by H. P. Lovecraft
In
this collection you can see the literary voice of Lovecraft nearly fully formed.
He has almost fully formed his worlds and unspeakable villains, those crawling
from without to claim the world for themselves.
While
the Cthulhu Mythos was created by H. P. Lovecraft, he was not the only one to
participate in it. Many authors, even at the time Lovecraft was creating it,
used the supernatural elements of his stories in their own tales. And Lovecraft
used other’s works as well. For instance, Lovecraft popularized the character
of The King in Yellow, but he didn’t create it. The King was the product of the
mind of Robert W. Chambers
Once
again, all of these are collected in reasonably priced formats or for free in the links attached to each title.
Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family
(originally written in 1920, first published in Weird Tales in 1924 under the title The White Ape). This story recalls the degeneration and eventual
ruin of a family over the course of six generations, which is a theme Lovecraft
uses again in the The Shadow over
Innsmouth. Here, there is a sinister Darwinian feature that causes the
destruction of man and family. While the ending is telegraphed early on, what
stands out here is the technical aspect of the writing, while there are still
some Poe-esque atmosphere building, the overall report feels like an actual
piece of technical writing, which is what made Lovecraft’s work stand out.
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| Young H. P. Lovecraft |
Celephais
(originally written in 1920, first published in Rainbow in 1922) Part of Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle, this is about a
man from English landed gentry who becomes obsessed with finding a city from
his dreams as a child. He succeeds, becomes it's king, but it costs him dear.
This story is a perfect demonstration of Lovecraft’s marvelous ability for
description and atmosphere. The city and
it's king appear again in The Dream Quest
of Unknown Kadath. This story also demonstrates, in my absolutely humble
opinion, that Lovecraft’s work is better in the third person than the first.
This story also is the first mention of both the Plateau of Leng and the town
of Innsmouth.
From Beyond (originally written in 1920, first published in Fantasy Fan in 1934). This story
introduces a theme which Lovecraft will later (and much better) explore in The Color Out of Space and The Dreams of the Witch House, that is
the idea of horror which exist just outside of the human perception. Here the
protagonist describes an encounter with a scientist named Crawford Tillinghast
(whose relatives will be minor characters in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward). The scientist has created an
electronic device that emits a resonance wave, which stimulates an affected
person's pineal gland, thereby allowing them to perceive planes of existence
outside the scope of accepted reality. However interesting, the story is marred
by the overly-frantic and stupidly revenge fueled antagonist Tillinghast.
Nyarlathotep
(originally
written in 1929, first published in United
Amateur in 1920). He is described as a "tall, swarthy man" who
resembles an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. In this story he wanders the Earth,
seemingly gathering legions of followers, the narrator of the story among them,
through his demonstrations of strange and either magical or super-science
instruments. These followers lose awareness of the world around them, and gain
visions of the Nyarlathotep’s conquering of the world for unnamed deities, or
the world’s destruction, or both. He will eventually become an important
antagonist in various stories (on this world and the Dream Cycle) and is
mentioned in many others. Eventually he is revealed as an avatar of the Outer
Gods (Alien deities, locked outside of the universe, or at the center of it).
As he is the messenger for the Outer Gods he is the only one who has a passable
human personality, the others are too alien for us to understand. Nyarlathotep
is evil, capable and reveals a mocking contempt for his masters.
 |
| Nyarlathotep |
The Picture in the House (Originally written in 1920, first
published in National Amateur in
1921). This tale holds a special place in my heart as it was my first exposure
to H. P. Lovecraft story and it really put the hook in me. It also marks a pair
of firsts in the Mythos as the town of Arkham and Miskatonic University are
introduced. It also marks a departure for the author as he began to look at his
native New England more and more for inspiration in his stories, throwing away
the standard gothic locals of Poe. The story revolves around an academic
becoming lost in the backwoods of New England and taken refuge in the
ramshackle house of an old man who has extended his life to over a century
through foul means (again, a standard motiff for Lovecraft). The buildup in the
story is exquisite, a perfect play for a horror short.
Ex Obilivone (originally written in 1920, first published
in The United Amateur in 1921) A very
short (also flash fiction) prose poem, that sets the tone for his Dream Cycle.
A character prefers his dreams, the wonderful country, to his own life, but
finds one gate locked forever. He eventually finds a drug that allow the gate
to open, only to find it leads to oblivion, which he readily embraces. This
tale comes from Lovecraft’s reading the work of dismal philosopher and buzz
kill Arthur Schopenhauer.
Sweet Ermengarde: Or, the Heart of a Country Girl
(originally written in 1921 under the pen name Percey Simple, first published
in Beyond the Wall of Sleep in 1943)
This is a rare parody by Lovecraft's and was never printed in his lifetime,
possibly due to his lack of interest in it after finishing work on it. It is a
take on the standard Horatio Alger implausible rags-to-riches genre where a
country girl must strike it rich or lose the family far. The cynical and
mean-spirited ending reveals Lovecraft’s attitude towards this popular
literature.
The Nameless City (originally written in 1921, first
published in Fanciful Tales in 1936).
Many consider this the first Cthulhu Mythos story due to the presentation of
the mad poet Abdul Alhazred (not yet identified as the author of the infamous
Necronomicon), but I have to disagree. To me, that honor goes to Dagon as it
was the first story to present an ancient destructive deity and a lost, possibly
dead, race of non-humans.
However
this story does show the shaping of the Mythos into a unified system. The story
gives us the famous couplet
"That
is not dead which can eternal lie,
And
with strange aeons, even death may die."
The
story deals with a nameless protagonist’s journey to a nameless city (shocker)
in the desert which predates any known civilization. It was so old that the city
was originally a costal one until the water’s receded. It is mentioned in
connection with the ancient city of Sarnath (the one with the Doom) and it's
place in the world beyond. The protagonist of course discovers that the city is
far from dead and its inhabitants far from human.
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.
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