Thomas Ligotti (born July 9, 1953) is an American horror writer. His writings are rooted in several literary genres – 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. The worldview espoused by Ligotti in his fiction and non-fiction has been described as pessimistic and nihilistic. The Washington Post called him "the best kept secret in contemporary horror fiction."

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. 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. 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." Ligotti's work received high praise following the publication from the likes of The New York Times Book Review, the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Washington Post, and The New Yorker. 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."

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.

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. He has also invoked the influence of philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer and Peter Wessel Zapffe.

Ligotti has suffered from chronic anxiety and anhedonia for much of his life; these have been prominent themes in his work. Ligotti avoids the 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, though he has written a novella, My Work Is Not Yet Done (2002)

Ligotti's ancestry is three-quarters 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".

Ligotti attended Macomb County Community College between 1971 and 1973 and graduated from Wayne State University in 1978. 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 socialist.

Influence
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.

In 2014, the HBO television series True Detective attracted attention from some of Ligotti's fans because of the resemblance of the pessimistic, 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, the series' writer, Nic Pizzolatto, confirmed in The Wall Street Journal 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". On the topic of hard-boiled detectives, he asked: "What could be more hardboiled than the worldview of Ligotti or [Emil] Cioran?"

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.

Bibliography
Songs of a Dead Dreamer (1985, 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.
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)
The Unholy City (2002, accompanying CD by Current 93)
My Work Is Not Yet Done: Three Tales of Corporate Horror (2002)
Crampton: A Screenplay (2003, with Brandon Trenz) 
Sideshow, and Other Stories (2003)
Death Poems (2004)
The Shadow at the Bottom of the World (2005)
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
 1986: Rhysling Award, from Science Fiction Poetry Association (nomination): One Thousand Painful Variations Performed Upon Divers Creatures Undergoing the Treatment of Dr. Moreau, Humanist
 1991: World Fantasy Award for Best Short Fiction (nomination): The Last Feast of Harlequin
 1992: World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (nomination): Grimscribe: His Lives and Works
 1997: World Fantasy Award for Best Collection (nomination): The Nightmare Factory
 1995: Bram Stoker Award for Best Short Fiction (nomination): The Bungalow House
 1996: Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection: The Nightmare Factory
 1996: Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction: The Red Tower
 1996: British Fantasy Award for Best Fiction Collection: The Nightmare Factory
 2002: Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Fiction: My Work Is Not Yet Done
 2002: International Horror Guild Award, Long Form Category: My Work Is Not Yet Done
 2010: Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in Nonfiction (nomination) The Conspiracy Against the Human Race
 2019: Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement

References

External links

Thomas Ligotti Online – Fan site, wealth of information, media and discussion on Thomas Ligotti.
Horror Garage interview with Thomas Ligotti conducted by Mark McLaughlin in 2008
"It's all a matter of personal pathology" -a July 2006 interview With Ligotti conducted by Matt Cardin.
Literature Is Entertainment or It Is Nothing – a long, in-depth interview conducted by Neddal Ayad.
Listing of his works

Thomas Ligotti
Living people
1953 births
20th-century American writers
21st-century American writers
American horror writers
American male short story writers
American people of Polish descent
American short story writers
American socialists
American writers of Italian descent
Anti-natalists
Cthulhu Mythos writers
Dark fantasy writers
Philosophers of pessimism
Wayne State University alumni
Weird fiction writers
Writers from Detroit
토머스 리고티 (Thomas Ligotti, 1953년 7월 9일 - )는 공포소설 작가이다.

컬트적 인물이라 할 수 있는 리고티에 관해 알려져 있는 건 거의 없지만, 그는 근래 등장한 가장 강렬하고 독특한 공포소설 작가로 높은 평가를 받았다. 워싱턴 포스트는 그를 일컬어 "현대 공포소설이 간직한 가장 심오한 비밀"이라고 했고, 모 평론가는 "너무 충격적인 나머지 알아차리지 못하는 게 다행스럽기까지한 공포를 다루는 숙련된 작가"라고 극찬했다.

개관 
리고티는 1971년부터 1973년까지 메이컴 카운티 지역사회 대학에서 수학했고 1977년에 웨인 주립대학을 졸업했다.

그는 소규모 출판사에서 나오는 여러 잡지에 실렸던 단편들을 모아 1980년대 초반부터 책을 내기 시작했다.

독특하고 인상적인 그의 작품들은 작은 반향을 불러일으켰다. 상대적으로 무명인데다, 대중들 앞에 모습을 드러내려 하지 않는 태도 때문에, 그의 정체에 대해 많은 의문이 제기되었다. 리고티는 어느 저명한 작가가 사용하는 필명이 아닐까? 그의 단편들은 사실 여러 작가들이 공저한 게 아닐까? 그의 단편집 《악몽을 만드는 공장》(The Nightmare Factory)의 서문에서, 파피 Z. 브라이트는 조금 과장된 말투로 이렇게 물었다. "토머스 리고티, 당신이라는 사람, 정말로 있기는 한 건가요?"

최근 리고티는 인터뷰를 하면서 자신의 배경에 관한 자세한 내용을 몇 가지 밝혔다. 지난 23년 동안 리고티는 문학 및 기타 분야의 선집을 편집하는 출판사인 게일 리서치(지금은 게일 그룹으로 개명)에서 부편집자로 일했다고 한다. 2001년 여름, 리고티는 게일 그룹에서 퇴사하고 남부 플로리다로 이주했다. 그가 가장 좋아하는 음악은 록 연주곡이라고 한다. 그러나 아직도 리고티의 실재를 의심하는 사람들이 있으며 - 리고티와 그의 작품세계에 어울리는 생각이지만 - 그들은 이런 개인적인 정보들마저도 문학적인 음모의 일부분이라고 주장한다.

리고티의 세계관은 근본적으로 허무주의적이라고 할 수 있으며(하지만 그는 그런 딱지를 붙이는 것을 경계했으며, "'허무주의자'는 다른 사람들이 나를 보는 관점에 불과하다. 생각이 좀 있는 사람이라면 누구도 스스로를 허무주의자라고 하지는 않는다."라고 했다), 그는 자신의 삶 속에서 느끼는 많은 불안으로 힘겨워했다고 한다. 이것이 그가 다루는 주된 주제가 되어 지금까지의 작품 속에서 두드러지게 나타났다.

리고티는 최근의 공포소설들이 남발하는 노골적인 폭력을 삼가는 대신, 섬세한 표현을 반복해서 비관적 분위기를 조성하여 독자를 동요하게 만드는 쪽을 훨씬 좋아한다. 그는 좋아하는 작가로 블라디미르 나보코프, 토마스 베른하르트, 에드거 앨런 포, 브루노 슐츠, E. M. 시오랑, 그리고 윌리엄 S. 버로즈를 꼽는다. 그리고 리고티의 작품과, 미묘하게 불안한 느낌을 주는 로버트 에이크먼의 작품들 사이에서도 많은 공통점을 찾을 수 있다. H. P. 러브크래프트 역시 리고티에게는 아주 중요한 문학적 시금석이다. 몇몇 단편, 특히 〈바보들의 종단〉(The Sect of the Idiot)은 노골적으로 러브크래프트의 크툴후 신화를 인용하고 있으며, 〈할리퀸의 마지막 축제〉(The Last Feast of the Harlequin)는 러브크래프트에게 헌정된 작품이다.

리고티는 몇몇 단편에서 메타픽션적인 방법론을 실험하기도 했다. 〈공포소설을 쓴다는 것에 관한 단상〉(Notes on the Writing of Horror)과 〈별 볼일 없는 먹물의 초자연적 공포소설에 관한 짧은 강의〉(Professor Nobody's Little Lectures on Supernatural Horror) 두 작품은 공포소설을 쓰는 전도유망한 작가에 대한 조언으로 시작하지만, 서서히 독자를 은근히 불안하게 만드는 리고티 특유의 이야기로 넘어가게 된다.

리고티는 독자의 입장과 작가의 입장 둘 다 장편보다는 단편을 선호한다고 밝혔지만, 얼마 전에는 중편 〈아직 업무가 끝나지 않았는데〉(My Work Is Not Yet Done)을 썼다.

리고티는 그룹 Current 93와 공동작업으로 몇 장의 앨범을 내기도 했다. "In A Foreign Town, In A Foreign Land", "This Degenerate Little Town", "I Have A Special Plan For This World"가 그 앨범이다.

리고티의 작품에 대한 비평은 S. T. 조시의 평론서 《현대의 공포소설》(The Modern Weird Tale)(2001)에 실려 있다.

평가 
리고티의 작품에 대한 평론가들의 견해는 대체로 호의적이다. 뉴욕 타임즈 북 리뷰는 "'철학적인 공포소설'이라는 문학 장르가 있다면, 토머스 리고티의 《그림스크라이브》(Grimscribe)가 거기 딱 들어맞을 것이다"라고 하면서 그의 "상상력을 자극하는 이미지와 스타일 둘 다 흥미진진하면서도 풍부한 감성을 갖추고 있다"고 극찬했다.

가끔씩 그는 에드거 앨런 포, 호르헤 루이스 보르헤스, 프란츠 카프카와 H. P. 러브크래프트에 비교되기도 한다.

작품 목록 
 Songs of a Dead Dreamer (1986, 1989)
 Grimscribe: His Lives and Works (1991)
 Noctuary (1994)
 The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein and Other Gothic Tales (1994)
 The Nightmare Factory (1996)
 In a Foreign Town, in a Foreign Land (1996, with Current 93)
 I Have a Special Plan for This World (1997, with Current 93)
 This Degenerate Little Town (2001, with Current 93)
 My Work Is Not Yet Done: Three Tales of Corporate Horror (2002)
 Crampton: A Screenplay (2003, with Brandon Trenz)
 Sideshow, and Other Stories (2003)
 Death Poems (2004)
 The Shadow at the Bottom of the World (2005)
 Teatro Grottesco (2006)

 The Thomas Ligotti Reader: Essays and Explorations (2003), edited by Darrell Schweitzer. A collection of essays about Ligotti's work, which includes one by Ligotti on the horror genre, a Ligotti interview, and a bibliography of his published works.
 Studies in Modern Horror, issue #2 (2004), edited by NGChristakos. This issue of the scholarly journal concerning contemporary weird tales includes Nick Curtis' essay "Notes on Time Displacement and Memory Loss in Crampton" and the first published version of The Unholy City poem cycle by Ligotti.
 Studies in Modern Horror, issue #4 (2006), edited by NGChristakos. This issue of the scholarly journal concerning contemporary weird tales includes Stephen Tompkins' essay "The Nemesis of Mimesis: Thomas Ligotti, Worlds Elsewhere, and the Darkness Ten Times Black."

1953년 출생
살아있는 사람
미국의 작가
공포 작가
이탈리아계 미국인
웨인 주립 대학교 동문
폴란드계 미국인
괴기물 작가
다크 판타지 작가