Ligotti and 'The Intentional Fallacy'

[Spotbowserfido2]

Thank you, Mr. Lewis. I believe that I am now liberated from my exhausting confusion. I dwelt too heavily on the theoretical aspects of "Intentional Fallacy." So much so that I had sealed off all of the exits from this line of thought (with the exception of a trapdoor which plunged me into a room basically identical to the one above it). I felt as if I had no valid basis for interpreting (or even reacting to) the works of Thomas Ligotti or any other writer or artist. I think that I will once again trust the nose which I was given at birth. And my instincts. I fully understand your view of Mr. Ligotti's fiction as "magic." Who can argue? Not me. Not now.

Three wags of the tail,
Rover

[Nemonymous]

Thanks, Rover. Do you speak to me through a ventriloquist? ;-)

Seriously, on reflection, the thoughts on this thread lead me to think that the rite-of-passage described by the story 'The Voice in the Bones' is emblematic of the Intentional Fallacy, both as a literary theory and a poetic trope. Re-read it and you'll see what I mean.

On a different subject, I was brought up in the nineteen-fifties with early black and white British TV and one of the few programmes for small children was Andy Pandy, who was a clown puppet. Is anybody other than British people reading this aware of Andy Pandy??

[Nemonymous]

From the story mentioned in previous post:

Yet it was no longer his own voice that sounded in the tower, but the echoing clamor of strange shrieking multitudes.
--from 'The Voice In the Bones' by Thomas Ligotti

[SwansSoilMe/SwansSaveMe]

Interesting thoughts, those last in particular (from post #12).

[Nemonymous]

Thanks, Swans.

Mutual recognition of all our self-delusions paradoxically creates the ability to use humanity's bulk intentionlessness against encroaching nothingness.

But too late?...


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Everything became newly subject to a mockery that was not of his own making, and to an onslaught of confusion that threatened to violate his precious world of death and dolls.
From 'The Order of Illusion' by Thomas Ligotti



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[SwansSoilMe/SwansSaveMe]

Whew, pretty subtle...where's that caffeine kick?

Hey, correction: I was referring to your thoughts on the TL world's possible emptiness-fullness, so that would be Post #10. Maybe a glitch that day...

I liked your story "The Resident", read it today. Subtleties indeed. Nice.

[Nemonymous]

I have just returned from a short holiday with my wife ... 'distraction'?

And got on straightway with reading The Conspiracy Against the Human Race at the first opportunity. Thanks to TL and Dr B for making it availabe here.

I thought I would make some brief passing comments in media res - and I have reached the text up to Footnote 8 on page 7 (including the reading of footnotes). I don't want my passing thoughts to shade off into hindsight as I read on, so this is why I want to comment periodically as I read it (no guaranteed how quickly).

I have enjoyed this TL's 'sublimation' by means of the text so far ... more 'distraction' by means of such 'enjoyment' on my part?

Sublimation is indeed how I read it .... so far.

I wrote a line of poetry in 1965: "It is futile to call life futile as it is."

Not sure how this will pan out. Enjoyed it and been instructed. Instructive that such thoughts could be thought at all .... and made current in the context of one of my favourite 'fiction' writers ever ('anchoring'?). (I've put fiction in quotes as a safeguard pending my own further thoughts.... if any there be).

I feel as if I am swimmng. But I can't swim, have never been able to swim, despite having been brought up in a seaside resort as a child!

I have only spotted one typo so far: page 3: "What it natural" - 'it' should be 'is'.
And elsewhere in this first section I've read so far - should it not be 'inalienable' rather than 'unalienable'?

[Nemonymous]

Quote Originally Posted by Spotbowserfido2

Thank you, Mr. Lewis. I believe that I am now liberated from my exhausting confusion. I dwelt too heavily on the theoretical aspects of "Intentional Fallacy." So much so that I had sealed off all of the exits from this line of thought (with the exception of a trapdoor which plunged me into a room basically identical to the one above it). I felt as if I had no valid basis for interpreting (or even reacting to) the works of Thomas Ligotti or any other writer or artist. I think that I will once again trust the nose which I was given at birth. And my instincts. I fully understand your view of Mr. Ligotti's fiction as "magic." Who can argue? Not me. Not now. Three wags of the tail, Rover

Thanks, Rover.