Thomas Ligotti in Spanish

J

Juan Borgia

Mannikin
The situation of Horror literature in Spain is desperate. I keep telling my friends at Spain that there is a whole new world of horror and dark fiction to be found in the States (and elsewhere) with names such as Ligotti, Cardin and Cisco (among others), yet Ligotti is an almost unknown name in there. Since I'm currently stationed in northeastern Mexico, it is very easy for me to find all these authors by just paying a visit to the States (it's just a two hours drive!) or buying them through American on-line stores.

This far I have only found four Ligotti stories translated to Spanish/Castilian distributed in four different anthologies:

"The Eye of the Lynx", translated as "El ojo del Lince" in Caricias de Horror 2

"The last Feast of Harlequin", translated as "La última fiesta de Arlequin" in Cthulhu 2000

"The Frolic", translated as "La Diversión", in
Los Mejores Relatos de Terror de Fantasy Tales

and

"Alice's Last Adventure", translated as "La última aventura de Alicia" in Pesadilla

These four anthologies are Spanish translations of English language anthologies.

But this is, of course, not enough, and it definitely does not serve to showcase the true gems or the Ligottian corpus... Anyone knows if by mere chance someone has plans of actually translating a collection or two of Ligotti's fiction? (I'm thinking in the lines of "Grimscribe" and "Noctuary", perhaps)
 
Hallo Señor Borgia. Nice to see another Spaniard around here. A new victory over our chronic provincialism!
I don´t think there are plans to translate Ligotti into Spanish. However, his work would fit nicely into "Valdemar" and "Siruela" publishing houses.
Another thing is how to translate Ligotti, a most baroque, exquisite and subtle writer. Torres Oliver, Lovecraft translator have an excellent reputation, but I think he is a bit overrated.
If you want to check why some people think he made things too easy for himself when he translated Lovecraft you can read this article (in Spanish).
http://orbita.starmedia.com/~jornadaslovecraft/articulos/problemastrad.html
In anycase, translating Ligotti would be a challenge as well as a pleasure for anyone loving both languages and the arduous work of "translation".
 
Hasn't the short story collection "999" (edited by Al Sarrantonio) been translated into Spanish? There is this Ligotti novella "The Shadow, the Darkness". The anthology is available in many languages, even in Polish, thus making "TSTD" the only work by Ligotti which I could read in my native language.
 
Hallo Slawek! Google only gives one hit for Sarrantonio's Anthology "999" in Spanish, and the text's author is talking about the original English collection. So I don't think it was translated.
 
It’s really annoying how expensive it is to read Thomas Ligotti in Spanish.

For example, the complete Songs of a Dead Dreamer (including The Agonic Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein) costs 26 euros in the Spanish edition, but it ends up being even more expensive for those of us in the Americas (Chile, in my case). Grimscribe as a standalone volume costs 24 euros, yet the original English Penguin Random House edition of Songs of a Dead Dreamer includes Grimscribe and is cheaper! I know the Spanish volumes are hardback and all, but… it’s still annoying to a certain extent.

And even with the new press publishing Thomas Ligotti, prices remain high.

Still, I’m glad I was able to read Noctuary and The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, even if the latter came with that Dead Silence puppet cover…

If you want to check the Spanish editions by Valdemar:

Ligotti, Thomas - Editorial Valdemar

www.valdemar.com www.valdemar.com
 
Do you prefer to read Ligotti in Spanish? I don't trust, or fully like, any translations I have compared to various authors' original language. I only read translations when there is no other way for me, like the Russian writers, or the French, or Spanish, ... Japanese, or Persian. The true spirit can best be found in the originals.
 
Knygathin said:
Do you prefer to read Ligotti in Spanish? I don't trust, or fully like, any translations I have compared to various authors' original language. I only read translations when there is no other way for me, like the Russian writers, or the French, or Spanish, ... Japanese, or Persian. The true spirit can best be found in the originals.
Click to expand...
In cases like Ligotti, I know that reading him in English changes the nuance, but this publisher's Spanish editions have their own appeal as well...
 
Well, I was going to buy the Spanish edition of Songs of a Dead Dreamer, which also includes The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales, but @Mersennus1951 told me to go straight for Teatro Grottesco. It should arrive sometime during the week of August 11 or shortly after. I can't wait to read "The Red Tower"—I've heard it's outstanding. I'm also really looking forward to the anthology's final story because of the fascinating background behind it.

www.valdemar.com

Teatro Grottesco - Editorial Valdemar

Ligotti, Thomas9788477028222GOT-101
www.valdemar.com www.valdemar.com
 
R. von Pnaklendorf said:
Well, I was going to buy the Spanish edition of Songs of a Dead Dreamer, which also includes The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales, but @Mersennus1951 told me to go straight for Teatro Grottesco. It should arrive sometime during the week of August 11 or shortly after. I can't wait to read "The Red Tower"—I've heard it's outstanding. I'm also really looking forward to the anthology's final story because of the fascinating background behind it.

www.valdemar.com

Teatro Grottesco - Editorial Valdemar

Ligotti, Thomas9788477028222GOT-101
www.valdemar.com www.valdemar.com
Click to expand...
The top three in Teatro, for me, would be: The Shadow, The Darkness (a masterpiece not just of Teatro Grottesco, but of all Ligotti. It's the final story you're referring to and the one that invented the fictitious treatise that would later give its name to The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, as you presumably know), The Bungalow House (it's incomparable. Brutal). And Gas Station Carnival (related to false memories. Very liminal, very dreamcore).
 
I have a question. In the Spanish-speaking world, we have the following volumes by Thomas Ligotti: Songs of a Dead Dreamer and The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales are published together in a single volume; then we have Grimscribe: Life and Works, Teatro Grottesco, My Work Is Not Yet Done, and finally his nonfiction, The Conspiracy Against the Human Race and Born to Fear.

The thing is, Aurora Dorada Ediciones published a volume titled El vínculo espectral y otras obras escogidas (which takes its name from The Spectral Link), but it contains stories that, according to the publisher, were selected by Ligotti himself. In fact, they initially sold limited copies signed by him.

My question is the following: isn't there an anthology called Paradoxes From Hell?

I’ll provide the table of contents of this last volume below, as I’d like to know whether, based on all of the above, there is anything by Thomas Ligotti that is still missing from the Spanish editions.

P-00073627.jpg


INDEX.png


A lot of people considered this anthology somewhat of a “rip-off,” mainly because of its exorbitant price and because it consists more of poetry or poetic prose than prose fiction as such. I’m fairly certain there is a standalone anthology titled Paradoxes from Hell, published independently, but I’d like to confirm that. There must be more stories that have not yet been translated into Spanish—I’m sure of it.
 
R. von Pnaklendorf said:
My question is the following: isn't there an anthology called Paradoxes From Hell?

View attachment 3392

I’m fairly certain there is a standalone anthology titled Paradoxes from Hell, published independently, but I’d like to confirm that.
Click to expand...

chiropterapress.com

Paradoxes from Hell by Thomas Ligotti – Chiroptera Press

Paradoxes from Hell by Thomas Ligotti Available oversees through Psilowave.com In Paradoxes from Hell, the legendary Thomas Ligotti breathes fresh life into three of his rarest pieces. The opening section, "I Have a Special Plan for This World," is a metaphysical poetry cycle in which its...
chiropterapress.com
 
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