THE TENANT by Roland Topor with Introduction by Ligotti

Dr. Bantham

Dr. Bantham

Town Manager
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A new presentation of THE TENANT by [ame=[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_Topor]Roland[/URL] Topor[/ame] is to be released in October.

This book has Topor's original novel, a new introduction by Thomas Ligotti, a selection of short stories by Topor, a healthy representation of Topor's artwork, and an essay on the famous Roman Polanski film version. We are working on the possibility of having Mr Polanski write a new foreword to this edition.
-Millipede Press

Tom's introduction clocks in at 3500 words and concerns the affirmative themes of world-renowned authors, focusing on Luigi Pirandello, with the negationist themes of Roland Topor's THE TENANT.

Many thanks to both Jerad Walters and Tom for the details provided.
 
I was going to write a post about Roland Topor somewhere down the line, but I just got too busy (or lazy). TL introduced me to this writer in the interview "The Language of Dread" he did with Stefan Dziemianowitz and Michael A. Morrison for the Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review Annual 1990.* TL stated:

"The comic and the cruel are masterfully mixed in the work of a number of authors I admire, preeminently Roland Topor and Nickolai Gogol. Gogol's "comic" stories are all quite grim, and Topor's are as sick as underground comics."

Although I had seen the Polanski film in the late 70s, I never knew what it was based on. I originally thought the film was bizarre and filled with some interesting surreal images, but that's about it. It didn't leave a big impression on me. I have watched it again since reading the novel, and I like it a little more. The novel has a great deal of interior monologue that I think would be difficult to translate into film. I like the movie, but I think the novel is much better. I have read three books by Roland Topor: The Tenant, Joko's Anniversary, and Stories and Drawings. TL didn't mention the novels in the interview and I did not know if he had read them or not. Both novels are short. Joko's Anniversary is hilarious and completely off the wall. It is like nothing I have ever read before. Stories and Drawings was highly unusual too and difficult for me to find. I ordered it through abebooks.com but had to order it from a bookseller in France. It cost about $50, which is pricey for me. I bought it because I enjoyed the other two books so much. The Tenant is my favorite. I highly recommend this book to anyone that likes Kafka. It is easily one of the best Kafkaesque novels that I have read...well, at least for two thirds of it, then it goes completely Topor. Despite his negative themes, I think Topor is very funny. But that doesn't stop him from being grotesque and sometimes downright gruesome.

As for Gogol, I read his novel Dead Souls before I read TL. I agree with him, Gogol is great. The only other stories I have read by Gogol are "The Nose" and "Diary of a Madman." I know have a collection of his stories somewhere...

I have never read anything by Luigi Pirandello, but I have seen a biography/documentary on him from my local library. I can't remember if TL has ever mentioned him in an interview before or not.

I look forward to TL's introduction and his take on this very entertaining writer. Thanks for keeping us informed, Dr. B.


* In Douglas A. Anderson's outstanding Ligotti Bibliography, it lists this interview in the Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review Annual (1991). To clarify, it is in the 1990 Annual that was printed in 1991.
 
The book looks great - got my copy from Shocklines yesterday. A really nice printing job, and TL's introduction is quite thought-provoking. His theme of insider versus outsider approaches to writing horror fiction (defined very broadly) is fascinating, and a shameless plug for E. M. Cioran is certainly welcome in any context!

In any case, a really nice job by the Millipede Press...
 
I just got mine last week. Wow! What a piece of eye-candy (but nutritious too). Perhaps Millipede Press can become the next Arkham House.
 
I just got my copy #45 today. It is very nice book. TL's essay is great! I'll have to inflict TLOers with a few posts about this one. I am in intellectual ragpicker* heaven.

*Chapter 13 The Tenant
 
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I just received my copy this morning.Ligotti's introductory essay is excellent,and gives Camus a nice kicking.Pray to the non-existent god that The Conspiracy Against the Human Race appears someday,if this iintroduction is anything to go by.
 
In keeping with the spirit of The Tenant, all of us TLOers should sign a petition and offer it up to some nebulous authority demanding the publication of The Conspiracy Against the Human Race. Because there is nothing quite like a united front putting forth demands from a position of complete powerlessness to get the wheels turning.
 
It's a fantastic read. Read it years ago but kinda forgot about it, but the new edition brought it all back; and anything with an intro by Ligotti is a must-have as far as I'm concerned. Much darker and less self-indulgent than Camus and others he has been compared to. The film, too, is good, but can't match the internalism offered up by the book.
 
The Tenant is a dream-like book. I would highly recommend the writings of Arthur Schnitzler to those who are enamoured of Topor's work. Particularly his novellette TRAUMNOVELLE, upon which the film EYES WIDE SHUT was based. Schnitzler was a contemporary of Freud and operated at a time when the 'dream-like' fugue was being explored beautifully in literature. Another fascinating book, which I read recently along the same lines is a book called LANARK by Alaisdar Gray.
 
According to http://www.millipedepress.com/news/ePostMortem-4.pdf, the electronic newsletter for Millipede Press, there was a Deluxe Edition of this book planned. I believe the edition was to be leather and traycased. I can not find any evidence of availability. Was this ever printed? Did anyone here procure a copy? If it exists, I must track down a copy for my collection.
 
Dr. Bantham said:
According to Postmortem #4, the electronic newsletter for Millipede Press, there was a Deluxe Edition of this book planned. I believe the edition was to be leather and traycased. I can not find any evidence of availability. Was this ever printed? Did anyone here procure a copy? If it exists, I must track down a copy for my collection.
Click to expand...

I would be very interested in hearing more about this possible Deluxe Edition as well, Dr. Bantham. A brilliant novel, and Mr. Ligotti's Introduction is of course superb.

Best,
Richard
 
As fate would have it, I've been reading this book over the past week and am halfway through. Quite marvellous so far and I can only imagine it's going to get better.

How could I have expected anything less?
 
I quite enjoyed The Tenant myself... and only after buying it did I remember that Topor had co-written "Fantastic Planet."
 
Dr. Valzer said:
Dr. Bantham said:
According to Postmortem #4, the electronic newsletter for Millipede Press, there was a Deluxe Edition of this book planned. I believe the edition was to be leather and traycased. I can not find any evidence of availability. Was this ever printed? Did anyone here procure a copy? If it exists, I must track down a copy for my collection.
Click to expand...

I would be very interested in hearing more about this possible Deluxe Edition as well, Dr. Bantham. A brilliant novel, and Mr. Ligotti's Introduction is of course superb.

Best,
Richard
Click to expand...

Just got an email from Jerad concerning my inquiry of a deluxe edition; he did publish such an edition and they are still available for $225 postage paid. He said they are "made to order" and take about a month.:)
 
When I was an impressionable teenager in the 'eighties I saw The Tenant very late one night and was amazed by it. Finding Topor's novel as a "Star" paperback in a junk shop just a few weeks later seemed to me to be an important synchronicity. I re-read it several times, becoming a little obsessed. In rural Sussex, pre-internet, I didn't believe that anybody else knew anything about The Tenant; it was my personal discovery.

The Tenant inspired me to attempt writing a novel which was very poor, and was mercifully destroyed. But even today I can see themes from The Tenant in my own attempts at writing. Uncertainty about relationships, identity, personal history, memory, and even the right to existence preoccupy me, and I'm convinced that it's all down to Topor and Polanski. My own stories are a pale reflection of, and hopelessly in debt to their work.

When Jerad sent me a copy of the Millipede Tenant last year I tried to replace my tatty Star paperback with his fine edition, but couldn't do it. Both sit together on my bookshelf, despite the pressure of space.
 
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