Ghosts of our Lives: a Hauntological Reading of Multiverse Fiction in Contemporary Verbo-Visual Media
This article explores the multiverse as a recurring narrative and symbolic configuration in contemporary verbo-visual media. It interprets it as the articulation of a hauntological condition, shaped by the erosion of ontological certainties regarding the present and the past, along with the collapse...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Bologna
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Cinergie |
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| Online Access: | https://cinergie.unibo.it/article/view/21677 |
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| author | Giorgio Busi Rizzi Lorenzo Di Paola |
| author_facet | Giorgio Busi Rizzi Lorenzo Di Paola |
| author_sort | Giorgio Busi Rizzi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article explores the multiverse as a recurring narrative and symbolic configuration in contemporary verbo-visual media. It interprets it as the articulation of a hauntological condition, shaped by the erosion of ontological certainties regarding the present and the past, along with the collapse of future possibilities. Tracing the concept’s trajectory from philosophical speculation and theoretical physics to a comparative analysis of comics, television, and contemporary cinema, the article asserts that multiverse fiction serves as both a consequence and a narrative response to the crisis of temporality, identity, and futurability in late capitalism. Drawing on the idea of hauntology, we investigate how multiverse fiction has transformed from a speculative trope into a complex framework for navigating cultural anxieties associated with the instability of truth, media fragmentation, and ecological crisis. The article asserts that multiverse fiction facilitates narrative negotiations of unrealised presents and foreclosed futures, serving both as a product and a critique of post-postmodern temporal dislocation. Rather than providing resolution, it thus functions as a compromise formation mediating between escapism and critical engagement, creating speculative spaces for mourning, reimagining, and symbolically rehearsing alternative realities. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-1168fa0c051d4f7e8b574df17733bcac |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2280-9481 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | University of Bologna |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cinergie |
| spelling | doaj-art-1168fa0c051d4f7e8b574df17733bcac2025-08-20T03:34:13ZengUniversity of BolognaCinergie2280-94812025-07-012711312710.60923/issn.2280-9481/2167720055Ghosts of our Lives: a Hauntological Reading of Multiverse Fiction in Contemporary Verbo-Visual MediaGiorgio Busi Rizzi0Lorenzo Di Paola1Universiteit GentUniversité libre de Bruxelles-ULBThis article explores the multiverse as a recurring narrative and symbolic configuration in contemporary verbo-visual media. It interprets it as the articulation of a hauntological condition, shaped by the erosion of ontological certainties regarding the present and the past, along with the collapse of future possibilities. Tracing the concept’s trajectory from philosophical speculation and theoretical physics to a comparative analysis of comics, television, and contemporary cinema, the article asserts that multiverse fiction serves as both a consequence and a narrative response to the crisis of temporality, identity, and futurability in late capitalism. Drawing on the idea of hauntology, we investigate how multiverse fiction has transformed from a speculative trope into a complex framework for navigating cultural anxieties associated with the instability of truth, media fragmentation, and ecological crisis. The article asserts that multiverse fiction facilitates narrative negotiations of unrealised presents and foreclosed futures, serving both as a product and a critique of post-postmodern temporal dislocation. Rather than providing resolution, it thus functions as a compromise formation mediating between escapism and critical engagement, creating speculative spaces for mourning, reimagining, and symbolically rehearsing alternative realities.https://cinergie.unibo.it/article/view/21677multiversehauntologyimaginarycomicsaudiovisual media |
| spellingShingle | Giorgio Busi Rizzi Lorenzo Di Paola Ghosts of our Lives: a Hauntological Reading of Multiverse Fiction in Contemporary Verbo-Visual Media Cinergie multiverse hauntology imaginary comics audiovisual media |
| title | Ghosts of our Lives: a Hauntological Reading of Multiverse Fiction in Contemporary Verbo-Visual Media |
| title_full | Ghosts of our Lives: a Hauntological Reading of Multiverse Fiction in Contemporary Verbo-Visual Media |
| title_fullStr | Ghosts of our Lives: a Hauntological Reading of Multiverse Fiction in Contemporary Verbo-Visual Media |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ghosts of our Lives: a Hauntological Reading of Multiverse Fiction in Contemporary Verbo-Visual Media |
| title_short | Ghosts of our Lives: a Hauntological Reading of Multiverse Fiction in Contemporary Verbo-Visual Media |
| title_sort | ghosts of our lives a hauntological reading of multiverse fiction in contemporary verbo visual media |
| topic | multiverse hauntology imaginary comics audiovisual media |
| url | https://cinergie.unibo.it/article/view/21677 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT giorgiobusirizzi ghostsofourlivesahauntologicalreadingofmultiversefictionincontemporaryverbovisualmedia AT lorenzodipaola ghostsofourlivesahauntologicalreadingofmultiversefictionincontemporaryverbovisualmedia |