How does /lit/ feel about edgeman Thomas Ligotti?

>>8386234
Pretty gud short fiction stylist, haven't read his big pessimism manifesto though. Funnier than people give him credit for, too, even if it's a really black humour.

I'd be hesitant to call him "edgy" in a dismissing way. If you read interviews with him, he comes across as a completely sincere individual who isn't just posturing as a "disturbed" author. His fiction starts to get monotonous if I read a whole collection of it, but it's very interesting in short doses. He's maybe a little overrated in horror circles but contemporary horror doesn't exactly have much competition.

>>8386234
making money out of the whole antinatalist thing, that is to say out of insufferable edgy teens. pretty smart, but a total hypocrite at the same time.

>>8386410
in what way is he a hypocrite?

>>8386234
Reading "Teatro Grottesco" and it seems that the more I read of his stuff the more I like what he does. "Purity" is a fucking awful story though, no idea why he would start a collection with that shit.

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>ligotti wiki article
>" The worldview espoused by Ligotti in both his fiction and non-fiction has been described as profoundly pessimistic and nihilistic.[1][2]"
>He politically identifies as socialist.[19]

>nihilistic socialist

wut

>>8386410
>if ur an anti-natalist y don't u kill urself : ^ )

IF EVILUTION IS REAL THEN HOW COME THERE'S STILL MONKEIS CHECKMATE ATHEISTS

- what you sound like

>>8386479
Stop reading wikipedia articles written by halfwits.

Although if you can't tell the difference between the political views he expresses and the how others describe the contents of his books, then wikipedia might well be your level.

>>8386510
>Although if you can't tell the difference between the political views he expresses and the how others describe the contents of his books, then wikipedia might well be your level.

I can, but I can also place a solid bet that neither are very much separated in this case.

>>8386402
This.

Reading the book OP posted. It's unique to say the least. I like the weird imagery. There are some weird stories with puppets and masks. They were eerie and I liked that.

I have no idea why he is so marketed as Lovecraft 2.0. I'm a massive Lovecraft fan and I'm not seeing it.

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>>8386662
I got the book last week and indeed I only saw one tale that had some lovecraftian element and even that barely so. I would say he is more akin to a spoopy Kafka.
I am halfway through Songs of a Dead Dreamer.

i think most of nihilistic people tend to veer to the left

>>8386706
>>8386510
>>8386479
He doesn't describe himself as a nihilist though. He thinks life is a negative, not something with neither a good or bad meaning.

>>8386662
>>8386402
I'd say he gets called lovecraftian and one of the best just because he's weird with his stuff, has nice prose and actually tries to convey a greater meaning in his stories.

I think kafka and VN are two better comparisons for him. He and Lovecraft use different pacings and styles of story telling. They read very differently.

>>8387116
who VN?

>>8387138

Nabokov, probably. I think Ligotti has mentioned being influenced by him before.

>>8387138
>>8387197
This. I'm terrible at spelling his name.

>>8387197
Ayo hol up hol up hol up *smacks lips*

It's been a long time since I read Lolita, but I don't see any of Cornfather's influence in Ligotti *at all.*

wtf do you mean?

>>8386456

I felt exactly the same way anon. Really enjoyed the rest of the collection, excluding one or two stories.

>>8387286

He mentions him in at least one interview:

http://www.teemingbrain.com/interview-with-thomas-ligotti/

I wasn't the original poster to mention Nabokov, I just remembered seeing Ligotti talk about him somewhere so I don't really know any specific comparisons.

>>8386696

I think it's simply down to the fact that he writes horror using the short story format, which naturally leads to the connection with Lovecraft.

I agree entirely though. I've always found Ligotti to have far more in common with the likes of Kafka than Lovecraft.

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>>8387316
>teeming brain

>tfw Penguin didn't do Noctuary while they were at it

>>8387316
>Then I read Poe and Lovecraft for the first time and found what I didn’t know I was looking for: writers who put themselves on every page of their work, who wrote like personal essayists and lyric poets. Every fiction writer I’ve ever admired wrote in this manner. I say “wrote,” in the past tense, because they’re all dead now. Any other type of fiction writer doesn’t exist for me.

The more I learn about TL the more I like him. So many people are turned off by his attitude but I just love it. Most authors are boring as fuck in interviews, he's different.