The Conspiracy Against the Human Race – After Dark

In the genre of horror literature, most plots revolve around the protagonists contending with a threat that is trying to kill them. In Thomas Ligotti’s works, however, the threat is not necessarily an external one, but that of existence itself. In his characteristically pessimistic way, Ligotti’s view is that with suffering outweighing the joys of life, one must seriously consider the point of continuing life at all. In this special Halloween ‘After Dark’ episode, we are joined by Titus to explore the depths of ‘malignant uselessness’ after a brief review of the recent re-release of the Frank Herbert classic ‘Dune’.

— Brought to you by —

Titus @hereliesthighs

PART I:

PART II:

Myth of the 20th Century – Episode 227 – The Conspiracy Against the Human Race – After Dark

— References —

• Hunger, Hamsun (1890)
• Call of Cthulhu, Lovecraft (1926)
• Dune, Herbert (1965)
• The Hour of the Wolf, Bergman (1968)
• Dune, Lynch (1984)
• Less Than Zero, Ellis (1985)
• Sect of the Idiot, Ligotti (1988)
• The Last Feast of the Harlequin, Ligotti (1990)
• The Bungalow House, Ligotti (1995)
• Dune, Harrison (2000)
• Teatro Grottesco, Ligotti (2008)
• The Conspiracy Against the Human Race: a Contrivance of Horror, Ligotti (2010)
• Enemy, Velleneuve (2013)
• It Follows, Mitchell (2014)
• The Wailing, Hong-jin (2016)
• Lovecraft – After Dark, Myth of the 20th Century (2020) – https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2020/10/30/lovecraft-after-dark/
• Dune – After Dark, Myth of the 20th Century (2021) – https://myth20c.wordpress.com/2021/04/29/dune-after-dark/
• Dune, Villeneuve (2021)
• PseudoPod 350: The Bungalow House – https://pseudopod.org/2013/09/06/pseudopod-350-the-bungalow-house/