Episode 46: Thomas Ligotti's Angel - a podcast by Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

In his short story "Mrs. Rinaldi's Angel," contemporary horror author Thomas Ligotti contrasts the chaotic monstrosity of dreams with the cold, indifferent, and no less monstrous purity of angels. It is the story of a boy whose vivid dream life is sapping his vital force, and who resorts to esoteric measures to rectify the situation. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss the beauty and horror of dreams, the metaphysical signifiance of angels and demons, and the potential dangers of seeking the peace of absolute "purity" in the wondrous flux of lived experience.
REFERENCESThomas Ligotti, "Mrs. Rinaldi's Angel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm1iH6EIMAA)" (read by Jon Padgett)
Roger Scruton, The Face of God (https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-face-of-god-9781847065247/)Thomas Ligotti, [Songs of a Dead Dreamer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SongsofaDeadDreamer)Thomas Ligotti, "The Last Feast of Harlequin" in [Grimscribe: His Lives and Works](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimscribe:HisLivesandWorks)Robert Aickman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Aickman), English author
H. P. Lovecraft (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft), American authorH. R. Giger (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._R._Giger), Swiss artist
Jean Giraud a.k.a. Moebius (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Giraud), French comic book artistDonald Barthelme (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Barthelme), American author
Pierre Soulages (https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/Pierre-Soulages), French artistBruno Schulz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno_Schulz), Polish author
Thomas Bernhard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bernhard), Austrian authorEdgar Allan Poe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe), American author
J. F. Martel, "The Beautiful Madness: Primacy of Wonder in the Works of Thomas Ligotti" (Forthcoming in James Curcio (ed.), Masks: Bowie and the Artists of Artifice (https://www.intellectbooks.com/masks) from Intellect Books)Algernon Blackwood, "The Wendigo" (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10897/10897-h/10897-h.htm)
Thomas Ligotti, "The Dark Beauty of Unheard of Horrors" in The Thomas Ligotti Reader: Essays and Explorations (https://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Ligotti-Reader-Darrell-Schweitzer/dp/1592241301)Dogen Zenji (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dōgen), Zen master
Manichaeism (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism)Spencer Brown, [The Laws of Form](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LawsofForm)Ramsey Dukes, Words Made Flesh: Information In Formation (https://www.amazon.com/Words-Made-Flesh-Information-Formation/dp/0904311112)
Deleuze, Essays Critical and Clinical (https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/essays-critical-and-clinical)Thomas Ligotti, "Purity," in Teatro Grottesco (https://www.amazon.com/Teatro-Grottesco-Thomas-Ligotti/dp/0753513749)
James Joyce, Ulysses (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4300/4300-h/4300-h.htm)Advaita Vedanta (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta)
Joshua Ramey, The Hermetic Deleuze: Philosophy and Spiritual Ordeal (https://www.amazon.com/Hermetic-Deleuze-Philosophy-Spiritual-Religion/dp/082235229X)
Lewis Carroll, [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27sAdventuresinWonderland)_ and [Through the Looking Glass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ThroughtheLooking-Glass)
James Hillman, The Dream and the Underworld (https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Underworld-James-Hillman/dp/0060906820)P. J. O’Rourke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._O%27Rourke), political satirist

Further episodes of Weird Studies

Further podcasts by Phil Ford and J. F. Martel

Website of Phil Ford and J. F. Martel