Re: Ligotti: An author predominantly for men?
 

Alberto, your wife is obviously a Deep One.

Re: Ligotti: An author predominantly for men?
 

Could it be that alienation (a theme throughout TL's work) is something experienced far more by men than women? You can see this in other primates; you'll often find stray males while females are always parts of groups.

Perhaps (statistically) females find alienation too horrible, even for horror, while males are built to experience a certain beauty in it as moving between groups contributes to the disbursement of our genes (it's also valuable for females, but only for genetic variety of mates - not for raising offspring).

I could imagine Ligotti's theme of ego loss being less interesting to women as well as it effectively negates emotions related to interpersonal relations (as there are no people as conceptually separate and emotionally distinct entities).

Re: Ligotti: An author predominantly for men?
 

Women are as capable of feelings of alienation as men. In fact, I daresay more so because so much of the world is geared to the employment and enjoyments of men. As for me personally, one of the reasons I enjoy Ligotti is for the feeling of alienation. Not to mention the bleak, black humor and the alliteration.

Re: Ligotti: An author predominantly for men?
 

To be clear, my suggested theory was not that women are less capable of feeling alienation, but rather that they on average found that emotion less appealing.

Ligotti's alienation in particular is an almost complete one and goes beyond Lovecraft or Sarte to the complete absence of anything that might be described as a positive interpersonal relationship. There is love lost, but not love. Friendship betrayed, but not friendship. The absence of respect, but not respect. etc. It's the negation of the interpersonal.

I suspect this is not true of horror authors more popular with women such as Stephen King. They portray such horrors as being the notable exceptions which the protagonists support each other in overcoming, while Liggoti portrays a universe where there is no help and no hope and even the idea of the existence of others or one's self is briefest of illusions in a bubbling chaos of pure information. Where Azathoth is not a monster which exists within the universe, but rather Azathoth is the universe.

Re: Ligotti: An author predominantly for men?
 

Sorry if I was misunderstood. I really do prefer feelings of alienation over, say, Stephen King. And hopelessness. I really prefer to read things like that because it makes me feel understood. It is really how I see the world, where, as you say, Azathoh is the universe. Of course, I am an incredibly bleak pessimist, which annoys other people somewhat. But in general I prefer to deal with negative emotions and read authors who write about them.

I don't want to put down authors like Stephen King, as he is quite popular and must have an appeal for some people. But I prefer stories that linger in my brain and fester there, possibly later spewing out a black pus that overwhelms my small and finite brain.

Re: Ligotti: An author predominantly for men?
 

Personally, I find the works of Stephen King VERY alienating. I fit into his universe not at all, in fact, I get the very clear feeling that the man would both fear and despise me should we ever meet. His universe is geared to the bog-standard "normal" man and woman. The plaid-shirt wearing, beer-drinking, tv watching crowd. I'd get lynched, or maybe burned at the stake were I so unfortunate as to appear there.

I, ladies and gentlemen, am a FREAK. Consequently I feel quite at home in Ligotti's universe.

Re: Ligotti: An author predominantly for men?
 

Re: Ligotti: An author predominantly for men?
 

I once tried to read a Stephen King novel. One of the reasons I gave up on it was that I was unable identify with any of the characters. More than that -- I felt alienated from all of them.

I wouldn't be surprised if we were all freaks on this site.

Re: Ligotti: An author predominantly for men?
 

I knew there was a reason I liked it here.
:D

Re: Ligotti: An author predominantly for men?
 

More worrying is the sort of characters I find myself sympathizing with.

Ditto