TCATHR and 'Straw Dogs'

[Malone]

For those of you who think that the ideas presented in the wonderful TCATHR are marginal and unlikely to ever penetrate to the so-called 'mainstream' of intellectual debate,I would highly recommend a book entitled 'Straw Dogs' by the British philosopher John Gray.First published about four years back in Britain,it featured in the 'Books of the Year' roll-call of just about every prominent intellectual in the country.
In brief,Gray attempts to demolish more or less every sacred cow of our ways of thinking about ourselves and our modes of acting in the world.Like Ligotti in TCATHR,Gray cites Schopenhauer and Cioran and makes reference to many thinkers of like mind.Because the book was aimed at a mainstream audience,the tone is more clipped and laconic than that of TCATHR,but the essence of the book is largely the same.Needless to say,it provoked wide-ranging reaction,from those who thought it was of the most important books ever written to those who launched personal polemics against Gray himself.At the risk of sounding like an advertising pitch,for those members of TLO online unaware of Gray,I can only say that if you enjoyed TCATHR,you will surely appreciate 'Straw Dogs'.

[YellowJester]

Malone,

Thanks for making the comparison between CATHR and Straw Dogs. After I had finished an early draft of CATHR, I was in a Border's bookstore going through the literary journals. One of the journals contained an article by John Gray, and it immediately caught my attention. After reading the article, I went to the Sociology section of the bookstore to see if there were any books by Gray. Fortunately, they had the British edition of Straw Dogs published by Granta (I don't think there's an American edition of the book, which is typical, although it's available on Amazon). After paging through the book, I thought, "Oh, no, this guy is working much the same territory that I am in CATHR." (I read that William Gibson felt the same way when he went to see Bladerunner while he was writing Neuromancer: after a few minutes of seeing the movie, he ran out of the theater because he realized he was doing something very similar in his novel and didn't want to have his imagination influenced by Ridley Scott's film.) But I bought and read Straw Dogs, a couple times actually, and while many of Gray's ideas and his general attitude were similar to those in CATHR--in a less frenzied form, of course--I was already too deep into my book to turn back, and I really didn't feel that my work was made redundant by Gray's. If I did, I would have stopped working it. Aside from the blurbs in the paperback edition of the book, it was pretty much slagged in the British press, which is what I would expect. While Gray's book has an equivocal ending--"If you can't say something positive about the human race, then say something equivocal," to quote myself--it conveys a relatively dark view of life, with a special focus on contemporary society. This just won't do as far as the majority that jams this planet is concerned, and the critical watchdogs did what they could to dismiss Gray's book. But it still struck a chord with many readers, and it was a relief to me to discover that I wasn't the only person who had something negative to say about the human species. Straw Dogs also echoes some of the ideas in Zapffe's "The Last Messiah," although if Gray had been familiar with the essay I'm sure he would have cited it.

TL

[Malone]

Dear TL,
Thanks for the reply to my posting.Nice to hear from the man himself:-)From what I've read of Gray's other books,I can't help feel that if he truly let rip the tone and content would not be too dissimliar to TCATHR.What I personally find particularly fascinating is his use of Cioran.The neglect of Cioran in the English speaking world is positively criminal, in my opinion.In France he is a hero;in the Anglo-Saxon world he barely exists and is a dirty name amongst professional academics,for the obvious reasons.(A similiar situation exists in regard to Thomas Bernhard,as far as I can gather)Fortunately,Gray himself is well-respected in British media circles and is often canvassed for his opinions.There is a veritable treasure trove of his articles to be found in the Archive section of 'The New Statesman' magazine that can be accessed for free.I'm also glad to see he has a new book appearing next month over here entitled 'Apocalyptic Religions,Black Mass,and The Death of Utopia.'Can't wait!Thank you again for replying to my posting.

Malone

[simon p. murphy]

Not to be confused, of course, with John Gray, author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus; although it would be a source of inexhaustible amusement if 'Straw Dogs', or TCATHR for that matter, ended up on Oprah's Book Club.