfortably assume is real. Each episode feels like joining a deep, meandering dialogue between two friends who are both deeply knowledgeable and endlessly curious, covering a vast terrain that includes literature, film, music, and esoteric thought. It’s a show for anyone who suspects that the most profound truths are often found in the shadows, the anomalies, and the strangely beautiful. As part of the SpectreVision Radio network, which specializes in content that explores the uncanny edges of creativity, Weird Studies builds a unique community of listeners who are eager to think differently. You won’t find pat answers here, but you will encounter compelling questions and a shared sense of exploration that makes each installment a distinctive journey.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 230

Weird Studies
Podcast Episodes
Episode 210  – Angels & Daimons, with Cristina Campo and M.C. Richards [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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In this episode, JF and Phil bring together two visionary essays on the daimonic and the imaginal: Cristina Campo’s “On Fairy Tales” and M.C. Richards’s “Wrestling with the Daimonic.” What emerges is a conversation about…
Episode 209 – At Home in the Labyrinth, with Murakami and Borges [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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In this episode, Phil and JF discuss Haruki Murakami’s “Cream,” from First Person Singular, alongside Jorge Luis Borges’s classic tale, “The Garden of Forking Paths.” Together, these two stories occasion a meditation on…
Holiday Bonus: Scavengers in the Ruins of Heaven [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

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To tide us over as we prepare for a new season of Weird Studies, here is an "audio extra," originally recorded for our Patreon supporters, wherein we discuss imposter syndrome, the eternal inadequacy of the intellect, th…