I Am Not Dying In A Nightmare - Dreams and Psychosis in the Works of Thomas Ligotti

[SF Sorrow]

I have posted a paper on Ligotti's work that I wrote for a graduate English course a few years back. It discusses psychosis and dreams while focusing on three stories - Dream of a Mannikin, Nethescurial and Mrs. Rinaldi's Angel. I hope you find in interesting.

https://dwbehrend.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/dreams-and-madness-in-ligotti.pdf

[ramonoski]

That's a very good analysis, SF. I, too, thank you for posting it.

[SF Sorrow]

Thanks Cynothoglys and ramonoski.

The paper references Eigen's "The Psychotic Core," which I found to be a very fascinating and disturbing book. It is fairly technical/clinical, but also contains some very interesting case studies of madness. Readers interested in exploring dark and damaged aspects of the human psyche might find it interesting.

[miguel1984]

Thanks SF; every new Ligotti analysis is very welcome. Eiger work sound interesting; there is a book called Contact With the Depths that called my attention after reading your analysis. When did you write this?

[SF Sorrow]

Thanks, Miguel. I wrote this paper way back in late 2005. I recently exhumed a box full of grad school notebooks, stories, fiction exercises and papers from my basement storage room. This was in there.

The course focused on a psychoanalytical approach to interpreting literature.

[Ascrobius]

For some reason, I am getting a blank screen. My browser at work must not be up to date, and I can't do anything about it. I'll try from home. Being a Psychotherapist myself, I am very interested in reading the piece, though. Looking forward to it, and thanks!

[SF Sorrow]

Thanks "With Strength I Burn" for adding to the discussion. As you can see, I missed your post back in July when it went up. Apologies for the delay in responding.

The passage you quote from "Dream of a Mannikin" certainly gives one some disturbing thoughts upon which to chew. Imagine that we are splinter-selves of some monstrous divinity being tormented by our larger self. For those who do believe in the existence of a divine force, that analysis would make as much sense as any, I suppose. It would seem that dreams create an environment in which this cruel masochistic force can manifest.

Thanks again for reading the essay and sharing your thoughts.

[SF Sorrow]

Ascrobius, I hope you were able to access the document. Please let me know if you are having issues with it, as I would like to address any problem on my end that might be contributing to the problem.

Thanks for your interest and apologies for the tardiness of my response!

[njhorror]

I also get a blank screen. I'm using Internet Explorer. I'll try with Firefox.

[bendk]

Quote Originally Posted by njhorror

I also get a blank screen. I'm using Internet Explorer. I'll try with Firefox.

I couldn't access it through the OP, but I copied and pasted the title to Google Advanced Search and it came up with the link to a pdf.