Ghost of an Idea - William Burns

 

, Folk Horror and the spectre of nostalgia - that's the subtitle of this fascinating book by the culture commentator William Burns.   He rightly sees contemporary culture as dominated by considerations of the past - rightly so, given that the western world is currently threatened by an autocratic Nazi revival.   Hauntology is a difficult concept which is still evolving; it's all about the effect of a given locale through time.   Folk Horror is a phenomenon which regularly recurs through modern culture.   Both Burns and I are old enough to remember the revival of the occult in the last quarter of the last century, but there was a similar spate of interest in twenties, around the end of the 19th century, and before that the craft revival and the weird Pre-Raphaelite interest in medievalism.   Nostalgia Burns identifies as the negative force in all this.   Bringing back the best of the past is one thing as is recognising the effect the past has on our shared mindset.   Nostalgia, however, is the belief that the past was somehow better, which it never was.   In commercial terms - and Burns is discussing culture here - the negative is embodied in mindless remakes of classics which could otherwise be restored and enjoyed in their original form, and draining the last drop of value in franchises (see Disney and George Lucas).

I didn't always agree with Burns but his arguments never ceased to interest me.   I enjoyed many of the interviews with which he illustrates his main text, especially the ones about musicians who operate outside the mainstream.   Thanks to these, I have now signed up to and am actively exploring Bandcamp.   Ghost of an Idea is an essential text for those of us who have an interest in any or all the spheres it discusses.   I am on the lookout for Burns's earlier work, The Thrill of Replusion:Excursions into Horror Culture (2016).