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Theory Redux (Polity)
Foreverism
What do cinematic “universes,” cloud archiving, and voice cloning have in common? They’re in the business of foreverizing – the process of revitalizing things that have degraded, failed, or disappeared so that they can remain active in the present. To foreverize something is to reanimate it, to enclose and protect it from time and the elements, and to eradicate the feeling of nostalgia that accompanies loss. Foreverizing is a bulwark against instability, but it isn’t an infallible enterprise. That which is promised to last forever often does not, and that which is disposed of can sometimes last, disturbingly, forever. In this groundbreaking book, American philosopher Grafton Tanner develops his theory of an anti-nostalgic discourse that promises growth without change and life without loss. Engaging with pressing issues from the ecological impact of data storage to the rise of reboot culture, Tanner tracks the implications of a society averse to nostalgia and reveals the new weapons we have for eliminating it.
- GenresCulturalPop Culture
144 pages, Paperback
Published January 24, 2024
About the author
Grafton Tanner
6 books85 followersGrafton Tanner is the author of The Hours Have Lost Their Clock: The Politics of Nostalgia, The Circle of the Snake: Nostalgia and Utopia in the Age of Big Tech, and Babbling Corpse: Vaporwave and the Commodification of Ghosts. His work has appeared in NPR, The Nation, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and Real Life. He also hosts Delusioneering, an audio series about the myths of capitalism, and he writes and performs music with his band Superpuppet.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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August 15, 2024M'agrada molt com escriu en Grafton Tanner, els temes que tracta (primer, la nostàlgia i ara, tot el tema de conservar-ho tot per sempre i que res no mori mai) i sobretot, com ho centra i exemplifica a través de la cultura
December 9, 2024
Una reflexió interessant sobre com es manipula la concepció temporal de la població i com el sistema capitalista se'n beneficia però massa repetitiu pel meu gust!!
October 16, 2024
The past is continuously dragged into the present. Nothing is allowed to die, so nothing can live either. What we do not save will be forgotten (and we can't save it all (and maybe that is a good thing, a necessity.)) All must be made trackable, continuous identities as gap stops in an era of endemic uncertainty, static scripts, restrictive roles, the continual cynical chatter without longing, speaking in Wheddonisms, aware and resigned.
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note; a tangent. the book as a physical object.
The pages are glued and the cover is very thick, resulting a book that necessitates physical violence in order to be laid flat. The paper seems decent, and the margins are sufficient for note-taking, though the 12.5pt font feels bizarrely large. This'd feel lovely downsized by 20%, something akin to a Reclam book. (I am unaware of any significant publisher in the Anglosphere that prints out books in that neatly pocketable size — if there isn't any: I am so sorry.) Maybe stick to an ebook?
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note; a tangent. the book as a physical object.
The pages are glued and the cover is very thick, resulting a book that necessitates physical violence in order to be laid flat. The paper seems decent, and the margins are sufficient for note-taking, though the 12.5pt font feels bizarrely large. This'd feel lovely downsized by 20%, something akin to a Reclam book. (I am unaware of any significant publisher in the Anglosphere that prints out books in that neatly pocketable size — if there isn't any: I am so sorry.) Maybe stick to an ebook?
December 13, 2024
Apunta a lugares interesantes, se acerca demasiado a otros que no lo son tanto. Podría ser una entrada de blog, sí, pero también tener doscientas páginas más. Quizá también sea solo otro "ismo".
November 2, 2024
Short read that packs a punch! I enjoyed slowly digesting his book, and noting how is observation's emerge in my every day life. There is something sinister about nostalgia and the frantic dredging of the past forever into the present. What to we hope to gain by never allowing good things to die?
Sidenote: who isn't excited for the end of the Marvel movie reign?
Sidenote: who isn't excited for the end of the Marvel movie reign?
April 5, 2024
An interesting concept, Foreverism, which expounds, I think, from the plethora of movies and series and books which are being recycled and endlessly renewed. I found the ideas truly interesting and thought provoking, especially the challenge of whether digitising things actually saves them forever or whether this is a more precarious form of "saving" than simply keeping things in your house.
The political angle is only hinted at later on in the book, the use of nostalgia as a weapon of political action and as a means to distract people from the capitalist pressures that threaten their existence, much more to be said here but the book acts as an excellent foundation for a fascinating and emerging area of thought, made ever more relevant by our technologies and our digital lives.
The political angle is only hinted at later on in the book, the use of nostalgia as a weapon of political action and as a means to distract people from the capitalist pressures that threaten their existence, much more to be said here but the book acts as an excellent foundation for a fascinating and emerging area of thought, made ever more relevant by our technologies and our digital lives.
November 3, 2024
I, among others, thought the current problem of culture today was nostalgia; anything made today must be related, referenced, or a direct remake/remaster to something previously released. This seems especially true in the video game industry (as of recent, there has been a remake of Silent Hill 2 and currently I'm playing the ""remaster"" of Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, both cult classic PS2 games). But, accordingly to Tanner, we have it backwards: the problem is not nostalgia, it is foreverism and nowism.
"Nostalgia is experienced when one fondly aches for the past. Foreverism, on the other hand, will implore you to revive the past and save it from ever dying again in order to maintain capitalism in the perpetual present, with its promise of now forever. Nothing haunts this eternal instant, no ghosts rattle their chains" (118).
"Nostalgia is experienced when one fondly aches for the past. Foreverism, on the other hand, will implore you to revive the past and save it from ever dying again in order to maintain capitalism in the perpetual present, with its promise of now forever. Nothing haunts this eternal instant, no ghosts rattle their chains" (118).
May 2, 2024
Grafton Tanner is great as always. Connects the dots between pop culture nostalgia and the rise of fascism around the world.
August 24, 2024
Molt xulet, sobre la nostàlgia i com no tolerem els finals
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September 22, 2024feels like someone dragging ghosts of my life forward by a decade or so, but generally a potent little bit of discussion
December 4, 2024
La tesis es interesante, pero este libro podría haber sido un artículo de un blog.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews