Why Germans Can Say Things No One Else Can (2) - Notebook of the Night

I just came across the following short text by Thomas Ligotti printed with Ligotti's permission in an interview with Angerhuber and her partner Thomas Wagner. This interview was conducted by Uwe Voehl and was published in Arcana no. 1 (the German magazine of classic and modern speculative fiction). Ligotti is sharing his thoughts on Notebook of the Night: Exzerpte aus "Noctuary" - the German-language audio recording of eleven vignettes from Noctuary performed by both of the above mentioned authors (also in my Angerhuber bibliography).

Why Germans Can Say Things No One Else Can

In relation to Ruinenlust and the German language.

This is what Mark Twain used to think about ...

The Awful German Language

This is what Sylvia Plath used to think about the language:

“What I didn't say was that each time I picked up a German dictionary or a German book, the very sight of those dense, black, barbed-wire letters made my mind shut like a clam.”

The hidden guise of decay...

"Finally my way leads me to the vast and abandoned area of the former freight depot which has been thoroughly destroyed during the war. My longing for these crumbling ruins lets me feel my way through the torn-out railways, the wooden sleepers and multicoloured broken glass that garnishes the floor like a sheet of lost jewels. And the fading light of the day surrendering to night glitters upon these hidden jewels just as my quarter has surrendered to dilapidation. They can be encountered everywhere if one has the right vision for this sort of things: the jewels of decay, the real gems of the city, melancholy and ponderous as the viscous rain and the wailing of the wind in chimney stumps.

Estou cansado da inteligência

Four bags of books in Portuguese, which I hope to find time to read next year and discuss on CL. In the meantime, I am adding two more plaques from Tavira to my Álvaro de Campos article.

Contemporary Weird Fiction in Anglo-Saxon Countries and 21st-Century Horror

Back in 2013 I wrote a short introductory essay to the Polish weird fiction anthology Po Drugiej Stronie (published by Agharta), which serves as a tribute to S. Grabiński, H. P. Lovecraft and T. Ligotti. I was lucky to be in the fine company of Paweł Mateja, Michał Budak and Mateusz Kopacz who formed part of the jury evaluating submissions and who also provided their introductory essays (I cannot thank Mateusz enough for his encouragement to provide my own input). In my text entitled “Współczesne Weird Fiction w Krajach Anglosaskich” (“Contemporary Weird Fiction in Anglo-Saxon Countries”), I tried to provide a commentary on the condition of contemporary weird fiction with some focus on - what I consider to be - a recent revival of the weird fiction tradition accompanied by a phenomenal amount of small presses that have helped many new significant voices emerge in the field. I have also provided hints as to the names that particularly captured my attention during my massive explorations of the works in the genre throughout the previous decade - authors I am certain would appeal to Polish readers and whose books I myself would wish to find one day in my local bookstore in a Polish translation. I have now added some of these writers to my Translingual Divinations page.

Bibliographie der Utopie und Phantastik 1650 - 1950

With no time for documenting new discoveries, I am posting this photo as a placeholder and incentive for further explorations. This huge bibliographic compendium by Robert N. Bloch is a real treasure trove of visionary literature available in German. I hope to contribute more about this comprehensive volume and its author next month.

Translingual Divinations - stargazing for untranslated literary gems

"Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, 

so that they will not understand one another's speech."

-- Genesis 11:7 

The confusion of tongues is a real mess. With no language barriers each one of us would have access to so many more great books other than those currently available in one's native tongue. There is a myriad hidden literary gems suspended amidst the swirls of galaxies of untranslated sentences, but with the curse of confusio linguarum it is all just dark matter.

Translingual Divinations is a special space on my blog dedicated to the practice of stargazing in search of untranslated literary voices in the fields of visionary, horror and weird fiction in an attempt to foresee future translations of their respective works into several European languages. Unlike webpages announcing forthcoming publications, Translingual Divinations is part bibliomancy, part a result of my desire to accelerate the future of untranslated publications I'm particularly fond of, part an attempt at finding order in the chaos caused by the biblical confusion of tongues. I see this page as the very heart of this blog's translingual journeys, which consist of my explorations of foreign language publications.

Masquerades in Literary And Academic Circles According to "The Devil’s Dictionary"

Part of what I admire in Ligotti is his absolute humility, his refusal to pretend that having literary talent makes him a superior being. He’s had a difficult life and that’s made him intolerant of arrogance.

--Interview with Joel Lane, Conducted by Michael Gottert, March 2013

One way to deal with confusion linguarum is to rely on dictionaries. Out of the dozens of dictionaries that pile up on my shelves there is an exceptional one that through its biting critique provides a vehicle for moral instruction… and by doing so brings huge amounts of merriment and laughter. The work in question was compiled by one of the classic weird fiction writers, Ambrose Bierce. I am of course referring to The Devil’s Dictionary, of which I am a huge enthusiast. I have been stopping to browse it on and off for over a decade.

Cloistered by Ravelled Bones & Ruined Walls - Table of Contents

I was recently asked about the table of contents of Cloistered by Ravelled Bones & Ruined Walls by D. F. Lewis and myself and I realized that it is nowhere to be found online. Here it is:

-- D. F. Lewis --

Beyond the Balcony

Heavy Steps

Off the Bone

The End of the Pier

The Words That Said

Beyond the Balcony

Three Separate Tales of a Very Wet Ghost

The 3 Long Piggies of Trunk City

Rotted Freckles

-- Sławomir Wielhorski --

Vistas of Ruin and Decay:

A Ruinenlust Journey through Weird Fiction

The bibliography is now online!

BIBLIOGRAPHY, n. The literary tribute that a little man pays to a big one.

 -- The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce

Here ends my series of posts with sections of "Eddie" M. Angerhuber online bibliography. Productive browsing to all of those who come across this small literary tribute of mine.

"Eddie" M. Angerhuber Bibliography: Interviews, translations (by others), works about and dedicated to "Eddie" M. Angerhuber

>>Bibliography: Non-fiction and miscellanea

Note: The last section, containing interviews with Angerhuber, articles about Angerhuber and reviews of her works as well as works that were dedicated to her. This section also provides information on translations of Angerhuber's works by others - a list  that will hopefully grow in the future!

Interviews:

(with Angerhuber)

"Eddie M. Angerhuber: Sommergewitter"

[Review and interview]

Solar-X, no. 91 (Edition Solar-X, September 1997)

"Interview mit Eddie M. Angerhuber"

[Conducted by Michael Siefener]

Daedalos, no. 10 (Verlag Hubert Katzmarz, March 2001)

"Eddie" M. Angerhuber Bibliography: Non-fiction and miscellanea

>>Bibliography: Audio recordings

Note: This section of the bibliography provides information on non-fiction, poetry, illustrations, websites (designed by Angerhuber), special editions of magazines and unpublished works. Included is Angerhuber’s and Thomas Wagner’s unpublished collaboration Lamia Und Die Schatten, which was to be released from Abendstern-Verlag.[1]

Non-fiction:

"Auf Cthulhus Fährte"

[Article]

Solar-X, no. 73 (Edition Solar-X, April 1996)

From Twin Peaks 2017 episode 8

Highly recommended to those who enjoy Elias Merhige, Peter Tscherkassky and Guy Maddin... and of course David Lynch himself!

"Eddie" M. Angerhuber Bibliography: Audio recordings

>>Bibliography: Translations


Note: This section is dedicated to audio publications featuring stories and translations read by “Eddie” M. Angerhuber. Eddie/Monika is an accomplished narrator who has worked on four audio productions. Three of them were published by Bärenklau Verlag whilst “Das Nachtbuch” – a collaboration with her partner Thomas Wagner – was self-published.

Nocturne Produkte. 3 phantastische Erzählungen von E. M. Angerhuber

[Berlin: Bärenklau Verlag, April/May 2001]

[Audio book recording of 74 minutes, contains three stories by Angerhuber read by the author and by Thomas Wagner, accompanied by electronic soundtrack by Wagner: "Der blaue Stern"; "Das Produkt der Nacht"; "Die Zweite Treppe".]

"Eddie" M. Angerhuber Bibliography: Translations

>>Bibliography: Short Stories


Note: The purpose of this section is to compile a list of Angerhuber’s translations, all of which were published under the author's real name Monika Angerhuber. Monika has translated into German several titles for the publisher Edition Metzengerstein, including three books from their series Edgar Allan Poes phantastische Bibliothek, among them: The White Hands by Mark Samuels, My Work is Not Yet Done by Thomas Ligotti and a collection of stories by Quentin S. Crisp (Dunkler Gestade – Aufgesang) that assembled texts from various sources.[1]

In 2002 Angerhuber won the first place in the German Phantastik-Preis for In einer fremden Stadt, in einem fremden Land featuring her translation of numerous stories by Thomas Ligotti. The same year, she was awarded the fourth place in the internet-based contest "Supreme TerrorScribe" for the story "The Skull" published online in her own translation.

"Eddie" M. Angerhuber Bibliography: Short Stories

>>Bibliography: Novels, novellas, short story collections and chapbooks

Note: This section presents a list of stories by Angerhuber with their original and subsequent appearances. In his entry on “Eddie” M. Angerhuber in Supernatural Literature of the World: An Encyclopedia, Marco Frenschkowski states that the writer “has published about one hundred tales of weird and supernatural fiction”. Out of those one hundred pieces, many of which were published in obscure fanzines and magazines, I have managed to identify ninety (titles of two stories still need to be identified). In many cases the first publications were identified based on reviews, which are still available online, plus those that were published in Solar-X. Please note that the story collections do not provide the source of the original publications (except for Die darbenden Schatten), it was therefore a challenge to track down some of the original appearances.[1]

"Eddie" M. Angerhuber Bibliography: Novels, novellas, short story collections and chapbooks

The first section of the bibliography: novels, novellas, short story collections and chapbooks

Back to the main bibliography page

Note: Angerhuber’s book-length publications include one short novel, five short story collections and three chapbooks. Two of these chapbooks, Visionen von Eden – und andere Geschichten vom Tag danach and Karaits Kuss und andere Vampirgeschichten, were self-published. This section also includes two novellas: “Das Netz” and “Die darbenden Schatten”.

Short Novel:

Das Verborgene

Friedland: Klaus Bielefeld Verlag, 2000

[Softcover of 108 pages, cover design Rainer Schorm]

"Eddie" M. Angerhuber Bibliography

Following my short essay "Eddie M. Angerhuber's Strange Visions", which appeared in Cloistered by Ravelled Bones & Ruined Walls, here is an attempt at compiling the complete online bibliography of the works by this great author published in German and English. Please note that this is not an official bibliography - more of a work from an enthusiast and book collector willing to share this bibliographic information gathered while searching for Eddie's/Monika's often hard-to-find publications. Considering how obscure Angerhuber is becoming, I was compelled to prepare a bibliography of her works and share it on Confusio Linguarum so that to make it easier for others to track her works down.

Grabiński reprint in Italy

For a couple of weeks I've been stuggling to find time for new posts. In the meantime, some great news from Andrea Bonazzi:

"Il villaggio nero, the first Italian collection by Stefan Grabiński, will be reprinted in the #13 issue of Urania Horror, Cerimonie nere, a wide-circulation volume distributed in newsstands in July 2017.

The book will contain the novel La città vampira (La Ville Vampire) by Paul Féval, the original collection Il villaggio nero by Stefan Grabiński, and the novel La cerimonia (The Croning) by Laird Barron. Also La cerimonia is a reprint of my own translation published a couple of years ago.

Urania is the best-selling science fiction magazine in Italy, published since 1952 by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. This will be probably the last issue in its horror series.

Cover art by Franco Brambillad.

A Kindle version will be available on Amazon in the first week of July."

Brian Stableford's translations for Snuggly Books

I just noticed that Snuggly Books has an impressive list of translations of Decadent literature from French and Italian. Some of the names that appear in the catalogue are dear to Confusio Linguarum. So far the following have been released in a translation by Brian M. Stableford:

The Soul-Drinker: And Other Decadent Fantasies by  Jean Lorrain
Nightmares of an Ether-Drinker by Jean Lorrain
The Tarantulas' Parlor: And Other Unkind Tales by Léon Bloy
The Unknown Collaborator and Other Legendary Tales by Victor Joly

Blurb for the Book

Here is the official blurb for the recently published book by D. F. Lewis and myself:

"Life is an abandoned Amusement, a pleasure of ruins. Few are the solitary souls with a penchant for the sublime who spend their existence being irresistibly attracted to crumbling buildings and abandoned places. This book is an ode to this particular attraction – the feeling of Ruinenlust. Part fiction collection, part ensemble of essays, the volume presents a collaboration of two minds preoccupied with the themes of ruination. The eight fictions by D. F. Lewis, collected here for the first time, feature characters thrust into depopulated, often devastated landscapes as we follow their encounters with an enigma. The fictional pieces are accompanied by a literary equivalent of the Kaiserpanorama experience wherein the reader is presented with ten short essays by Sławomir Wielhorski centering on some of the most attractive vistas of ruins and decay in weird fiction from the early Gothics to the modern masterpieces of the genre."

Hardcover, Limited to 118 numbered copies, 102 pages

Published March 2017 by Mount Abraxas/Ex Occidente Press
Amazon Page || Goodreads Page

Some Further Vistas of Ruin and Decay...

The Belgian School of the Strange - A Few Notes About Polish Translations

Some material for Polish readers this time. The following is an important note about Polish translations of works forming part of the Belgian School of the Strange (for an introduction to the topic, please see my thread at Thomas Ligotti Online). The following quotes come from an article by Ryszard Siwek - the Polish connoisseur of école belge de l’étrange - entitled "O obecności nieobecnego albo o nieobecności obecnego, czyli o literaturze belgijskich frankofonów w Polsce – próba bilansu" (published in PRACE KOMISJI NEOFILOLOGICZNEJ PAU TOM IX):

"Kolejny autor, Franz Hellens, należy do ważnych postaci w literaturze Belgów. Znany jest przede wszystkim jako czołowy przedstawiciel belgijskiej szkoły niezwykłości (école belge de l’étrange). W jej ramach mieści się realizm fantastyczny. Hellens był jego inicjatorem, teoretykiem i praktykiem. Ale ten nurt w jego pisarstwie zilustrowany został jedynie krótkim utworem w antologii opowiadań belgijskich Znad Skaldy i Mozy z 1983 r. Wcześniej jednak czytelnikowi polskiemu zaproponowano dwa inne oblicza pisarza. Jedno zupełnie marginalne, jako pisarza katolickiego. Poezje Hellensa znalazły się w zbiorze Smak winnic twoich: wybór liryki religijnej Zachodu z 1956 r., a trzy lata później ukazała się jego powieść Nędzarka w tłumaczeniu Danieli Kolendo. Drugie, nieprawdziwe, oblicze dotyczy Hellensa jako poety doby symbolizmu, a to za sprawą antologii Symboliści francuscy."

Cloistered by Ravelled Bones & Ruined Walls - At The Printers

Below are some pictures of the previously announced upcoming book from Mount Abraxas by D. F. Lewis and myself. Quite an honour to be published in such a fine company by a publisher who values gorgeous book design.

Please note that these pictures are NOT showing the final product.

Cloistered by Ravelled Bones & Ruined Walls by D. F. Lewis and Sławomir Wielhorski

I am very proud to announce the following forthcoming publication from Mount Abraxas by D. F. Lewis and myself:

Cloistered by Ravelled Bones & Ruined Walls

This volume will include eight fictions by D. F. Lewis published in a section entitled Beyond the Balcony followed by my series of articles on the pleasure of ruins and weird literature under the collective title Vistas of Ruin and Decay: A Ruinenlust Journey Through Weird Fiction. The ensemble of Ruinenlust articles will appear in this volume in a revised and expanded form with proper footnotes and a bibliography.

A Visit to the Matenadaran

The Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (the Matenadaran), built in 1957 and designed by Mark Grigoryan

Below you will find a small collection of photos from my visit to the Matenadaran - The Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts located in Yerevan, Armenia. Matenadaran, which serves both as research institute and a museum is among the richest depositories of medieval manuscripts and books in Armenia. The word "matenadaran" in ancient Armenian means ‘‘manuscript store’’ or ‘‘library’.

The collection of manuscripts on display is in Armenian and various other languages. Armenian is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages. It is known for its distinctive phonological developments within that family.

Some of these colourful manuscripts made a huge impresion upon me. I am sharing these photos on Confusio Linguarum where they belong (apologies for their BlackBerry quality).

You can read more about this facinating place here:

http://www.armeniapedia.org/index.php?title=Matenadaran

Ruinenlust: Coda

Here ends my series of compilations devoted to weird fiction in relation to the theme of Ruinenlust, starting from the early Gothic to the modern masters of the genre. I hope you enjoyed it.

A few additional links:

Ruinenlust literary works posted in reaction to this series of articles:
Brownfields by TLO member Druidic
The Ruined Grave by TLO member Raul Urraca

Other places where this topic is being discussed:
Thomas Ligotti Online thread dedicated to this series
Pessimus (PL) thread dedicated to this series

Many thanks to everyone who decided to share their own insights on this captivating subject!

January Update

A small change of plans.

The bad news is I will need to suspend my activity on CL for two months, which means that whatever topics I announced in the past will need to wait until I am back to blogging.

The good news is I will be posting all of the remaining compilations in the Ruinenlust series this week, starting from today.

That's it!