Is Thomas Ligotti your favorite author?

[qcrisp]

Ligotti is one of those writers who are definitive in some way. No one, I suspect, could ever out-Ligotti Ligotti.

For me, these are the most interesting kind of writers, though there are also writers whose interest comes from subtle and indefinable blendings of influence and so on.

I would say that Ligotti is one of my favourite writers, but I'm never sure exactly who occupies the top position. For me it is likely to be someone like Nagai Kafu or Mishima Yukio.

In terms of living authors, I can say without equivocation that my favourite is Justin Isis. Brendan Connell is also a strong contender there now.

[mannikins vomit]

Quote Originally Posted by DoktorH

I tend to change favorite authors every few years as my tastes shift, but "The Conspiracy against the human race" ousted "American Psycho" as my favorite book last month and now has me delving into any ligotti i can get my hands on.

Same here. After reading Teatro Grottesco and the ultimate CATHR, beating out Gathering Evidence, I felt compelled to read as much of Ligotti as I can, out of pure respect. I also plan on reading Ligotti’s primary influences. Although he is not my #1 favorite, he's definitely in my top 10.

Quote Originally Posted by qcrisp

For me it is likely to be someone like Nagai Kafu or Mishima Yukio. In terms of living authors, I can say without equivocation that my favourite is Justin Isis. Brendan Connell is also a strong contender there now.

Good to hear some Japanese writers. Dazai Osamu is just behind Bernhard for me. A Japanese American writer who is sort of a guilty pleasure of mine is Tao Lin. Also good to hear of some contemporary writers, Houellebecq would hold the top spot for me in that respect.

	CATHR The Conspiracy Against the Human Race

[mannikins vomit]

Quote Originally Posted by Ascrobius

I have read rather widely, and have many "favorite" authors, though I always felt as though asking who someone's favorite writer, singer, performer, book, album or whatever was akin to asking who your favorite brother or sister is. All that being said, I won't get into the long list of writers that I have immense respect for and have followed for many years, but I will say that among my list of favorite writers, and one's who I certainly can identify with more than any others, Thomas Ligotti would be in my top 1. ;)

I find that I identify more with Tom in his interviews than his fiction. Also I am not very well read and I'm the type that does have a favorite brother.

[starrysothoth]

Two other thoughts occurred to me when thinking about Ligotti as a favorite. I strongly feel that part of his success is due to a successful balancing act. Thomas Ligotti is one of the rare authors who blends influences others can recognize, but without drowning out his own voice. One can get a taste of Borges, Schulz, Kafka, Lovecraft, and all the others in his fiction, and something of Zapffe and the many pessimistic philosophers in his non-fiction work. But no one tears up these bygone scribes and puts them back together, with dominant layers of his own imaginary gloss, the way Ligotti does.

Second, I think there are increasingly two distinct, but oddly interrelated Ligottis forming--all the more since TCATHR was published. We have TL the weird storyteller, and Ligotti the pessimistic philosopher. It seems certain folks were already tending toward Ligotti more out of the worldview expressed in his stories and interviews, rather than his merits in weird horror. Though I guess those who value both his abilities equally, or his fiction credentials over his philosophical ones, are still the majority. Nevertheless, as more newcomers to Ligotti experience TCATHR first in the coming years, I almost expect the scale to tip more equitably toward TL, bleak prophet. I could easily be wrong though.

	TCATHR The Conspiracy Against the Human Race

[Robin Davies]

Favourite of all-time: M. John Harrison
Favourite on current form: Quentin S. Crisp
Thomas Ligotti would be in my top ten in both categories.

[Murony_Pyre]

I second that about Quentin S. Crisp, for novels. Samuels is the best weird horror writer around in the short form. The problem is there are so many GOOD (if not "Great") writers active right now...on second thought, this isn't actually a problem per se excepting perhaps my alarming tendency in replacing actual groceries with "food for thought"...

[MadsPLP]

Quote Originally Posted by qcrisp

Ligotti is one of those writers who are definitive in some way. No one, I suspect, could ever out-Ligotti Ligotti.

My sentiments exactly. He has perfected his own style to a degree where he cannot, and shouldn't, be followed.

I think that Ligotti is my favourite writer, and I am certain that he is among my favourite writers anyway. I have to say, the he is one of the few writers who have given me an actual physical sensation; if that is what constitutes my favourite writer (and may very well be that), then he is rivalled only by Bruno Schulz and Max Blecher.*


* Regarding Blecher, I would very much like to know whether anyone knows if Ligotti has read him? In certain respects, they are strikingly close to each other.

[Mr. D.]

I think that many of us who follow TLO tend to read only one type of fiction. That is not a bad thing but my own experience is different. I am an omnivore as far as reading is concerned. When I think of Thomas Ligotti I place him among the best American writers of short fiction and essays. I am not qualified to say who is the best but, in my opinion, he is right up there with Raymond Carver, John Cheever, Joan Didion, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Hunter S. Thompson and Katherine Anne Porter. He is a great writer. Nothing more needs to be said.

	TLO THOMAS LIGOTTI ONLINE

[gryeates]

I would say he is my favourite writer at the moment, not just for his own incredibly evocative work but also because he has introduced me to the work of other first-class writers, past and present, such as Thomas Bernhard, Bruno Schulz, Quentin S. Crisp, George Bacovia, W.H. Pugmire, Matt Cardin and Mark Samuels whom I might not have discovered otherwise. In terms of my reading and my writing, Thomas Ligotti has been a revivifying influence on me over the course of the last few years.

[The Evil Hat]

I can't really answer the question, to be honest. For me, there are authors that are definitive, and, as has been said before this post, Ligotti is one of them. Ligotti is a master, and I'm enamored with the work of his that I've read (still so far a relatively small amount, but growing). But there are other definitive writers, and they are not comparable with Ligotti. They are definitive in their own way, and Ligotti is definitive in his. Asking which I prefer of them is like asking whether I prefer driving to my destination or eating a good peach; it's impossible to answer.