The Bungalow House
Thomas Ligotti, "The Bungalow House" from Teatro Grottesco (Durtro: 2006). For those with pessimistic or nihilistic worldviews, Ligotti’s work is sometimes cited as a kind of cold solace. His fiction can validate one’s own feelings by offering temporary comfort in knowing one is not alone in thoughts that lead to what the narrator of our story calls a “killing sadness.” Ligotti gives voice to thoughts that can be isolating and terrifying. As such, his work can be empowering for pessimists given its masterful articulation of the dark and meaningless cosmos. The unnamed narrator in “The Bungalow House” comes across a piece of performance art in the form of a recorded audio tape. Already steeped in what he calls his philosophy of icy bleakness, the narrator finds something validating by engaging with the audio tape. “I wanted to believe that this artist had escaped the dreams and demons of all sentiment in order to explore the foul and crummy delights of a universe where ...