Comments on: Articulation and Concealment: A Few Observations Regarding the Ineffable in Fantastika

By: John Stevens (@eruditeogre)

John Stevens (@eruditeogre) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:58:12 +0000

You're welome Jeff! As my journey through the book draws to a close, I can affirm that it has wondrous variety and many highly enjoyable reads.

By: Jeff VanderMeer

Jeff VanderMeer — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:35:54 +0000

Thanks for this!

I should note there's lots of entertaining, spine-tingling stuff in the book!

By: John Stevens

John Stevens — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:07:17 +0000

Heh, I went in and corrected this line, since it is "THE" wonderful essence.

While agony might be a bit hyperbolic, I think this idea can be found throughout weird literature, with varying intensity. In some stories, the goal is to learn how to ameliorate or normalize this, while in others you are prevented from doing so, or not given enough clues to put it together. Fantasy tales tend towards the former while weird tales tend towards the latter, I think. Jeff's work is an intricate blend of revelation and the ineffable, but tends towards not just mystery but disorientation, which paradoxically drives the story forward. There is often a struggle between difference and paradox in a lot of fantasy literature in general, which is one of the elements that gives it potentially greater interpretability and really engages the reader's imagination.

By: Paul (@princejvstin)

Paul (@princejvstin) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 22:10:14 +0000

This agony of not knowing what is real, of what the future holds, is to me wonderful essence of the weird, and of the fantastic more broadly.

Something that I definitely see in Vandermeer's work, amongst others.