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/lit/ - Literature

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14335897

Lovecraftian/Cosmic horror without monsters Anonymous Thu Dec 12 11:22:15 2019 No.14335897 [Reply] [Original]

Hey, /lit/. I've always been a fan of horror films and scary stories, not for the jump scares or for ghosts or cool monsters, but for the dread, unease, uncanniness and darkness that are often present. Most of these works are trash though, unfortunately.
Essentially, I'm looking for thought-provoking, trippy and thematically rich books, short stories or plays that work within the genre of Lovecraftian horror and inspire both dread, creepiness and fear of the unknown, but ones which are more focused on the existential elements and lack a typical monster or elder God or anything of that nature. Unknown beings are cool, I just don't want something that is relying on physicality so much. I'm not looking for complete mythos of some being, if they appear I want them to never be resolved or their motives clear. Not sure if y'all know what I mean, but yeah.
Some stuff that I've read that fits into this is a huge portion of Thomas Ligottis work, The Color Out Of Space by HP Lovecraft, House Of Leaves by Mark Danielewski, etc...

>>

Anonymous Thu Dec 12 11:25:14 2019 No.14335908

For the record, I am not historically a horror reader at all. I fucking hate Steven King and all that trash (although The Shining is a great film). I've read some Poe and some James, but other than the stuff I've mentioned, I haven't consumed much horror lit.

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 12:01:50 2019 No.14336057 File: 382 KB, 1200x1200, a2476183049_10.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] Pls respond /lit/

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 12:16:07 2019 No.14336141 File: 103 KB, 814x960, FB_IMG_1575418516292.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] /lit/ pls I just need some writing that makes me fear the immensity of the universe and begs me to look behind a curtain

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 12:35:51 2019 No.14336233 kill yourself

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 12:36:25 2019 No.14336238 >>14336141 Awake in the Night Land by John C. Wright.

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 14:24:00 2019 No.14336811 >>14336238 Thank you sir

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 14:37:01 2019 No.14336872 File: 254 KB, 785x1000, soy NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T LIKE THE GOOD BOY ABOMINATIORINOS, THE HECKING SLIMY TENTACLE BOYOS

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 15:00:20 2019 No.14336979 read Aickman

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 16:09:25 2019 No.14337320 Gravity's Rainbow

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 16:12:01 2019 No.14337333 >>14335897 king in yellow, the willows

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 18:19:59 2019 No.14338100 >>14335897 Obvious answer but Edgar Allen Poe. There was a fair amount of this type of literate in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. I’m not knowledgeable on it but I’d research some of Lovecraft’s influences

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 18:25:23 2019 No.14338126 >>14335897 brian evenson >t.brian evenson shill

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 19:59:36 2019 No.14338519 The southern reach trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 20:01:06 2019 No.14338524 Ligotti.

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 20:02:11 2019 No.14338532 >>14338524 Oh, never mind, I missed that part of your post. Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood would be good choices for you.

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 20:05:31 2019 No.14338554 File: 374 KB, 846x1200, of kings and things.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] I haven't read this yet, but Stenbock is supposed to be good.

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 20:51:35 2019 No.14338751 The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke. Yeah, "God" plays a role but in a largely tangential way. Also, The Last Night of the World by Ray Bradbury which is somehow simultaneously comfy and utterly horrifying.

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 20:53:46 2019 No.14338764 Additionally, The Rim of Morning by William Sloane

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 22:03:40 2019 No.14339062 http://www.rpc-wiki.net/rpc-313

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 22:35:19 2019 No.14339190 File: 687 KB, 796x916, that innsmouth look spiteful mutant.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] The Shadow over Innsmouth

>>	Anonymous Thu Dec 12 22:43:54 2019 No.14339211 >>14339062 lol

>>	Anonymous Fri Dec 13 01:00:21 2019 No.14339703 Laird Barron

>>	Anonymous Fri Dec 13 01:06:50 2019 No.14339728 OP I read a short story relatively recently that might be what you're looking for, it was definitely creepy and there might have been some hint of something supernatural, but there was nothing overtly fantastical about it.