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Collapse #4
Collapse Volume 4: CONCEPT HORROR
Collapse IV features a series of investigations by philosophers, writers and artists into Concept Horror. Contributors address the existential, aesthetic, theological and political dimensions of horror, interrogate its peculiar affinity with philosophical thought, and uncover the horrors that may lie in wait for those who pursue rational thought beyond the bounds of the reasonable. This unique volume continues Collapse's pursuit of indisciplinary miscegenation, the wide-ranging contributions interacting to produce common themes and suggestive connections. In the process a rich and compelling case emerges for the intimate bond between horror and philosophical thought.
623 pages, Paperback
First published August 8, 2008
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July 31, 2023Solid contributions by this familiar cast of post-Kantian mavericks.
There are some rather dense sections here, such as Negarestani's musings of an ancient Etruscan torture practice of tying a victim to a corpse. Meanwhile, George Sieg and Eugene Thacker approaches the problem of horror from theology.
Ligotti's piece is an excerpt from Conspiracy Against the Human Race, where he proposes the unthinkable - that humans put an end to the masquerade of distraction and depression and simply annihilate themselves.
Resonating Meillasoux's reframing of the question "Does God Exist?" into "Did God exist?" or "Will God exist?", Ligotti quotes Mainländer in a curious theory of God as an anterior instantiation of Will:
"God knew that he could change from a state of super reality into non-being only through the development of a real world of multiformity. Through this method, He excluded Himself from existence. 'God is dead', wrote Mainländer,
'and His death was the life of the world.' Once the great individuation had been accomplished, the momentum of its creator's self-annihilation would continue until nothing remained standing. And those who committed suicide, as did Mainländer, would only be following God's example and moving toward the end of the Creation."
I also learned from this piece that sodomy has its roots in a Gnostic sect that advocated either chastity or anal sx among its members, so as to put an end to the reproduction of humans as inherently corrupted beings and thus become closer to Divinity.
One rather interesting piece though is I. H. Grant's "Being and Slime: the mathematics of protoplasm in Lorenz Oken's 'physio-philosophy'" where he explores Oken's bizarre universe where "even thought is a natural production" which is instantiated, like gravitational pulses, from the "ur-slime" and its vertical permutations.
Funnily enough, Graham Harman's piece seems to be the easiest to digest, and his comparison of Lovecraft and Husserl, two very different characters, in the frame of their supposed 'metaphysical realism', is clear and well-argued.
There are some rather dense sections here, such as Negarestani's musings of an ancient Etruscan torture practice of tying a victim to a corpse. Meanwhile, George Sieg and Eugene Thacker approaches the problem of horror from theology.
Ligotti's piece is an excerpt from Conspiracy Against the Human Race, where he proposes the unthinkable - that humans put an end to the masquerade of distraction and depression and simply annihilate themselves.
Resonating Meillasoux's reframing of the question "Does God Exist?" into "Did God exist?" or "Will God exist?", Ligotti quotes Mainländer in a curious theory of God as an anterior instantiation of Will:
"God knew that he could change from a state of super reality into non-being only through the development of a real world of multiformity. Through this method, He excluded Himself from existence. 'God is dead', wrote Mainländer,
'and His death was the life of the world.' Once the great individuation had been accomplished, the momentum of its creator's self-annihilation would continue until nothing remained standing. And those who committed suicide, as did Mainländer, would only be following God's example and moving toward the end of the Creation."
I also learned from this piece that sodomy has its roots in a Gnostic sect that advocated either chastity or anal sx among its members, so as to put an end to the reproduction of humans as inherently corrupted beings and thus become closer to Divinity.
One rather interesting piece though is I. H. Grant's "Being and Slime: the mathematics of protoplasm in Lorenz Oken's 'physio-philosophy'" where he explores Oken's bizarre universe where "even thought is a natural production" which is instantiated, like gravitational pulses, from the "ur-slime" and its vertical permutations.
Funnily enough, Graham Harman's piece seems to be the easiest to digest, and his comparison of Lovecraft and Husserl, two very different characters, in the frame of their supposed 'metaphysical realism', is clear and well-argued.
February 10, 2013
I love, luv, ❤ this anthology. Thomas Ligotti, China Mielville, et al... its a whole lot of crit-thoery-ish, horrorific, funtastique dry reading that will make you go "ahhh!" as the fireworks get lit in your head.
ALSO it's free. Sure I own one of the original and discontinued copies because I'm awesome and everything, but you can read it for free here: http://archive.org/details/CollapseVo...
If horror and philosophy are flavors you like in your brain candy, read this book.
ALSO it's free. Sure I own one of the original and discontinued copies because I'm awesome and everything, but you can read it for free here: http://archive.org/details/CollapseVo...
If horror and philosophy are flavors you like in your brain candy, read this book.
August 12, 2008
Vol. 4 of a somewhat new philosophical journal. What a marvel! Each volume has a theme--and this one has "Concept Horror" as its theme. A must for a guy like me. And with contributions by authors writing about the genre in a philosophical light, academics, as well as sprinkled with weird illustrations of a rare quality and sensitivity.
Great collection of indepth essays, taking the genre serious, as it well deserves.
I love this one. And am planning to get, at least, Vol. II as well.
Great collection of indepth essays, taking the genre serious, as it well deserves.
I love this one. And am planning to get, at least, Vol. II as well.
March 24, 2011
I read this cover to cover while I was in Antarctica...a blur of sensory overload and technical language. The only thing that really stood out for me then, and now upon recollection were Michel Houellebecq's poems. Absolutely brutal and beautiful.
December 20, 2020
Didn't read every essay but loved this issue. I was surprised that some of my favorite pieces (Thomas Ligotti's in particular) came from the writers I'm less familiar with, while the ones by people I admire and that drew me to Collapse (Negarestani, Meillassoux) didn't shine as much. Graham Harman's exploration of Husserl & Lovecraft was an exception to that, though. I enjoyed the interspersed poetry a lot and the drawings, too. Overall, a nice, genre-bending package. I wish it was easier to find issues of Collapse, they're sold out almost everywhere and the academic library I work for just happened to have this one (but no others).
February 20, 2024
Haunting.
February 2, 2009
Amazing anthology on philosophical implications of horror.
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