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Stranger than Ficition: Thomas Ligotti's Deceptive Realities in Horror Fiction
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Abstract(s)
Thomas Ligotti é hoje considerado um
escritor de culto no âmbito da chamada weird fiction,
sendo o horror o seu terreno literário privilegiado.
Levando o Gótico e a escuridão cósmica de H.P.
Lovecraft mais longe, os temas de Ligotti envolvem
quase sempre a desconstrução da realidade tal como
a conhecemos. Esta é-nos apresentada como uma
espécie de máscara aceitável que cobre a verdadeira
realidade que, segundo as premissas da ficção do autor,
se assume como algo de sinistro e hostil face ao ser
humano. Nas narrativas de Thomas Ligotti, a realidade
das personagens é desestabilizada e as suas crenças e e
valores desmoronam-se, dando lugar à dúvida, ao caos,ao desespero e ao pânico. Neste universo pautado pelo
horror, as personagens experimentam uma sensação
de estranhamento oriunda de uma escuridão cósmica,
habitada por criaturas maléficas, cuja função primordial
consiste em desacreditar o ser humano, fragilizar as
suas crenças e estilhaçar a sua perceção de identidade.
Este confronto entre o humano e o Outro modifica
completamente a natureza das personagens, trazendo
no seu encalço consequências irremediáveis. De uma
forma implacável, Ligotti introduz o Real Lacaniano
no universo do simbólico, ameaçando aniquilar a
sua coerência e fazendo vacilar as suas estruturas,
deixando as personagens perdidas num mundo que
já não sentem como seu, à beira de um precipício que
se projeta sobre uma vastidão cósmica onde o Inferno
tem o seu berço.
Thomas Ligotti is nowadays acclaimed as a cult writer in the field of weird fiction, where horror stands as his privileged creative ground. Taking Lovecraft’s Gothic and cosmic darkness to great lengths, his narratives almost always involve the deconstruction of reality as we know it. This reality emerges as a sort of mask that covers the true reality, which is sinister and hostile towards the human being. In Ligotti’s short stories, the reality of the characters is thus destabilized and the truths and beliefs held by those same characters are shattered, giving way to reactions of doubt, chaos, despair and panic. In this way, characters become face to face with a newborn reality, a reality with more sinister and ominous contours. In this universe, governed by horror, the characters experience the uncanny that resides amidst a cosmic darkness inhabited by malevolent creatures, monsters, whose primordial assignment consists of instilling uncertainty among individuals, thus making their beliefs vulnerable and likewise shattering their sense of selves. This terrible encounter changes the nature of the characters and will ultimately result in irreparable consequences. In a relentless fashion, Ligotti invites the concept of the Real, put forward by Jacques Lacan, so as to shake and absorb the Symbolic structures with which the characters are familiarized with, thus plunging them into a reality filled with cosmic darkness, where hell has its cradle.
Thomas Ligotti is nowadays acclaimed as a cult writer in the field of weird fiction, where horror stands as his privileged creative ground. Taking Lovecraft’s Gothic and cosmic darkness to great lengths, his narratives almost always involve the deconstruction of reality as we know it. This reality emerges as a sort of mask that covers the true reality, which is sinister and hostile towards the human being. In Ligotti’s short stories, the reality of the characters is thus destabilized and the truths and beliefs held by those same characters are shattered, giving way to reactions of doubt, chaos, despair and panic. In this way, characters become face to face with a newborn reality, a reality with more sinister and ominous contours. In this universe, governed by horror, the characters experience the uncanny that resides amidst a cosmic darkness inhabited by malevolent creatures, monsters, whose primordial assignment consists of instilling uncertainty among individuals, thus making their beliefs vulnerable and likewise shattering their sense of selves. This terrible encounter changes the nature of the characters and will ultimately result in irreparable consequences. In a relentless fashion, Ligotti invites the concept of the Real, put forward by Jacques Lacan, so as to shake and absorb the Symbolic structures with which the characters are familiarized with, thus plunging them into a reality filled with cosmic darkness, where hell has its cradle.
Description
Keywords
Horror Realidade alternativa Estranhamento Real/Simbólico Escuridão cósmica Alternative reality Uncanny Real/ Symbolic Cosmic darkness
Citation
Lopes, E. (2019). Stranger than Ficition: Thomas Ligotti's Deceptive Realities in Horror Fiction. Revista Abusões, 10(10), pp.168-194.