The Ligotti Penguin Classics book - views from fans

[Kevin]

Quote Originally Posted by Nemonymous

A hilarious review here. if I were Thomas Ligotti I would be very proud of it... Jack Poling (Saint Clairsville, OH)'s review of Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe

Perhaps the funniest book review I've ever read. I'm inspired to kick my own head as well.

[bendk]

Quote Originally Posted by Kevin

Quote Originally Posted by Nemonymous A hilarious review here. if I were Thomas Ligotti I would be very proud of it... Jack Poling (Saint Clairsville, OH)'s review of Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe Perhaps the funniest book review I've ever read. I'm inspired to kick my own head as well.

I love impassioned reviews, whatever the take. It tells as much about the reviewer as it does about what they are reviewing. At least they care... a lot. I used to collect them. I once got a book through the interlibrary loan system just on vitriolic reviews of famous books: Moby Dick, Last of the Mohicans, and other classics of literature. I remember that Mary Midgley wrote a scathing one on The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins that turned into a full-blown feud. And Lovecraft's back-and-forths are great fun to read.

I should add that I could write reviews like this for Paradise Lost, Lord of the Flies, Catcher in the Rye, and almost everything I have read by C.S. Lewis.

[R.P.Dwyer]

I see no reason why Ligotti's readership should not grow as the years go on. There are examples of writers whose readership started small but grew as time went on. One that comes to mind is another horror writer, H.P. Lovecraft. Another writer is Kafka. I tend to agree with Jeff VanderMeer who wrote at his blog:

"... Nor, as another individual quoted seems to think, is Ligotti difficult and for a cult audience. You might as well say this about Kafka.

One problem for writers like Ligotti lies in the reinforcing of “yes, buts” perpetrated by people who say they love his work…but in what they say wind up discouraging others from picking it up. It’s important to remember this when thinking about how we talk about what we enjoy. I never presume that I somehow am a more rarefied reader than the people I recommend books to.

What we need to remember is that writers like Cormac McCarthy were read by small audiences for years before reaching a wider audience. That Roberto Bolano was not a sure bet to become such an amazing success. That writers do not remain encased in the amber of a selective audience’s regard, given a chance with fresh eyes and the seriousness of an edition like this new one for Ligotti from Penguin Classics. So when you see this new Ligotti edition in the bookstore, check it out. I think you’ll like it."

The above comments by Jeff VanderMeer can be found here:

The Legacy of Thomas Ligotti - THE SOUTHERN REACH

[ToALonelyPeace]

It's funny how I gnash my teeth like a fanboy reading some of these reviews. The negative responses have these common complaints:

-opaque prose, academic prose, cold prose, dense, long
-boring
-not scary
-too much like Lovecraft, unoriginal
-I don't even like horror, I've only read one Lovecraft story and some Poe back in high school
-where's the ending?
-I like King more

The complaint about prose is unexpected to me. I always think it has a poetic flow and the words evoke the febrile decay of fall. The coldness one also doesn't make sense.

[Mr. Veech]

Quote Originally Posted by ToALonelyPeace

It's funny how I gnash my teeth like a fanboy reading some of these reviews. The negative responses have these common complaints: -opaque prose, academic prose, cold prose, dense, long -boring -not scary -too much like Lovecraft, unoriginal -I don't even like horror, I've only read one Lovecraft story and some Poe back in high school -where's the ending? -I like King more The complaint about prose is unexpected to me. I always think it has a poetic flow and the words evoke the febrile decay of fall. The coldness one also doesn't make sense.

I don't want to sound awful, but Ligotti requires a certain degree of intelligence most people don't possess. There's no way around that truth. Being sensitive to this kind of literature requires a lot of sacrifice in order to appreciate it. This is why Ligotti himself refers to his readers as "maladjusted."

[Shadenuat]

And yet majority of reviews are more than positive. Overwhelmingly so. I am happy that TL is available to wide populace and that he found deserved acclaim there, rather than being limited to expensive limited editions and small elitist readership.

[Mr. Veech]

Quote Originally Posted by Shadenuat

And yet majority of reviews are more than positive. Overwhelmingly so. I am happy that TL is available to wide populace and that he found deserved acclaim there, rather than being limited to expensive limited editions and small elitist readership.

It's obviously good that both collections are more affordable. More specifically, it's good for those who were already interested in Ligotti's work but couldn't pay for expensive limited editions. But part of the reason Ligotti's work is of high quality is because he never wrote for a wide audience (he's said this himself in interviews). He only wrote for a small audience to begin with. He never compromised because he probably never had any real hopes about becoming a "writer."

I suspect he will not receive the acclaim he truly deserves until we're all dead. Even though he probably deserved it, it was a downright miracle that Penguin Classics published his work during his own lifetime. Ironically, there was never a chance that a major publisher would've agreed to publish any of his manuscripts before, which is why he stuck to small, obscure publishers to begin with. In the short-term catering to a wide audience almost always implies money is involved, people like Charles Dickens notwithstanding.

[miguel1984]

Quote Originally Posted by ToALonelyPeace

It's funny how I gnash my teeth like a fanboy reading some of these reviews. The negative responses have these common complaints: -opaque prose, academic prose, cold prose, dense, long -boring -not scary -too much like Lovecraft, unoriginal -I don't even like horror, I've only read one Lovecraft story and some Poe back in high school -where's the ending? -I like King more The complaint about prose is unexpected to me. I always think it has a poetic flow and the words evoke the febrile decay of fall. The coldness one also doesn't make sense.

This is one of the reasons I tend not to read user's reviews from Amazon or Goodreads; it seems people forgot how to use their brains.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

I love sites like RateYourMusic and GoodReads, don't know where I'd be without the former. User reviews can be tricky depending on the type of audience a piece of work ends up with. Harder to find trustworthy reviews of epic fantasy than old ghost stories.

[Raul Urraca]

As a fan who owns the Penguin edition, I would like to say that it is very pleasing, as all Penguin Classics are. I enjoy the perfectly-sized print, the smooth paper, the excellent cover art, and, above all, the pleasant texture the cover has.
I have the Carroll & Graf copies of Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe- excellent and very valuable volumes, but they're bulkier and sharper than the Penguin edition.
It's very portable and ergonomic. No chance of getting stabbed on the corners. Would be OK writing in the margins. 10/10.
I wonder if the GoodReads reviews will mention this- long-term ligotti fans getting a new edition of books they already own?