Weird Studies

In A Secular Age, the Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor tries to come to grips with the seismic development that transformed the world after the Renaissance, namely the secularization of the society and soul of Western humanity. What does it mean to live in an age where religion, once the very matrix of social existence, is relegated to the realm of private and personal choice? What defines secularity? Are modern people really as "irrelegious" as we make them out to be? In this episode, JF and Phil squarely train their sights on a question that continues to haunt them, with Taylor as their Virgil in what amounts to a descent into the ordinary inferno of modern unknowing. Header Image by Pahudson, via Wikimedia Commons REFERENCES Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp page Charles Taylor, A Secular Age Charles Taylor, The Malaise of Modernity Weird Studies, ep 71: The Medium is the Message Penn & Teller, Bullshit René Descartes, Meditations Theodore Roszak, The Making of a Counter-Culture Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica Jacques Ellul, The New Demons David Foster Wallace's essay on David Letterman Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene Eric Voegelin, The New Science of Politics Karl Jaspers, The Origin and Goal of History Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With his latest film, a meditation on what it means to believe we live in a computer simulation, Rodney Ascher has once again placed himself among the most innovative and visionary filmmakers working in the documentary form today. While the "Simulation Hypothesis" has been a hot topic ever since The Matrix came out in 1997, it is Ascher's ability to suspend judgement, training his camera on the experience of believers rather than the value of their beliefs, that makes A Glitch in the Matrix such a unique and significant exploration, a strange work of "phantom phenomenology." Weird Studies listeners will recall that Phil and JF devoted an episode to Ascher's films -- most notably Room 237 and The Nightmare -- back in the early days of the podcast. In this episode, Rodney Ascher joins them to discuss his cinematic vision, his take on the weird, and his thoughts on what is real and why it matters. REFERENCES [Rodney Ascher](www.rodneyascher.com), American filmmaker -- [A Glitch in the Matrix](www.aglitchinthematrixfilm.com) Jay Weidner's theories on Kubrick Buddhist idea of the the Arising and Passing Away [Dungeons & Dragons](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeons%26_Dragons), tabletop roleplaying game James Machin, _Weird Fiction in Britain 1880-1939 Magic Eye pictures Parmenides, Greek philosopher Wachowskis, The Matrix Alan Moore, "Superman: For the Man Who Has Everything" Conway's Game of Life Joshua Clover, The Matrix (BFI Film Classics) Jonathan Snipes, American composer Clipping, experimental hip hop band "Shining" romantic comedy recut Michael Curtiz (dir.), Casblanca John Boorman (dir.), [Point Blank](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062138/?ref=fn_al_tt_2)_ Louis Sass, Madness and Modernism: Insanity in the Light of Modern Art, Literature, and ThoughtSpecial Guest: Rodney Ascher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Phil and JF explore the vast palatial halls of Susanna Clarke's novel Piranesi. Set in an otherworld consisting of endless galleries filled with enigmatic statues, Piranesi is the story of a man who lives alone -- or nearly alone -- in a dream labyrinth. As usual, our discussion leads to unexpected places every bit as strange as Clarke's setting, from Borge's infinite library and Lovecraft's alien cities to Renaissance Europe, where the art of memory was synonymous with wisdom and magic. SHOW NOTES Susanna Clarke, Piranesi Joshua Clover, 1989: Dylan Didn't Have This to Sing About , The Matrix (BFI Modern Classics John Crowley, Little, Big Christopher Priest, The Prestige (+Christopher Nolan's screen adaptation) Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell JF Martel, "The Real as Sacrament" (forthcoming?) Frances Yates, The Art of Memory Mary Carruthers, The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture Plato, Phaedrus Henri Bergson, Matter and Memory Jorge Luis Borges, "The Library of Babel" Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Carceri d'invenzione Maurits Cornelis Escher, Duch artist H. P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space Gyrus, North: The Rise and Fall of the Polar Cosmos Emerald Tablet, foundational Hermetic text Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything Weird Studies ep. 42 - On Pauline Oliveros, with Kerry O'Brien Giovanni colleague? Allen Ginsberg, "America" Rodney Ascher, A Glitch in the Matrix Walter J. Ong, American philosopher Weird Studies ep. 71: The Medium is the Message Thomas Ligotti, "The Night School" Thomas Aquinas, Christian philosopher and theologian Erasmus, Christian philosopher Marsilio Ficino, Christian philosopher Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Weird Studies has so far devoted just one show to Philip K. Dick, and that was way back in April 2018, with episode 10, "Adrift in the Multiverse." Last fall, as another foray into Dickland began to feel urgent, Phil and JF talked about which of his books they should tackle. The answer that seemed obvious was VALIS, the semi/pseudo-autobiographical masterpiece that constitutes PKD's most explicit attempt to make sense of the theophanic experiences that altererd his life in 1974. But then Phil suggested The Owl in Daylight, a novel on which PKD worked feverishly in the last years of his life but left unwritten. And sure enough, reviewing and analyzing a book that doesn't exist proved to be the best way of getting to the heart of Dick's incomparable oeuvre. SHOW NOTES Gwen Lee, What if Our World is Their Heaven? The Final Conversations of Philip K. Dick The Selected Letters of Philip K. Dick, volume 6 Philip K. Dick, The Exegesis Anonymous, Meditations on the Tarot Secondary qualities, philosophical concept Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings Burt Bacharach, American musician Philip K. Dick, "The Preserving Machine" Jorge Borges, "The Approach to Al-Mu'tasim" The Good Place, American television series Philip K. Dick, Valis Weird Studies, Episode 78 on John Keel's 'Mothman Prophesies' Richard Wagner, Parsifal Weird Studies, Episode 73 on Carl Jung Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A romp through Ishmael Reed's Mumbo Jumbo as musical fiction and cultural spellwork. They trace Jes Grew's spread via 1970s rhythms, radio, and stride piano. Conversations map Afrocentric loas, Atenist opposition, and conspiratorial riffs. The hosts debate hyperstition, participatory art, and how careful magical thinking differs from dangerous superstition.

Weird Studies will launch its fourth season on January 6th, 2021. But to celebtrate the end of very strange year, we thought we'd release a conversation which until now was available only to our top-tier Patreon backers. Therein we discuss the philosophical underpinnings of "Puhoy," memorable episode of the brilliant animated series Adventure Time. This was JF's introduction to a show that Phil has often recommended for its novel treatment of complex ideas and downright weirdness. Watch "Puhoy" on YouTube: Part 1 Part 2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before Coraline, before American Gods, in the early days of the Sandman series, Neil Gaiman collaborated with Dave McKean on some truly groundbreaking graphic novels: Violent Cases (1987), Signal to Noise (1989), and the work discussed in this Weird Studies episode. The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr Punch (1994) is the story of a boy whose initiation into the dark realities of life, death, and family plays out in the shadow of the (in)famous Punch & Judy puppet show. Unlike some of Gaiman's more overtly marvellous offerings, Mr Punch is a subtle fantasy whose weirdness hides in the gaps and folds of lost time. It is in Dave McKean's brilliant art that the magic shines through, letting us know that the narrative is only part of a vaster, hidden thing. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss the themes, ideas, and mysteries of an unparalleled piece of comics art. REFERENCES Watch Aaron Poole's 9-minute short film "Oracle" Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, _The Tragical Comedy or Comical Tragedy of Mr. Punch "That's the Way to Do It! A History of Punch and Judy", Victoria Albert Museum _ Ronald Briggs, Father Christmas Clement Greenberg, American art critic Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics J. F. Martel, Patreon Post on The Untimely Weird Studies, Episodes 20 and 21 on the Trash Stratum Weird Studies, Episode 72 on the Castrati Samuel Pepys, English administrator and diarist Nick Lowe, The Beast in Me Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It would be wrong to describe Arthur Machen's Hieroglyphics: A Note Upon Ecstasy in Literature (1902) as a work of nonfiction, since the book features a narrative frame that is as moody and irreal as the best tales penned by this luminary of weird fiction. But if the eccentric recluse at the centre Hieroglyphics is a fictional philosopher, he is one who, in Phil and JF's opinion, rivals most aesthetic thinkers in the history of philosophy. The significance of this text lies in its willingness to disclose a function of art that few before Machen had dared to touch, namely its capacity to generate ecstasy by confronting us with the mystery that beats the heart of existence. In this episode, your hosts discuss a work which, in their opinion, comes as close to scripture as the nonexistent field of Weird Studies is likely to get. REFERENCES Arthur Machen, Hieroglyphics: A Note Upon Ecstasy in Literature Thomas Ligotti, Songs of a Dead Dreamer Weird Studies, Episode 3 on the White People J.F. Martel, Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice Weird Studies, Episode 63 on Colin Wilson’s 'The Occult' William Shakespeare, Hamlet Indra’s Net, philosophical concept James Machin, Weird Fiction in Britain, 1880 – 1939 Weird Studies, Episode 5 on Lisa Ruddick's 'When Nothing is Cool' Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism Rudolph Otto, German theologian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The German polymath E. T. A. Hoffmann is one of the founding figures of what we now call weird literature. In this episode, JF and Phil discuss one of his most memorable tales, "Der Sandmann." Originally published in 1816, it is the story of a young German student whose fate is sealed by a terrifying encounter with the eponymous figure during his youth. The story packs several tropes that would later become staples of the weird: the protean monster, the double, the automaton... Your hosts discuss how Hoffmann uses these tropes without letting any of them coalesce into a stable thing in the reader's mind, thereby effecting a slowbuild of ambiguity upon ambiguity that culminates in a true paroxysm of dread. The argument is made that Freud does essentially the same thing in his famous essay "The Uncanny," wherein Hoffmann's story plays an important role. REFERENCES E. T. A. Hoffmann, The Sandman Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto Edgar Allan Poe, American writer Sunn o))), American metal band La Monte Young,, American composer Stuart Davis, Aliens and Artists Sigmund Freud, The Uncanny Neil Gaiman, Mr. Punch Jaques Offenbach, Tales of Hoffmann Frank Zappa, American musician Ernst Jentsch,, German psychiatrist E. T. A. Hoffmann, The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr Weird Studies, episodes 73 and 74 on Carl Jung Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since its release in 1973, Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man has exerted a profound influence on the development of horror cinema, a rich vein of folk music, and the modern pagan revival more generally. Anthony Shaffer's ingenious screenplay gives us a thrilling yarn that is also a meditation on the nature of religious belief and practice. Just in time for Halloween, Phil and JF discuss the philosophical ideas that undergird this folk horror classic, focusing on the perennial role of sacrifice in religious thought. REFERENCES Robin Hardy (director), The Wicker Man Stanley Kubrick (director), The Shining Terence Fisher (director), The Devil Rides Out Piers Haggard (director), Blood on Satan’s Claw John Boorman (director), Deliverance Rob Young, Electric Eden Gerald Gardner, English wiccan Margaret Murray, English anthropologist Cecil Sharp, English ethnomusicologist Phil Ford, "Taboo: Time and Belief in Exotica" Friedrich Nietzsche, Untimely Meditations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices