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.

As much as I admire the opinion and work of "Sand" - and I do - I would disagree with this. TL's work is culminating into a bleak but inescapable conclusion. If his work has disregarded certain perspectives, I think it is because he has deemed them invalid. Just my take.

[Ascrobius]

Tom once told me that one of his intention early on, as an author, was to create a style that somehow sounded and seemed as though it was originally written in a different language (primarily a European one) and translated into English. I think that even when reading other authors like Kafka, which were, in fact translated into English (and many other languages), they do seem to have a particular essence to them by virtue of the translation itself that gives them a different appeal. Interestingly enough, I think that he accomplished this, especially in his earlier works. I also think that time, place, and setting in general is always ambiguous, again, especially in his earlier, short works, and that increased the sense of a more alien world that felt uncanny, peculiar, and foreign. And of course, these are some facets of Tom's earlier work that are integral to their effectiveness.

[Doctor Dugald Eldritch]

That is why I treasure Ligotti: a perfect nightmare hybrid of the Anglophone supernatural and weird literature of a Blackwood, a Lovecraft, and a Poe and the even more impenetrable and obscure sphere of European fantastic and strange dreams of a Kafka and a Schulz.

[klarkash]

I agree with Sand about Ligotti's strengths. To me he is important not because of Lovecraft, ventriloquist's dummies, and antinatalism, but because of his deep engagement with non-English writers like Schulz, Hagiwara, Hedayet, and the rest; the authenticity of his vision; and, I'd add, because he comes from (way) outside the literary establishment.

No disrespect is meant to his (and our) classic influences, or to anyone's philosophy, but to me the more important aspect is how he treated these disparate influences with seriousness and instinctual understanding and made something both new and timeless out of them.

[tartarusrussell]

Quote Originally Posted by 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.

I understand what you are saying, Mark, and my favourite stories by Ligotti reflect this preoccupation too. That he has moved on and has other interests and things to say is, perhaps, inevitable. Luckily that Eurorpean fantastic sensibility is still to be found in work by, among others, Mark Samuels, John Howard and yourself!

[gveranon]

While I agree with Sand's and klarkash's comments on the strength and value of Ligotti's earlier stories, I like his later works (fiction, nonfiction, poems) well enough that I would not be sorry to see him continue in that vein. I hope he continues to write, and I would be most interested in reading whatever he feels compelled to write in the future. I am genuinely curious and eager to see what he might do next. His later writings have values and tonalities of their own, and we shouldn't fail to appreciate them (not that anyone said we should) just because we have such high regard for his earlier aesthetic.

[xylokopos]

Here's the man himself on the very subject (from the Tank Magazine interview Jeff Coleman alerted us to):

Quote

TR Do you see yourself as writing in an American vein specifically? Weird fiction has a long American history, but many of your influences are European in origin. TL I think that writing in an American vein means writing realistic novels. I don’t read, and wouldn’t want to write, a realistic novel. Europeans and other foreign readers are more accepting of short stories as a worthy genre of literature. Americans seem to think that only realistic novels count as real literature, and if you don’t write those then you’re not much of a writer.

Ligotti is the least American American writer I have ever read. I haven't read the Spectral Link stories yet, but both Teatro Grottesco and TCATHR are dripping European sensibilities. They are as European as cathedrals and trench warfare. TCATHR is more Asian than American.

[The most American American writer of the weird, by contrast, is Laird Barron. He is probably as Uneuropean as King. I don't mean anything negative with this, btw, it's just observation. Except on a couple of occasions, when he goes overboard and writes things like picking up the kids after soccer practice or eurotrash. That is just flat out annoying.]