/lit/ - Literature

>>16533458
Have some Kino, anon.

https://youtu.be/oXG13IKFuVw

>>16533458
non dumbass, non hehe im an edgyanon, non ironical opinion:

It's a really good horror book disguised as a philosophy book. Beware if you tend to get depressed or you're not really fond of life in general, because it can bring you down.
The point of the book is to prove that life itself is an error of nature, and kinda the best thing we can do is kill ourselves immediately.
This said, Ligotti's strategy is to "prove" this via numerous quotes and statements from various philosophers and thinkers. But that's the point, don't take this 100% seriously, just reflect on it and you'll see you won't and, if you know philosophy a bit well, you can't agree with all he states.
With this warning you may read it now.

>>16533458
Antinatalism does not necessitate suicide.

>>16533458
No. You commit suicide out of an impulse (sudden death of a loved one and so on) or because of an consideration when bad things stack up in your life and you literally have no more hope. Ligotti actually gives solace when you read him in the right mind set.

>>16533694
I started reading Teatro del Grottesco. I was told to try Ligotti if I like creepy stuff. Ok I just read the first tale "purity" and it seemed to me some bizarre story rather than horror. I didn't really understood what happened or what's the scary part. Should I go on? I was planning to finish this narrative book and then try Conspiracy.

>>16533822
He's like a fusion of Kafka and Lovecraft IMO (including Kafka's humor sometimes). Try The Clown Puppet, which is in that book.

>>16533458
Im sick of seeing this book everywhere on this board

>>16533842
I feel like this but regarding human life.

>>16533458
No. But you will likely be crying from laughing so hard. You can only read MALIGNANTLY USELESS so many times without thinking of Ligotti, in tears, seething at his keyboard.
>pic related, the perfect representation of the tone of this book.

>>16533891
Must be nice doing big money telling people that they should kill themselves.

I need to read this. Thanks op !!!

Since we are more or less on topic. Are there other good horror writers except the usual King, Barker, Lovecraft etc...?
I tried Koontz, I feel like he always builds very interesting premises but ruins them with stupid plot twists and his obsession with doggos. I read "The taking", "Phantoms" and "your heart belongs to me".

>>16533891
I will agree that his use of "MALIGNANTLY USELESS" is pretty cringe. Also "(____'s emphasis)". Too much of the book felt like a weird foray into obscure horror novels that I honestly just don't give a fuck about. The underlying messaging was thought-provoking but I feel like the whole deal could have been 50-100 pages shorter. He kind of drones on for a while and ends with a whimper. Not a BAD book but... an okay-ish intro to depressing /lit/ and antinatalism.

where can you buy this with the non-shit cover

>>16538300
this. the viking press one is so fucking bad.

>>16533458
This book directly advocates against suicide.

>>16538499
The closest thing Ligotti does is explore the possibility of consensual human extinction over several generations. This book attracts loads of brainlets who either:
>think they're geniuses for reading an introductory antinatalism-ish book
>seethe at the possibility that life isn't all that nice and that maybe they're tricking themselves so that they can get up in the morning (a group who Ligotti explicitly names several times).

>>16533694
Being chronically depressed I think I'll pass. Wether this is a legit "philosophy" book or an edgelord fest I really don't feel like bringing myself down. A guy in a review said that Ligotti claimed that depression is actually a sign of an "healthy" mind since it just knows how crap this existence is. Perhaps I am just coping but according to Wikipedia Ligotti suffers severe anxiety, pretty sure that left on mark on the writing of that book.

>>16539588
I actually studied him for a class, and most of the arguments aren't really arguments. It's more of a creative interpretation of reality and history in an extremely disheartening light. We also studied the best attempt at a real argument presented by antinatalists, the one given by Benatar. Spoiler, it doesn't work. In the end, I don't think that reality itself can be qualified as good or bad. Antinatalists and people like Ligotti are just the inverse of people who argue that the world is fundamentally good.

>>16539588
>>16539605
To continue, I think Ligotti is at his best, and best interpreted, as a fiction writer. Some of his short stories are excellent. Way better than Lovecraft imho.

>>16538541
>You're just tricking yourself into getting up in the morning
>don't kill yourself though lol
Logotti is a coward, he should have absolutely advocating suicide and led the way.

>>16533458
probably just put you to sleep. it's very repetitive and boring.

>>16533458
Exactly how depressed to I have to be to enjoy this?

>>16533822
Read Grimscribe instead imo. The shorts in there are better than his later stuff.

>>16539637
>he should have absolutely advocating suicide and led the way.
I don't know how speech laws work in the USA but isn't it illegal to encourage suicide or other violent behaviours?

>>16539735
>advocate suicide in book
>kill yourself
What are they going to do arrest him lol

>>16539613
Can you point me his best short stories anthologies please? I know he also wrote a novel.

>>16539740
If I write on a book "you should beat your wife" I am pretty sure I could get in trouble.

>>16539741
Try Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe (one collection). I especially liked “Professor Nobody's Little Lectures on Supernatural Horror,” “The Sect of the Idiot,” and especially “The Last Feast of Harlequin.” He’s a excellent horror writer, enjoy!

>>16539741
>>16539851
Also, he’s definitely in the tradition of Lovecraft, and there’s a touch of Kafka in his work as well, as another Anon pointed out. His stories aren’t necessarily *scary* in the conventional sense, but they are some of the best stuff out there if you’re looking for existential dread, cosmic horror, and genre subversion. Some of his fiction is quite disturbing.

>>16533458
You won't because suicide is more difficult than you think

>>16533458
>Will I commit suicide
You'll just fall asleep, Ligotti is the dull beyond redemption, him and Houellebecq are both nothing but retard misreadings of Lovecraft

>>16540002
>misreadings of Lovecraft
but anon, there is nothing to read into with Lovecraft, his work isn’t exactly ripe with meaning...
>dull beyond redemption
Come on now, don’t be a brainlet.

>>16540002
Am I the only who doesn't have an hard on for Lovecraft? I find his stories terribly repetitive and always predictable. He is kinda like Nirvana, he sparkled a new wave of horror literature but his "disciples" did a better job.

>>16540026
>there is nothing to read into with Lovecraft
Tell that to Ligotti, and to Houellebecq.
Lovecraft was a pulp writer, who loved writing and engaging with his circle of friends and fellow writers. That is creative, and he created the modern form of Horror.
L and H took that and turned it into some grimdark wankfest "philosophy"
>>16540052
Reading for plot

>>16539637
Per Ligotti suicide is the absolute worst type of horror a man can go through. You're basically accusing a guy who wrote a book called "Fuck Shrimp" of not eating shrimp. Please cease your retardation and just read a fucking book instead of embarassing yourself.