Pleasant Tales - Brendan Connell

[gveranon]

Quote Originally Posted by brendanconnell

Here is the "First Manifesto of the Pleasant" that Justin Isis and I wrote. He is calling it "The Vow of Chasity":

I had been hoping this would have something to do with Donald Pleasence.

I have a book to hand by George Saintsbury entitled The Peace of the Augustans: A Survey of Eighteenth Century Literature as a Place of Rest and Refreshment. I have not read Saintsbury's book, but I wonder if those refreshing Augustans could be considered antecessors of the Pleasant, or if they were perhaps too didactic and sententious to be altogether Pleasant.

It does seem to me barbaric, hence unpleasant, to claim to be entirely originary in any matter, let alone the matter of the Pleasant. And I will turn my eyes away from the practice of issuing a Manifesto, but perhaps it couldn't have been avoided.

Quote Originally Posted by Frater_Tsalal

It's a noble goal but personally I couldn't write anything that fell under these criteria. Mainly because I tend to find existence itself a threatening and unpleasant situation.

How about the tradition of the Cosy Catastrophe?

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

As I've said elsewhere, I'm very interested in this premise because I dislike the idea that conflict is the only worthwhile thing for a fiction narrative, whereas images and music are allowed to be 100% feel good.
Erotica seems like the easiest solution to avoiding conflict so maybe sex would make it too easy?

[waffles]

I can't wait to read a Pleasant horror tale.

[gveranon]

Quote Originally Posted by waffles

I can't wait to read a Pleasant horror tale.

I haven't seen the D. F. Lewis-edited anthology Horror Without Victims, but I wonder if it is meant to be something like that.

[Justin Isis]

Quote Originally Posted by Robert Adam Gilmour

Why is explicit sex and lust deemed unpleasant?

It's not unpleasant but it is necessary to not alienate younger readers and very sensitive readers. An example, about ten or fifteen years ago, readers in the 8-14 year old range could be expected to be familiar with Pierre Klossowski, Dennis Cooper, Georges Bataille, Pierre Guyotat, etc. But now due to the rise of "YA" or "Young Adult" literature, they are more likely to read the Harry Potter or Goosebumps series. It would be unpleasant to alienate these readers by including too much provocative content!

[Nemonymous]

Quote Originally Posted by gveranon

Quote Originally Posted by waffles I can't wait to read a Pleasant horror tale. I haven't seen the D. F. Lewis-edited anthology Horror Without Victims, but I wonder if it is meant to be something like that.

There are a lot of things I have done over the years that haven't been seen even though they are available to be seen.

[Justin Isis]

Now received...wrote the introduction for this book and appear in it as a character along with my ex girlfriend.

Have decided to make the intro public in the cause of encouraging more people to be Pleasant and to hopefully stop writing unpleasant scary stories:

Justin Isis: Introduction to the Pleasant

[Mr. Veech]

@ Justin

That was a great introduction, albeit somewhat cryptic. Your use of the term "super-correlationism" made me think that the "Pleasant" represents some form of Hegelianism with respect to weird fiction. Does this make Lovecraft and Ligotti "Kantians?"

[Justin Isis]

Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Veech

@ Justin That was a great introduction, albeit somewhat cryptic. Your use of the term "super-correlationism" made me think that the "Pleasant" represents some form of Hegelianism with respect to weird fiction. Does this make Lovecraft and Ligotti "Kantians?"

It's more playing off the idea that some kind of weird fiction has been influenced by Speculative Realism, which the Pleasant is entirely opposed to...being more influenced by panpsychic Idealism, Eliminative Immaterialism, etc. If object-oriented ontology claims that objects exist independently of human perception, then the Pleasant's attitude towards this view could best be described as extreme ironic skepticism. The Pleasant views "the universe" (i.e. all human perception, the only possible perception) as being thoroughly anthropocentric. In fact the Pleasant view is probably an even more extreme form of anthropocentrism than either Kant or monotheism.

Monotheism - Dad Bod Correlationism
Kant - Tipsy Uncle at Wedding Correlationism
Pleasant Fiction - Young Iranian Bodybuilder On Too Many Supplements Correlationism

[Mr. Veech]

Quote Originally Posted by Justin Isis

Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Veech @ Justin That was a great introduction, albeit somewhat cryptic. Your use of the term "super-correlationism" made me think that the "Pleasant" represents some form of Hegelianism with respect to weird fiction. Does this make Lovecraft and Ligotti "Kantians?" It's more playing off the idea that some kind of weird fiction has been influenced by Speculative Realism, which the Pleasant is entirely opposed to...being more influenced by panpsychic Idealism, Eliminative Immaterialism, etc. If object-oriented ontology claims that objects exist independently of human perception, then the Pleasant's attitude towards this view could best be described as extreme ironic skepticism. The Pleasant views "the universe" (i.e. all human perception, the only possible perception) as being thoroughly anthropocentric. In fact the Pleasant view is probably an even more extreme form of anthropocentrism than either Kant or monotheism. Monotheism - Dad Bod Correlationism Kant - Tipsy Uncle at Wedding Correlationism Pleasant Fiction - Young Iranian Bodybuilder On Too Many Supplements Correlationism

That makes me think of Bishop Berkely's own brand of idealism, i.e., phenomenalism. Regardless, what would a Pleasantist say concerning the following quote: "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick