The Conspiracy against the Human Race
A Contrivance of Horror
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
In Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction outing, an examination of the meaning (or meaninglessness) of life through an insightful, unsparing argument that proves the greatest horrors are not the products of our imagination but instead are found in reality.
"There is a signature motif discernible in both works of philosophical pessimism and supernatural horror. It may be stated thus: Behind the scenes of life lurks something pernicious that makes a nightmare of our world."
His fiction is known to be some of the most terrifying in the genre of supernatural horror, but Thomas Ligotti's first nonfiction book may be even scarier. Drawing on philosophy, literature, neuroscience, and other fields of study, Ligotti takes the penetrating lens of his imagination and turns it on his audience, causing them to grapple with the brutal reality that they are living a meaningless nightmare, and anyone who feels otherwise is simply acting out an optimistic fallacy. At once a guidebook to pessimistic thought and a relentless critique of humanity's employment of self-deception to cope with the pervasive suffering of their existence, The Conspiracy against the Human Race may just convince readers that there is more than a measure of truth in the despairing yet unexpectedly liberating negativity that is widely considered a hallmark of Ligotti's work.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ligotti (Songs of a Dead Dreamer), one of his generation's most original writers of horror fiction, explores the theme of philosophic pessimism in his first book of nonfiction. Citing the work of a formidable array of thinkers that includes Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and especially 20th-century Norwegian philosopher Peter Wessel Zappfe, Ligotti dissects the curse of consciousness that compels humankind to ponder the futility of existence and to seek solace from its angst-inducing nihilism in strategies that include diminishing its importance, anchoring it to metaphysical avatars such as God and Natural Law, distracting oneself from its depressing inevitability, and safely sublimating it into works of fiction. Indeed, much of the book's best commentary examines how this bleak philosophy informs the best writing of H.P. Lovecraft, Arthur Machen, Algernon Blackwood, and other masters of the uncanny tale. Though his subject is weighty and sometimes ponderous, Ligotti nimbly covers a great deal of territory and offers many provocative and accessible insights. Fans will relish this book for the light it sheds on Ligotti's own dark fiction.
