Episode 11: Art is a Haunting Spirit

Weird Studies

Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Society & Culture, Arts, Philosophy

4.8 • 688 Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2018

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Specter Vision Radio
0:03.3	Welcome to Weird Studies, an art and philosophy podcast with hosts Phil Ford and J.F. Martel.
0:21.8	For more episodes and to support the podcast, go to by M.R. James.
0:57.0	Published by Penguin Classics.
0:58.5	Is that what you have?
0:58.9	Sorry.
1:04.7	No, I have an old, very beat-up Penguin edition that belonged to my dad.
1:07.5	Like, the cover's all falling off.
1:08.4	Right.
1:14.3	It's like the fairly cheap, high acid paper is sort of beginning to turn to dust but I'm rather fond of this book I like to think that this book has like it makes a
1:20.0	difference that I read the mezzitin in this particular book rather than like getting it on
1:26.8	kindle or something because I'd like to think that this particular book rather than like getting it on Kindle or something because I'd like to
1:30.1	think that this particular book is haunted.
1:33.3	Yes.
1:33.7	And that if I read it, it will present me with the elliptical narration of a terrible event that
1:42.1	took place many decades ago.
1:44.3	Yes.
1:45.9	It has a Nora, your book, your copy.
1:48.7	It does have, you know, it actually really does, probably because it belonged to my dad.
1:52.6	And because I remember plucking it off the shelf when I was a kid, my parents kept most of their books in the basement,
1:58.5	which was where my sister and I played.
2:00.7	I would pick
	...

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