THE FROLIC
The
Trickster is a character from mythology, folklore and religion, one of
the archetypes in the psychology of Carl Jung, a character exhibiting
keen intellect and secret knowledge in order to play tricks, defy the
ordinary and mock convention and rules.
In The Frolic, Thomas
Ligotti presents a character whose both archetypal trickster and (gulp!)
psychopathic murderer, an eerie, unsettling combination that will give
anybody the creeps.
It's evening and we're in the town of
Nolgate, site of the state prison. Prison psychiatrist Dr. Munch speaks
with wife Leslie while daughter Norleen rests in her upstairs bedroom.
Dr. Munch fumes with anger, tells Leslie that perhaps it was an unwise
decision to have taken this job. He admits he was somewhat masochistic:
he wanted a thankless, impossible job and that's exactly what he has.
One
prisoner has pushed the good doctor to the edge, a prisoner refusing to
divulge his name or where he is from or where he was born, a prisoner
known to the authorities as John Doe. What's particularly maddening
about John Doe: he claims he wanted to be caught so he could spend time
in the penitentiary – and he tells the doctor that he can leave anytime
he wishes.
Dr. Munch details his session with John Doe. “There's
actually quite a poetic geography to his interior dreamland as he
describes it.” John Doe provided Dr. Munch with the grizzly details in
his “phantasmagorical mingling of heaven and hell” as he relates his
'frolicking' with what he terms his 'awestruck company.' Unfortunately,
the 'awestruck company' could be seen by the state as helpless victims
of heinous crimes. But the doctor observes: “There is always a
paradoxical blend of forsaken topographies and shining sanctuaries in
his mind.”
What's particularly fascinating about this Thomas
Ligotti tale is all in the blending, not only in the mind of John Doe
but in John Doe's very identity. Seen in one way, we're talking John Doe
the prison inmate, the psychopathic killer. But viewed from a different
angle, John Doe's 'frolicking' can be taken as the rule-busting,
convention smashing, creative dance of the Trickster.
Herein lies
the author's magic with echoes of one of his frequently cited quotes:
“Most people learn to save themselves by artificially limiting the
content of consciousness.” Is the Trickster aka John Doe beckoning us to
expand our world by transcending rules, regimentation and conformity,
beckoning us to also abandon artificiality and peer into the chaos of a
trickster cosmos?
The Frolic, a remarkable tale that can be read
as slice of life realism or modern mythology with strong Jungian
archetypes – or both together.
Thomas Ligotti, born 1953
Comments
Post a Comment