Thomas Ligotti
Speciale Thomas Ligotti: Zothique 13

THE REVIEW

For those who love Thomas Ligotti, this issue of Zothique is simply unmissable. Indeed, a lot of unpublished material is made available that the Detroit writer has granted, for the occasion, as an Italian preview to the magazine. In the long essay The Comfort of Horror, the author spans across the cinema and literature that inspired him. In particular, the great influence on him by Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe emerges. Ligotti is indeed considered somewhat the heir of these two great writers, although stylistically, I would align him more with Poe. He provides a new and profound interpretation of the masterpiece story The Fall of the House of Usher by the Boston author. We then find Ghost Stories for the Dead, some short stories in his typical vein dating back to 1982, and The Impure City, practically consisting of the translation of the texts (translations of Ligotti's texts always curated by Pietro Guarriello) from his 2003 music album in which he recites accompanied by sparse guitar arrangements. We certainly must not forget Ligotti's passion for music and his collaboration with the legendary Current 93 of David Tibet on albums like Foreign Land (1997), I have a Special Plan For This World (2000), and The Degenerate Little Town (2003). In fact, I personally admit to having discovered Ligotti precisely through Current 93 (a band I adore). But perhaps the highlight of this issue of Zothique is represented by the translation, for the first time in Italy, of his legendary Death Poems (collection always published by Durtro of David Tibet of Current 93 in only 333 copies), which seem to be written by a mind in the grip of a bad trip. From these texts, all his extreme nihilism emerges, seasoned, on some occasions, with a macabre irony that does not leave you indifferent. For the inclusion of the Death Poems alone, this issue of Zothique is, in my opinion, worth the purchase. Moreover, not to be missed is the interview that Massimiliano Ruzzante, the curator of this special, conducts with Jon Padgett. Perhaps some of you know him from having read his excellent collection The Secret of Ventriloquism published by Edizioni Hypnos. Padgett founded the mythical web Thomas Ligotti Online and also collaborates with the magazine "Vastarien" always dedicated to the study of the American writer. Padgett explains how his life has been substantially changed thanks to reading Thomas Ligotti: an example of how literature can give someone a strong emotional jolt. There are many critical contributions, among which I mention my The Curious Editorial Case of Thomas Ligotti, highlighting how his first historical volumes, namely The Songs of a Dead Dreamer and The Macabre Scribe are in fact difficult to find as they are published by Elara, a small publisher that sells only online. Instead, you can easily find in bookstores the volumes published by Il Saggiatore, a publisher that rode the wave of success of the TV series True Detective where entire dialogues were literally taken from the essay The Conspiracy Against the Human Race. A writer who should not be unknown to Italian horror lovers like Nicola Lombardi writes about how he immediately noticed, reading one of his stories in the historic anthology In the Beginning There Was Evil, his originality. Lucio Besana, on the other hand (screenwriter of the films The Nest and A Classical Horror Story), talks to us about a possible film adaptation of his work while the great S.T. Joshi, the foremost international expert on H.P. Lovecraft, highlights the importance of Ligotti as today's prototype of the weird narrator. Also noteworthy are the essays by Francesco Corigliano, Christian Lamberti, Jacopo De Ponti, and Fabio Condemi. Ligotti can be loved or hated, but if you are among the first, do not miss Zothique 13. Available on Amazon at the following link: https://www.amazon.it/ZOTHIQUE-13-Speciale-Thomas-Ligotti/dp/B0BVDLH3X6.