zombie apocalypse – Invisible Mirrors

October 25, 2018February 6, 2020

Recent Podcasts and Review

I’ve recently had the good fortune to have been interviewed on two excellent podcasts. The first was with the blogger Meta-Nomad on his fringe philosophy and esotericist podcast Hermitix where I speak about Bataille, the Bwa Kayiman ceremony, zombies, Mark Fisher and Nick Land. The second was with Ryan Peverly for his Occulture podcast where we discuss Bataille’s philosophy of horror, the racial configuration of the zombie figure and speculate about their implications for zombie apocalypse narratives.

Daniel Miller has written an excellent and provocative review of Undead Uprising – Progress and The Voodoo Gods – at Social Matter.

December 5, 2011December 6, 2011

Financial Zombie Apocalypse

‘The frozen limbo-state of durable unsustainability is the new normal (which will last until it doesn’t). The pop cultural expression is zombie apocalypse, a shambling, undying state of endlessly prolonged decomposition.’ – Nick Land Suspended Animation (pt.3)

Here is a typically brilliant article on contemporary zombie economics by the inimitable Nick Land, the third of four on the theme of ‘durable unsustainability’ from his Urban Futures blog. Between 1987 and 2007 Nick Land journeyed further into the inhuman heart of cybercapitalist darkness than any being before or since. His terrifying and ruinously infectious philosophical writings from this period have recently been compiled by Urbanomic into a highly recommended collection entitled Fanged Noumena. A courageous and impressive editorial task indeed. Respect goes out to the editors Robin Mackay and Ray Brassier for this important and timely work.

And great to see Nick back at the sharp end of What is (Really) Going On again…

“Finally an authoritative book on that weird, complex figure of the zombie that delves deep into the dark heart of the matter rather than skating the surface. John Cussans is that rare writer who can bring to bear anthropology, cultural studies, colonial and post-colonial history, philosophy, politics, folk-lore and a love of pulp fiction and film to offer a compelling story about how a marginal superstition from the Caribbean became the defining monster of our times. Prepare for a wild ride that moves elegantly from Hegel and Haiti, via Mesmerism, James Bond, Georges Bataille and Surrealism to Papa Doc Duvalier and Doctor Terror’s House of Horrors, always steadily illuminating a path through a forest of delirious details. A truly marvellous journey.”

Roger Luckhurst, author of Zombies: A Cultural History

“Cussans rejects exceptionalist explanations of Vodou and the zombie to present a nuanced description of those phenomena within the international political, economic and cultural environment in which both the realities and the inventions are situated. This comprehensive work is a must read for anyone wishing to understand more about the destinies of African-based religions in the Americas, and especially concerning the uses and abuses of Haitian cultural phenomena by outside interests.”

LeGrace Benson, author of Arts and Religions of Haiti: How the Sun Illuminates Under Cover of Darkness and President of The Haitian Studies Association.

“No one alive, or – almost certainly – deceased, has thought about zombies more voraciously than John Cussans. While the outcome of this feasting is not pretty, what it has unearthed cannot be laid to rest again. Those who doubt the consistency, deep historical momentum, or global significance of the ‘zombie-complex’ will find all such reservations fundamentally challenged by this troubling book. Subsequent to this meticulous and wide-ranging process of exhumation, it is no longer plausible to deny that an inexterminable anticipation of undead uprising continues to define the horizon of our world.”

Nick Land, author of Thirst for Annihilation: Georges Bataille and Virulent Nihilism.