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Rating: My Work Is Not Yet Done by Thomas Ligotti is the only novel he has ever written, although it is not very long and can actually be considered a novella. Ligotti's work is a kind of "nihilistic horror" where the plot often bears little importance, and where his "vision of existence," composed of "antinatalist" theories and "conspiracies against the human race," emerges prominently. After reading it, one feels uneasy, but perhaps that is also its objective. I believe Ligotti is "a theorist of horror," and I consider the extended essay The Conspiracy Against the Human Race to be his true masterpiece (this is also the opinion of Ramsey Campbell). However, one cannot deny the value of Thomas Ligotti's recherché and baroque prose style, which places him a step above many of his contemporary horror writers. In this sense, Ligotti is the anti-Stephen King (a writer criticized by some for poor writing). Thus, I was surprised by the reading of My Work Is Not Yet Done: it is as if Ligotti had stripped his art of form, leaving only substance and the skeleton—his nihilistic philosophy. I pointed out that the plot is not important in his narratives: here, instead, there is a plot, and it is also very defined.
The story revolves around the experiences of Frank Dominio, an anonymous and dull corporate employee leading a squalid life. When, during a meeting with colleagues and the boss, he tries to step out of mediocrity by proposing a new idea, he is immediately ostracized: his fate is sealed, and he will be forced to resign. The context described is very realistic and flat, depicting what can be defined as the "horror of reality" spoken of by Lovecraft, which is also the horror of capitalism. From here on, however, events take a disturbing turn: Dominio (or Domino, as mocked by his boss, in reality, an alter ego of Ligotti himself, as he admitted) is overwhelmed by an undefined viscous darkness. The result is that his person sinks into a limbo, another dark dimension of reality where he exists and does not exist (almost like the Moratorium guests described by Philip K. Dick in Ubik), assuming the guise of a Angel of Death. Revenge becomes his sole and only reason for living, and he will have no qualms about carrying it out ruthlessly. There are explicit descriptions of the morbid and grotesque fantasy with which Domino decides the fate of his victims: a woman turns into a mannequin and is abused by two homeless men, while another's body merges, in a room of a sadomasochistic club she frequents, with that of a slave (a garbage eater) to live inside her as a parasite. Overall, we are dealing with a fairly conventional horror were it not for the typical "ligottian" characteristics that emerge on the surface, such as certain philosophical passages that reveal all his disgust for the human race or certain very raw and evocative urban decay descriptions, I would almost say "ballardian." Ultimately, we are faced with a new Ligotti, and perhaps some will be disappointed. Personally, I liked My Work Is Not Yet Done and consider it his most accessible work: it is a deeply anti-American and anti-capitalist book. I do not believe it is his masterpiece (as I said, that is The Conspiracy Against the Human Race), and stylistically the stories remain of another level (and in the end, art is also aesthetic). However, the novel shows another side of his creativity, and one wonders what commercial results he could have achieved if he had further explored this line. We will never know: Ligotti remains and will remain both loved and hated.
This volume is completed by the short novella I Have a Special Plan for This World and The Nightmare Network. I was already familiar with the musical adaptation of the first by Current 93 (I Have A Special Plan For This World, a dark-ambient composition linked to the early works of the Current). I confess I came to know Ligotti thanks to David Tibet, and being a great admirer of the leader of Current 93, it seemed only right to deepen my knowledge of him, considering my passion for weird literature. I Have a Special Plan for This World returns Ligotti to his known dimension and is a small masterpiece. The Nightmare Network seems more like an impromptu oddity. In any case, My Work Is Not Yet Done is a must-have for all his followers and horror enthusiasts.
Thomas Ligotti – “My Work Is Not Yet Done” – Il Saggiatore – 214 pages – Euro 22 – 2020
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