Favorite Ligotti Story

[heirax]

"His Shadow Shall Rise to a Higher House"

[Patrick Mullins]

ok, here's some off the top of my head:
teatro grottesco
last feast of harlequin
the frolic (seems to be popular with folks on this list, i've noticed)
nethescurial
bungalow house. especially bungalow house. my favorite.

i have to say that the stories/individual volumes/sections of volumes have a cumulative effect, making it difficult to pick a top ten or top five, etc. when the books are divvied up into sections, as they often are, i tend to read one section at a time and take the individual stories as variations on a theme. anyone else?

[The Silent One]

My tastes, it seems, have shifted. I must - third...? - my support for "The Bungalow House", closely followed by, as before, most of Songs of a Dead Dreamer. It is both one of Tom's most realistic stories, yet that also makes it one of his most haunting and, frankly, depressing, certainly rivalling the numbing "Lost Art of Twilight".

"Severini" is often overlooked by Ligotti fans, and I'm not terribly sure why. In my opinion, it is the best showcase of Lovecraft's influence on his work, and perhaps Poe's too. But what separates the tale from pure homage is the delightful originality of the entity itself, which is unique among many of Ligotti's imagined monstrosities in being almost human... Which makes it so much uglier.

The more Ligotti I read or revisit, the more I notice that, while there is a general style, there are a surprising amount of exceptions. I think that shows a versatile writer; A good thing all around.

[G. S. Carnivals]

Quote Originally Posted by The Silent One

The more Ligotti I read or revisit, the more I notice that, while there is a general style, there are a surprising amount of exceptions. I think that shows a versatile writer; A good thing all around.

TSO, I must relate a Ligoddity which has crept up more than once in my examination of the stories for possible quotations. Mr. Ligotti can seemingly contradict himself at times. This happens, I think, because he returns to the same theme from time to time, and approaches it from another angle in subsequent works. However, the context of any given story supports Mr. Ligotti's approach therein. A conceptual revision here, a conceptual refinement there, and all fall down...

[the_havoc_man]

The Last Feast of Harlequin and Teatro Grottesco are definitely up there for me. I also like The Night School from GrimScribe too. Dreams of a Mannequin reminds me of old Twilight Zone and Trick or Treat is just plain creepy.

[actualwolf]

Upon first finishing "Nethescurial" I was quaking with dread, this on a lunch break at work in the summer time.

Similar reaction to "The Night School," though I was at home, sick in bed one winter.

Of the "realist" stories "Purity" is my favorite. Hideously funny and shockingly radical in its rejection of, well, everything. "Families," indeed.

When I first finished "The Bungalow House" I felt kinship to a piercing loneliness that I had only otherwise encountered in Lovecraft.

Speaking of Lovecraft, "The Last Feast of Harlequin" is an homage par excellence.

"Drink to Me . . ." is a favorite of the "minor" stories, with "The Chymist" coming a close second.

Alice of the " . . .Last Adventure" is probably my favorite of all Ligotti's characters, because she actually is one.

I was absolutely baffled by "The Red Tower" when I first read it but greatly appreciated it the second time around. Truly "weird" fiction.

I could go on . . .

To drop the proverbial other shoe, I truly dislike "My Work is Not Yet Done." I recognize both that it is an important step in the development of the author and that my aversion is entirely personal (I think revenge is the absolute lowest of acts) and does not necessarily reflect on the quality of the work. Still, I vastly prefer the two short pieces contained in the volume to the titular work. I've read both MWINYD and "The Conspiracy Against the Human Race" through two or three times each and find the novella to be the far more poisonous (and generally less sympathetic) of the two.

Dare somebody start a "least favorite" thread?

	MWINYD My Work Is Not Yet Done

[yellowish haze]

Quote Originally Posted by actualwolf

To drop the proverbial other shoe, I truly dislike "My Work is Not Yet Done." I recognize both that it is an important step in the development of the author and that my aversion is entirely personal (I think revenge is the absolute lowest of acts) and does not necessarily reflect on the quality of the work. Still, I vastly prefer the two short pieces contained in the volume to the titular work.

Interesting to see somebody say this, as this is exactly the impression I had upon finishing the book. In general I like TL's fiction to the extend that I practically never find any of his works unsatisfactory and I wouldn't say that I totally dislike MWINYD (the novella), but like you I found the revenge theme off-putting. I also remember that I read it just after some of my favourite stories by TL ("The Bungalow House", "The Shadow The Darkness", the entire "In a Foreign Land, In a Foregn Town" etc) and felt as if with MWINYD TL was addressing a different kind of readers than when writing his usual ss (which doesn't mean his older fans couldn't enjoy the novella).
Anyone having similar thoughts about this?
Some readers complain that they found "Frolic" violent. I found MWINYD, probably due to its being written in the first person, much worse in this respect... even though it's all supposed to be sardonic.

	MWINYD My Work Is Not Yet Done

[Nemonymous]

I felt that, too.

But YH hits the nail on the head with 'sardonic' if one can hit any intentional nail on the head .... ever!

[gveranon]

I also didn't like MWINYD as much as Ligotti's other stories (although, oddly enough, I chose to quote from it in my user profile). Like The Silent One, I think "The Bungalow House" is Ligotti's best story, and I'm also very partial to most of the stories in Songs of a Dead Dreamer. Many of those early stories have a classic, timeless feel to them.

Concerning MWINYD: I don't necessarily have a problem with misanthropy and revenge as literary themes; it depends on how they are handled, and I don't think they have to be handled in a genteel, liberal way. (Please note that in saying this I'm not intending any disparagement of what others in this thread have said. I don't think anyone here is unreflectingly shocked by negativity or a sardonic view of human life, or they wouldn't be a fan of this writer.)

It's been a couple of years since I read MWINYD, so I hope my memory of it doesn't lead me astray. When I started reading MWINYD I was somewhat dismayed because, despite the quality of the writing, it seemed to be just a straightforward, hackneyed workplace revenge story -- ripped from the headlines and destined to disturb high school librarians everywhere. But the story opens up into Schopenhauerian cosmic horror, and from this perspective one can see that the earlier parts of the story were really Schopenhauerian cosmic horror too (although neither the protagonist nor the reader saw it this way at the time). When Frank Dominio, normally a passive man, becomes enraged and begins thinking about violence, the dark cosmic will posited by Schopenhauer -- the red-in-tooth-and-claw life-force that is fundamental to the universe -- suddenly completely takes over any volition he might have had and begins using him like a puppet. A murderous puppet, to be sure. In one memorable scene, he steps on a cockroach and can feel its tiny share of the mindless cosmic will thrashing under his foot. If I remember rightly, Ligotti said in an interview that he was deliberately using Schopenhauer's ideas in this story. In my opinion, this metaphysical perspective redeems the story aesthetically and ethically; and I don't think the reader would have to know about Schopenhauer in order to appreciate what Ligotti is doing here, since it's clearly and oh-so-evocatively explained. Anyway, this was intended as a defense of the story, although as I said it isn't one of my favorites.

	MWINYD My Work Is Not Yet Done

[Nemonymous]

Isn't Schopenhauer concerned with cannibalism at some point? And Mr Can is both a garbage can and a cannibal?