"Exiting the Vampire Castle" is an essay written by the English theorist

Mark Fisher Mark Fisher (11 July 1968 – 13 January 2017), also known under his blogging alias k-punk, was an English writer, music critic, political and cultural theorist, philosopher, and teacher based in the Department of Visual Cultures at Golds ...

for the online publication ''The North Star'' in 2013. It argues for increased leftist solidarity by departing from the phenomenon of online callout culture to instead orient activity around organization of efforts around the accountability of one's

economic class A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, wea ...

, rather than around traits in

identity Identity may refer to: * Identity document * Identity (philosophy) * Identity (social science) * Identity (mathematics) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Identity'' (1987 film), an Iranian film * ''Identity'' (2003 film), an ...

and

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

Synopsis

Fisher argues that a largely online style of identity-based leftist discourse grounded in "witch-hunting moralism" halts productive leftist discourse and undermines class politics. In particular, the combination of a primary focus on identity and the policing of others' speech is deleterious. Fisher saw the turn from class and materialism towards identity as a move from objective outward-facing goals to subjective inward goals that result in fragmentation of the left's efforts and community.

Reception

Jacobin The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential political cl ...

'' magazine described "Exiting the Vampire Castle" as Fisher's "most loved and hated essay".

Influence

Michael Brooks' book ''Against the Web'' uses concepts from "Exiting the Vampire Castle" to describe the limits Brooks observes in leftist tactics. Noting the condemnation and alienation common among leftists of the Castle, Brooks proposes a "cosmopolitan socialism" alternative built on the works of

Cornel West Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, theologian, political activist, politician, social critic, and public intellectual. West was an independent candidate in the 2024 United States presidential election and is an ou ...

Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen (; born 3 November 1933) is an Indian economist and philosopher. Sen has taught and worked in England and the United States since 1972. In 1998, Sen received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contributions ...

, and

C. L. R. James Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901 – 31 May 1989), Fraser, C. Gerald (2 June 1989)"C. L. R. James, Historian, Critic And Pan-Africanist, Is Dead at 88" ''The New York Times''. . who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson ...

. Marc James Léger references Fisher's essay in his introduction to the book ''Identity Trumps Socialism: The Class and Identity Debate after Neoliberalism'' under the concept of "decadent Marxism," which marks the decline of the petty-bourgeois and counter-cultural tendencies that became dominant after the postwar era and the problems that this poses for the renewal of socialism.

References

External links

*{{cite web, url=https://thenorthstar.info/?p=11299, last=Fisher, first=Mark, author-link=Mark Fisher, title=Exiting the Vampire Castle, date=22 November 2013, archive-date=29 November 2013, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131129003704/https://thenorthstar.info/?p=11299, url-status=usurped, website=The North Star 2013 essays