Dictionary

hauntological en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /hɔːntəˈlɒdʒɪkəl/

Etymology

From hauntology + -ical.

Meanings

1. Relating to hauntology.
   • With the appearance of hauntological history, everything long silenced, repressed, excluded, disavowed, negated by history, is blasted to the surface of events. 2014, Arthur Kroker, Exits to the Posthuman Future, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN:
   • 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. 2020 October 28, Ian Sansom, “The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean review – unleashing ghosts”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
2. Using digital effects that simulate the effects of aging; reminiscent and nostalgic of obsolete media.
   • 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, Simon Reynolds, Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past, Faber & Faber, →ISBN, page 331:
   • 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. 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:
   • 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. [2011 August 4, Carl Wilson, “‘My So-Called Adulthood’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Forms

Deriveds

hauntologically