Thomas Ligotti and the European Fantastic

[Sand]

When I first read Thomas Ligotti’s work what attracted me in particular were those stories that seemed to be infused with a sensibility similar to that of the European fantastic. This was evident in the names of characters and the settings, but also in the motifs and themes. I read his work as being in the tradition of Meyrink and Schulz, and to the extent that it had more conventional Anglophone settings or inspirations, I found it less interesting.

These stories were strange and exciting to read because they opened up a world of different cultures, mysterious cities, curious beliefs, of a sort of timeless Central European zone known to Kafka and Kokoschka and others. I don't know to what extent TL had consciously set out to create this apparent allegiance.

Speaking therefore only of its attraction to me as a reader, I think that TL’s work is less satisfying where it has moved away from this fullness of possibility into a more declaimed philosophy. What characterises the work of Meyrink and Schulz is a great spirit of curiosity, particularly about unconventional ideas. Meyrink explored many images and myths in the occult and esoteric tradition: Schulz’s work is rich in his heritage at a crossroads of Jewish, German and Polish thought.

Purely from an aesthetic perspective, then, I think Ligotti’s literary work is at risk of being less nuanced and complex, less full of possibilities, the further away it gets from those influences. It would be interesting to see him return to fictions that are willing to be immersed in the metaphors and cultures of other perspectives than the one that now most seizes him.