View source for Thomas Ligotti

{{Short description|American horror author}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Thomas Ligotti
| image            = 
| caption          = 
| birth_date       = {{Birth date and age|1953|7|9}}
| birth_place      = [[Detroit]], [[Michigan]], U.S.
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
| occupation       = Writer
| period           = 1981–present
| alma_mater       = [[Wayne State University]]
| genre            = [[Horror fiction]], [[weird fiction]], [[dark fantasy]]
| signature        = 
}}
'''Thomas Ligotti''' (born July 9, 1953) is an American [[Horror film|horror]] author, lay [[Philosophy|philosopher]], and writer. His writings are rooted in several [[literary genre]]s – most prominently [[weird fiction]] – and have been described by critics as works of philosophical horror, often formed into short stories and novellas in the tradition of [[gothic fiction]].<ref name="Interview with Thomas Ligotti">''[http://www.teemingbrain.com/interview-with-thomas-ligotti// Interview with Thomas Ligotti]'' – web interview from Published in The New York Review of Science Fiction Issue 218, Vol. 19, No. 2 (October 2006).</ref> The worldview espoused by Ligotti in his fiction and non-fiction has been described as [[Philosophical pessimism|pessimistic]] and [[nihilism|nihilistic]].<ref name="Interview with Thomas Ligotti"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.darkmoonrising.com/issues/jun02/?file=ligotti |website=Dark Moon Rising |title=Thomas Ligotti |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929003946/http://www.darkmoonrising.com/issues/jun02/?file=ligotti |archive-date=2007-09-29 }}</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' called him "the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction."<ref>Blurb from Ligotti's ''The Nightmare Factory.''</ref>

==Career==
Ligotti started his professional writing career in the early 1980s with [[short stories]] published in American [[small press]] magazines. He was contributing editor to ''Grimoire'' from 1982 to 1985.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Schweitzer, Darrell |title=The Thomas Ligotti Reader|location=Holicong, PA| publisher=Wildside Press|year= 2003|page=178}}</ref> In 2015, Ligotti's first two collections, ''[[Songs of a Dead Dreamer]]'' and ''[[Grimscribe: His Lives and Works]]'', were republished in one volume by [[Penguin Classics]] as ''Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ligotti, Thomas|title=Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe|location= New York, NY |publisher= Penguin Classics|date=2015|
isbn= 978-0143107767}}</ref> Michael Calia of ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' wrote of the reprint that "Horror writer Thomas Ligotti is about to enter the American literary canon. Penguin Classics published a volume of Mr. Ligotti’s short stories, making him one of 10 living writers, including [[Thomas Pynchon]] and [[Don DeLillo]], among the hundreds the imprint has published in the U.S."<ref>{{cite news| website=The Wall Street Journal| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/penguin-classics-to-publish-ligotti-stories-1442851513 | title=Penguin Classics to Publish Ligotti Stories| author=Calia, Michael |date= September 21, 2015}}</ref> Ligotti's work received high praise following the publication from the likes of ''[[The New York Times Book Review]]'',<ref name="Rafferty, Terrence">{{cite news| website=The New York Times Book Review | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/01/books/review/stephen-kings-the-bazaar-of-bad-dreams-and-more.html | title=Stephen King's 'The Bazaar of Bad Dreams' and More | author=Rafferty, Terrence |date= October 29, 2015}}</ref> the ''[[Los Angeles Review of Books]]'',<ref>{{cite news| website=[[Los Angeles Review of Books]] | url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/review/loving-the-alien-thomas-ligotti-and-the-psychology-of-cosmic-horror | title=Loving the Alien: Thomas Ligotti and the Psychology of Cosmic Horror | author=Clune, Michael W |date= January 27, 2016}}</ref>'' [[The Washington Post]]'',<ref>{{cite news| newspaper=The Washington Post | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/michael-dirdas-picks-for-halloween-chillers-get-ready-to-be-grossed-out/2015/10/27/f39fb280-71ea-11e5-9cbb-790369643cf9_story.html | title=Michael Dirda's picks for Halloween chillers: Get ready to be grossed out | author=Dirda, Michael |date= October 27, 2015}}</ref> and'' [[The New Yorker]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine| magazine=The New Yorker | url=http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-horror-of-the-unreal | title=The Horror of the Unreal | author=Bebergal, Peter |date= October 29, 2015}}</ref> [[Terrence Rafferty]] contrasts Ligotti with [[Stephen King]], observing, "King, the great entertainer, needs the story as the comedian needs the joke, and when he can’t quite deliver it he dies (in the comedian’s sense). King is a master of horror, though. When inspiration fails, he has the technique to fake it. Thomas Ligotti is a master of a different order, practically a different species. He probably couldn’t fake it if he tried, and he never tries. He writes like horror incarnate."<ref name="Rafferty, Terrence"/>

Ligotti collaborated with the musical group [[Current 93]] on the albums ''In a Foreign Town, In a Foreign Land'' (1997, reissued 2002), ''[[I Have a Special Plan for This World]]'' (2000), ''This Degenerate Little Town'' (2001) and ''The Unholy City ''(2003), all released on [[David Tibet]]'s [[Durtro]] label. Tibet has also published several limited editions of Ligotti's books on Durtro Press. Additionally, Ligotti played guitar on [[Current 93]]'s contribution to the compilation album ''Foxtrot'', whose proceeds went to the treatment of musician [[John Balance]]'s alcoholism.<ref name="Smith2004">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/dec/11/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|title=Obituary: John Balance|last=Smith|first=Richard|date=11 December 2004|work=The Guardian|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110200948/http://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/dec/11/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|url-status=live|archive-date=10 January 2014}}</ref>

==Personal life==
He has cited [[Thomas Bernhard]], [[William S. Burroughs]], [[Emil Cioran]], [[Vladimir Nabokov]], [[Edgar Allan Poe]], [[Giacomo Leopardi]], [[Samuel Beckett]], [[Franz Kafka]], and [[Bruno Schulz]] as being among his favorite writers. [[H. P. Lovecraft]] is also an important touchstone for Ligotti: a few stories, "The Sect of the Idiot" in particular, make explicit reference to Lovecraft's [[Cthulhu Mythos]], and one, "The Last Feast of Harlequin", was dedicated to Lovecraft. Also among his avowed influences are [[Algernon Blackwood]], [[M. R. James]], and [[Arthur Machen]], all ''[[fin de siècle]]'' horror authors known for their subtlety and implications of the cosmic and supernatural in their stories.<ref name="Interview with Thomas Ligotti"/> He has also invoked the influence of philosophers such as [[Arthur Schopenhauer]] and [[Peter Wessel Zapffe]].<ref name="Interview with Thomas Ligotti"/>

Ligotti has suffered from [[anxiety disorder|chronic anxiety]] and [[anhedonia]] for much of his life; these have been prominent themes in his work.<ref name="Interview with Thomas Ligotti"/> Ligotti avoids the [[splatterpunk|explicit violence]] common in some recent horror fiction, preferring to establish a disquieting, pessimistic atmosphere through the use of subtlety and repetition. Ligotti has stated he prefers short stories to longer forms, both as a reader and as a writer,<ref name="Interview with Thomas Ligotti"/> though he has written a [[novella]], ''My Work Is Not Yet Done'' (2002)<ref>{{cite book|author=Ligotti, Thomas|title=My Work is Not Yet Done|location= Poplar Bluff, MO |publisher= Mythos Books|date=2002|
asin= B003U2ENPI}}</ref>

Ligotti's ancestry is three-quarters [[Sicilians|Sicilian]], one-quarter Polish, a genetic combination he likes to think "contributed to the bizarre quality of my imagination and to what has been called its 'universality'." He says that his Polish grandmother's stories, though not horrific, "put me in touch with an older and stranger world than I would otherwise have known and that emerged when I started writing stories so many years later".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teemingbrain.com/interview-with-thomas-ligotti-2/|title=An Interview with Thomas Ligotti Born to Fear|publisher=The Teeming Brain|date=February 23, 2015|access-date=March 2, 2017}}</ref>

Ligotti attended [[Macomb County Community College]] between 1971 and 1973 and graduated from [[Wayne State University]] in 1978.<ref name="Ligotti2009">{{cite book|author=Thomas Ligotti|title=Teatro Grottesco|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9eoC_cGOPiEC&pg=PP3|date=24 November 2009|publisher=Ebury Publishing|isbn=978-0-7535-2517-3|pages=3–}}</ref> For 23 years Ligotti worked as an Associate Editor at Gale Research (now the [[Gale Group]]), a publishing company that produces compilations of literary (and other) research. In the summer of 2001, Ligotti quit his job at the Gale Group and moved to south Florida. Politically, he identifies as a [[socialist]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thedamnedinterviews.com/2011/01/author-thomas-ligotti/|title=Author Thomas Ligotti|date=July 16, 2011|website=The Damned Interviews|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716140816/http://www.thedamnedinterviews.com/2011/01/author-thomas-ligotti/|archive-date=July 16, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Hall|first=Tina|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SJbPBwAAQBAJ&q=socialist&pg=PT194|title=The Damned Book of Interviews|publisher=Crossroad Press|year=2015|language=en}}</ref>

==Influence==
He has been influenced by the "first-person voice in which [[Vladimir Nabokov|Nabokov]] wrote" and the "densely metaphorical style of [[Bruno Schulz]]".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-10-11 |title=Wonderbook Interview with Thomas Ligotti |url=https://wonderbooknow.com/interviews/thomas-ligotti/ |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=Wonderbook |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 2003, [[Wildside Press]] published ''[[The Thomas Ligotti Reader: Essays and Explorations]]'', a collection of essays about Ligotti's work edited by [[Darrell Schweitzer]].

Author [[Jeff VanderMeer]] has penned numerous pieces praising Ligotti's writing, including the introduction to the [[Penguin Classics]] edition of ''Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vulture.com/2014/08/thomas-ligotti-true-detective-guide.html|title=Thomas Ligotti 101: A Guide to the Cult Writer Now Linked to True Detective|publisher=Vulture|author=Jeff VanderMeer|date=13 August 2014 |access-date=8 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ligotti |first=Thomas |date=October 6, 2015 |title=Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KH_MBgAAQBAJ&q=songs+of+a+dead+and+grimscribe |location=London |publisher=Penguin Classics |page=xiv |isbn=978-0143107767}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2015/10/05/the-legacy-of-thomas-ligotti/|title=The Legacy of Thomas Ligotti|author=Jeff VanderMeer|work=Jeff VanderMeer |date=5 October 2015 |access-date=8 October 2020}}</ref>

In 2014, the [[HBO]] television series ''[[True Detective]]'' attracted attention from some of Ligotti's fans because of the resemblance of the pessimistic, [[antinatalism|antinatalist]] philosophy espoused in the first few episodes by the character of [[Rust Cohle]] (played by [[Matthew McConaughey]]) and Ligotti's own philosophical pessimism and antinatalism, especially as expressed in ''[[The Conspiracy Against the Human Race]]''. After accusations that dialogue from Cohle's character in ''True Detective'' were lifted from ''The Conspiracy Against the Human Race,''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2014/08/08/showbiz/tv/true-detective-pizzolatto-plagiarism/index.html|title='True Detective' writer accused of plagiarism - CNN.com|author=Todd Leopold|website=CNN|date=8 August 2014 |access-date=2016-05-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lovecraftzine.com/2014/08/04/did-the-writer-of-true-detective-plagiarize-thomas-ligotti-and-others/|title=Did the writer of "True Detective" plagiarize Thomas Ligotti and others?|last=Davis|first=Mike|date=2014-08-04|website=Lovecraft eZine|access-date=2016-05-26}}</ref> the series' writer, [[Nic Pizzolatto]], confirmed in ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''<ref>{{cite news| website=WSJ Speakeasy| url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/01/30/the-most-shocking-thing-about-hbos-true-detective/ | title=The Most Shocking Thing About HBO's 'True Detective'| author=Calia, Michael |date= January 30, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.arkhamdigest.com/2014/01/interview-nic-pizzolatto-creatorwriter.html|title=The Arkham Digest: Interview: Nic Pizzolatto, creator/writer of HBO's True Detective|website=Arkhamdigest.com|access-date=2016-05-26}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> that Ligotti, along with several other writers and texts in the weird supernatural horror genre, had indeed influenced him. Pizzolatto said he found ''The Conspiracy Against the Human Race'' to be "incredibly powerful writing".<ref name=":0" /> On the topic of [[hard-boiled detective]]s, he asked: "What could be more hardboiled than the worldview of Ligotti or [Emil] Cioran?"<ref name=":0">{{cite news| website=WSJ Speakeasy| url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/02/02/writer-nic-pizzolatto-on-thomas-ligotti-and-the-weird-secrets-of-true-detective/ | title=Writer Nic Pizzolatto on Thomas Ligotti and the Weird Secrets of 'True Detective'| author=Calia, Michael |date= February 2, 2014}}</ref>

The writing of Ligotti and [[Eugene Thacker]] is cited as an influence on the 2021 album ''The Nightmare of Being'' by the Gothenburg melodic death metal band [[At the Gates]].<ref>{{cite web|url= https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/at-the-gates-the-nightmare-of-being/|title=At the Gates: The Nightmare Of Being |publisher=Pitchfork.com |date=8 July 2021 |access-date=14 August 2021}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==
'''Collections'''
*''Songs of a Dead Dreamer'' (1986)
*''Grimscribe: His Lives and Works'' (1991)
*''Noctuary'' (1994)
*''The Agonising Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales'' (1994)
*''The Nightmare Factory'' (1996)
*''In a Foreign Town, in a Foreign Land'' (1997)
*''The Shadow at the Bottom of the World'' (2005)
*''Teatro Grottesco'' (2006)
*''The Spectral Link'' (2014)

'''Novella'''
*''My Work Is Not Yet Done'' (2001)

'''Non-fiction'''
*''The Conspiracy Against the Human Race'' (2010)

'''Poetry'''
*''Death Poems'' (2004)
*''Pictures of Apocalypse'' (2023)

==Full bibliography==
*''[[Songs of a Dead Dreamer]]'' (1986, rev. & exp. 1989)
*''[[Grimscribe: His Lives and Works]]'' (1991)
*''Noctuary'' (1994)
*''[[The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales]]'' (1994)
*''The Nightmare Factory'' (1996). Essentially an omnibus of selections from Ligotti's first three collections, with a concluding section containing new stories. All of the stories in the concluding section were later printed in ''[[Teatro Grottesco (book)|Teatro Grottesco]]''.
*''In a Foreign Town, in a Foreign Land'' (1997, accompanying CD by [[Current 93]])
*''[[I Have a Special Plan for This World]]'' (2000, accompanying CD by Current 93)
*''[[This Degenerate Little Town]]'' (2001, accompanying CD by Current 93)
*''[[My Work Is Not Yet Done|My Work Is Not Yet Done: Three Tales of Corporate Horror]]'' (2002)
*''Crampton: A Screenplay'' (2003, with Brandon Trenz) {{small|(Unproduced screenplay written in 1998 for an episode of ''[[The X-Files]]'')}}
*''Sideshow, and Other Stories'' (2003)
*''The Unholy City'' (2003, Words and music copyright 2003 Thomas Ligotti)
*''Death Poems'' (2004)
*''[[The Shadow at the Bottom of the World]]'' (2005)
*''[[Teatro Grottesco (book)|Teatro Grottesco]]'' (2006, reprinted in 2008)
*''[[The Conspiracy Against the Human Race]]'' (2010)
*''[[The Spectral Link]]'' (2014)
*''Born to Fear: Interviews with Thomas Ligotti'' (2014), edited by Matt Cardin
*''Songs of a Dead Dreamer & Grimscribe'' (2015)
*''The Small People'' (2021). A chapbook reprint of a single story previously collected in ''[[The Spectral Link]]''.
*''Paradoxes From Hell'' (2021). A chapbook reprint of a previously uncollected story and two poems.
*''Pictures of Apocalypse'' (2023). A collection of 20 new poems.

==Adaptations==
'''Graphic novels'''
*''[[The Nightmare Factory]]'' (2007)
*''[[The Nightmare Factory – Volume 2]]'' (2008)

==Awards==
* 1982: Small Press Writers and Artists Organization, Best Author of Horror/Weird Fiction: ''The Chymist''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3417100101.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924170947/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-3417100101.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 24, 2015|title=Ligotti, Thomas (Robert) 1953- - Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series &#124; HighBeam Research|date=September 24, 2015}}</ref>
* 1986: [[Rhysling Award]], from Science Fiction Poetry Association (nomination): ''One Thousand Painful Variations Performed Upon Divers Creatures Undergoing the Treatment of Dr. Moreau, Humanist''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sfpoetry.com/ra/19/rhysling86.htm |title=Rhysling Anthology and Awards: 1986 |publisher=Sfpoetry.com |date=2003-11-08 |access-date=2015-09-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305015230/http://www.sfpoetry.com/ra/19/rhysling86.htm |archive-date=2016-03-05 }}</ref>
* 1991: World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction (nomination): ''The Last Feast of Harlequin''<ref name="worldfantasy1">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/awardslist.html |title=World Fantasy Awards - Complete Listing |publisher=Worldfantasy.org |access-date=2015-09-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131015020014/http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/awardslist.html |archive-date=2013-10-15 }}</ref>
* 1992: World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (nomination): ''[[Grimscribe: His Lives and Works]]''<ref name="worldfantasy1"/>
* 1997: World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (nomination): ''The Nightmare Factory''<ref name="worldfantasy1"/>
* 1995: [[Bram Stoker Award for Best Short Fiction]] (nomination): ''The Bungalow House''<ref name="horror1">{{cite web|url=http://horror.org/past-award-nominees-winners/ |title=Horror Writers Association - Past Bram Stoker Award Nominees & Winners |publisher=Horror.org |date=2000-06-15 |access-date=2019-10-18}}</ref>
* 1996: [[Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection]]: ''The Nightmare Factory''<ref name="horror1"/>
* 1996: [[Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction]]: ''The Red Tower''<ref name="horror1"/>
* 1996: British Fantasy Award for Best Fiction Collection: ''The Nightmare Factory''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/BfaWinsByYear.html |title=The Locus Index to SF Awards: British Fantasy Awards Winners By Year |publisher=Locusmag.com |access-date=2015-09-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020424072203/http://locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/BfaWinsByYear.html |archive-date=2002-04-24 }}</ref>
* 2002: Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction: ''[[My Work Is Not Yet Done]]''<ref name="horror1"/>
* 2002: International Horror Guild Award, Long Form Category: ''My Work Is Not Yet Done''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.horroraward.org/prevrec.html |title=International Horror Guild |publisher=Horroraward.org |access-date=2015-09-19}}</ref>
* 2010: Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction (nomination) ''[[The Conspiracy Against the Human Race]]''<ref name="horror1"/>
* 2019: [[Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thebramstokerawards.com/lifetime-achievement-award/hwa-announces-2019-lifetime-achievement-award-winners-owl-goingback-and-thomas-ligotti/ |title=HWA announces 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award winners Owl Goingback and Thomas Ligotti |access-date=2020-04-17}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
*[http://www.ligotti.net/ Thomas Ligotti Online] – Fan site, wealth of information, media and discussion on Thomas Ligotti.
*[http://www.horrorgarage.com/horror/interview-thomas-ligotti.php Horror Garage interview with Thomas Ligotti] conducted by Mark McLaughlin in 2008
*[http://www.teemingbrain.com/interview-with-thomas-ligotti/ "It's all a matter of personal pathology"] -a July 2006 interview With Ligotti conducted by Matt Cardin.
*[http://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=420 Literature Is Entertainment or It Is Nothing] – a long, in-depth interview conducted by Neddal Ayad.
*[http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Thomas_Ligotti.htm Listing of his works]
*{{isfdb name}}

{{Thomas Ligotti}}
{{Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ligotti, Thomas}}
[[Category:Thomas Ligotti]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1953 births]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:American horror writers]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:American people of Polish descent]]
[[Category:American short story writers]]
[[Category:American socialists]]
[[Category:American writers of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Anti-natalists]]
[[Category:Cthulhu Mythos writers]]
[[Category:Dark fantasy writers]]
[[Category:Philosophers of pessimism]]
[[Category:Wayne State University alumni]]
[[Category:American weird fiction writers]]
[[Category:Writers from Detroit]]