hauntological

English

Etymology

hauntology +‎ -ical

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hɔːntəˈlɒdʒɪkəl/

Adjective

hauntological (comparative more hauntological, superlative most hauntological)

1. (philosophy) Relating to hauntology.
   • 2014, Arthur Kroker, Exits to the Posthuman Future, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:

     With the appearance of hauntological history, everything long silenced, repressed, excluded, disavowed, negated by history, is blasted to the surface of events.

   • 2020 October 28, Ian Sansom, “The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean review – unleashing ghosts”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     We are living in what might be called a truly hauntological moment, a period of disjunction, of melancholy and precariousness, in which the recent past seems suddenly distant and we are obsessed with the idea of our lost future.

2. (music, art) Using digital effects that simulate the effects of aging; reminiscent and nostalgic of obsolete media.
   • 2011, Simon Reynolds, Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past, Faber & Faber, →ISBN, page 331:

     Boards of Canada also pioneered the hauntological approach to creating old-timey and elegiac atmospheres through the use of sound treatments suggestive of decay and wear-and-tear.

   • [2011 August 4, Carl Wilson, “‘My So-Called Adulthood’”, in The New York Times‎^[2], →ISSN:

     In that spirit, some young musicians now are creating music that has been described as “hypnagogic” or “hauntological.” The melodies and rhythms are reminiscent of catchy pop songs of previous decades, but recorded in a way that simulates the effects of age — fuzzy and staticky — as if worn out or heard at a great distance through a grimy haze.]

   • 2019, Tom Whyman, “Oh, They Have the Internet on Computers Now?”, in Alfie Bown, Dan Bristow, editors, Post Memes: Seizing the Memes of Production, punctum books, →ISBN, page 212:

     Vaporwave and its more developed form, Simpsonwave, are of course concerned with an entirely different set of tropes–but they are no less hauntological for it. Both are recognizably hauntological by virtue of the techniques they employ—VHS crackle, Windows start-up sounds, etc.