Eye of the Lynx by Thomas Ligotti

 

The name for this wild cat, Lynx, derives from light, as in the luminescence of its reflective eyes. The Lynx is a predator and hunts solo.

Welcome to the dark weird. With Eye of the Lynx, we have short story as twisted nightmare, a tale that will bring to mind a number of paintings by early 20th century surrealists. Eye of the Lynx is the third part of Thomas Ligotti's Nyctalops Trilogy, following Chymist and Drink to Me Only with Labyrinthine Eyes.

“I have been on her psychic frequency for some time, but other matters delayed our meeting in the flesh.” The opening line appears normal enough but when we finish reading the final page of this snarling scorcher, we can appreciate the broader meaning of “psychic frequency” and “our meeting in the flesh.” Likewise when the narrator refers to himself as "a busy boy and a naughty one.” - searing understatement.

“The relevant agencies had finally fixed on the type of companion I preferred and warnings went out by word of mouth, or rather lips painted so shiny to certain shades, mostly blood red but also pall-bearer black.” The narrator speaks of his moving in an underground world and his activities in connection with, as one journalist puts it, “Missing Girls in Gothic Garb.” The mystery of the narrator's identity and motivation deepens. One thing seems certain: something strange is about to happen.

"The doorway to the crummy cinder-block building was done up, rather ineptly, like a castle with toothy merlons." A castle, how romantic! Think Gothic if you want, only here, vintage Ligotti, we're taken to a nearly deserted, crappy section of a dismal small city somewhere out in the American hinterland.

"Welcome to the House of Chains." So says a fair-haired girl in denim slacks and leather jacket. And she's the one the narrator deals with throughout the tale. Lucky gal! The questions I kept asking myself while reading the scenes with these two: Who will wind up being the torturer and who the tortured? What's the appeal of ghastly torments in this House of Chains? Must all relationships here turn into war between the sexes? Respecting my last question, I suspect the answer leans toward "yes."

The narrator's pithy comment regarding this honey of the horrid whorehouse: "She was no dabbler in darkness and degeneracy, but a real pro." You would know, fella. You're no jackleg innocent yourself with your seemingly x-ray vision that can peer right down to her "dreams of persecutions and imperilments as glamorous as those of any Gothic heroine."

She gives him the up and down with her violet eyes. For him, her eyes speak of a life lived in a fantasy world, a world filled with, among other romantic Gothic stereotypes, a dominating villain reducing her to submitting baroness. He can see she prefers a hood and cape. “Soon she is only doll-size in a dark doll's costume.” Ah, dolls – a recurrent Ligotti theme. It appears the pair's symbiotic relationship is either complete or nearing completion.

She gives him the grande tour, room by room. I suspect Thomas Ligotti felt deeply satisfied with the luscious, baroque flourishes he included in his descriptions. Eye of the Lynx contains some of the author's most vivid writing. And so rich and multifaceted – take psychology for example: enough material for any Freudian or Jungian to fill many pages.

A total of five different rooms, one downstairs, four upstairs, each room chock full of life crushed into a tasteless sideshow performance. Thomas Ligotti provides much lurid detail for each room. In a curious way I'm reminded of Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf with its Magic Theater “For Madmen Only” as many rooms as you like. Only with Hesse, the magic theater is the human subconscious.

But what happens if you try to enter the magic theater going outwards as in this House of Chains? We've entered a tawdry, creepy world with security cameras, a world where the players seem to be putting themselves on display for an audience, as if they are merely actors performing for the omnipresent TV camera. Sidebar: I had the distinct impression what the narrator observes in the rooms might not be happening “live” right there in front of him; rather, he's watching a series of horror shows presented on large plasma screens – or both simultaneously, live and on screen.

And how different is the House of Chains from our own world filled with an unending stream of propaganda pumping us with hatred (Fox News), internet pornography fueling our cravings, garbled tweets debasing our language while millions around us zone out on booze, drugs and shit entertainment (Fox)?

Back to the story. Oh, that last room! Transformation with a vengeance. All “live” action this time. Thomas Ligotti gives us not only a fitting ending for Eye of the Lynx but the entire Nyctalops Trilogy. And once the narrator leaves the House of Chains, there's a telling encounter with a drunk out on the street, an encounter reminding us as we read one of his tales (and go through life), there's something that will help us along the way: a lively sense of humor. 

 

Author Thomas Ligotti, born 1953