Dr. Voke and Mr. Veech

[Nemonymous]

Quote Originally Posted by Nemonymous

DR. VOKE AND MR. VEECH "Behind the door is Voke's loft, which appears to be a cross between a playroom and a place of torture." And if this book had a loft, it would be a similar cross to bear or enjoy, I guess. But the book does now have a loft of its own as created by this aura of autonymity as a story, one that is again methodical and insistent and obsessive and object-triangulating and slow motion as if the loft is viewed by a periscope trying to find its feet. "...a certain kind of repose: the repose of ruin." I can only mention again 'Report on Probability A' by Brian Aldiss for further reading. I had never thought of it as Ligottian before, but now it seems obvious that it is. Meanwhile, this story itself emits a sense of madness, as some people emit the word 'nonsense' as a tetchy expletive. The loft and its denizen, the keeper of the manipulated or autonomous wooden dummy called Ticket Man with a mechanical laugh, the other two people mentioned Prena and Lamm, configuring within words like lame, pram, name ("Their names, like your name, and mine for that matter, are of no actual importance.") A sense of Nemonymity. People with whom Veech needs to deal if he is not to be absorbed by them, Voke advises... The Street of Wavering Peaks that seems "all roof", and then there is a human body with too much of everything. A sense that the images and objective correlatives in this text are crammed together with no space between to move about or gather their meaning. The poignant ending seems perfect, as if the periscope or camera obscura can only view itself. I seemingly lived with this story's "mad marbles" during my childhood and some of my youth and beyond. I feel a connection with this story that I cannot explain, because the connection has not yet even begun to articulate itself. "Wood waking up." Like this story's coffin? This is my thinking aloud. Or laughing aloud. Lolling in that 'repose of ruin'. (This is an extract from my on-going review of the Penguin Classics collection.)

Rationale: Le NŒUD de Ligotti - THE NIGHTMARE NETWORK