Book Review: The Weird and the Eerie

This short book is Fisher at his best, critically thinking through (and helping to define) the distinct literary/textual genres of the weird and the eerie. The weird, says Fisher, is concerned primarily with “that which does not belong,” while the eerie asks, “why is there something here when there should be nothing?” (or vice versa).

From these two starting points, Fisher leads an entrancing tour through the genres’ trailblazers, touching on figures like H.P. Lovecraft (naturally), David Lynch, Daphne du Maurier, Stanley Kubrick, and many more (the book is worth it for the bibliography of books, music, and films to further explore).

As always, Fisher is at home discussing both Christopher Nolan and Lacan, punk rock and Deleuze, and this versatility is one of the reasons he is a delight to read. In these investigations, he also probes how art which pushes up against the boundaries of both genre and intelligibility can show us something true about the mysteries of existence.