by H. P. Lovecraft
My New Years reading
resolution, which I vow instead of an actual resolution as I will actually
complete this goal, was to read the entire body of work by that master of
horror and science fiction, H. P. Lovecraft. I also pledged to read them in
order that he wrote each piece (not always easy to determine) so I could track
his growth as a writer and the development of the Cthulhu Mythos. As such the
books that I’m promote at the beginning of each installment isn’t necessarily
the one I’m reading from, but they are most cost effective volumes of
Lovecraft’s work that I can find. Also, if you don’t care about a bound book, most
of these stories are in the public domain and are easily viewed by the link in each title. Enjoy.
The Beast in the Cave:
(Originally written in 1905, first published in Vagrant magazine in 1918) This is a rather simplistic tale about a
man who becomes lost in Mammoth Cave in Kansas and encounters a blind albino
beast. It’s a good starter story for a young author, written in High School,
and the reader can see him eschewing even from the start the traditional forms
of horror and folding the genre into a naturalistic approach. A case might be
made that this story is a prelude to the film, The Descent.
 |
| H. P. Lovecraft |
The Alchemist:
(originally written in 1908, first published in United Amateur in 1916). The first of his stories ever published,
in this and the next tale you can see the influence of his youthful literary
idol, Edgar Allen Poe. It deals with a nobleman, last of his line, whose family
had a curse put on it by an ancient alchemist. In reality, this is a very dated
work and was probably so even when first published. The ending is telegraphed
by the story’s second page with something that could barely be called a twist.
While the writing style is verbose, even purple at times, you can see the
development of the writer in this work, using his idol for inspiration. Thankfully,
he moved away from this style to develop his own voice.
The Tomb: (Originally written 1917, first published in Vagrant in 1922) Again, you can see the
roots of Poe working its way into Lovecraft’s style. Even more so here than in
the previous short story. It is an ambiguous tale of madness or supernatural
possession (perhaps both), where a young man becomes obsessed with a family
tomb from two centuries earlier (the 18th, which was Lovecraft’s favorite era
of writing) and sees visions of life back in the day, or did he? Lovecraft’s
almost trying too hard here, many of the sentences are unnecessarily verbose.
“It was mid-summer when the alchemy of Nature transmutes the sylvan landscape
to one vivid and almost homogenous mass of green.” See what I mean? He has yet
to come into his own voice.
Dagon:
(Originally written in 1917, first published in Weird Tales in 1923). In this story, we have what can be considered
the first step in the development of the Cthulhu Mythos. In many ways it is a
precursor to The Call of Cthulhu, in
here we have a landmass risen from the sea, a giant monster of unknown origin,
an ancient non-human sentient race on the Earth, and the narrator’s struggle
with sanity (the lasting effect Poe had on Lovecraft’s work). This story
eventually ties into The Shadow over Innsmouth
(at least in my opinion). Here we see the writer starting to come into himself.
 |
| Dagon |
A Reminiscence of Dr.Samuel Johnson: (First published in United Amateur in 1917 under the pen name Humphrey Littlewit, Esq.)
This is a rare comical piece from Lovecraft. It is written, rather well, in the
style of the famous Dr. Johnson. It pokes fun at various historical figures and
at the man himself, as well as reflecting on Lovecraft’s own pretentions. It’s
a fun story, especially if you’ve read Dr. Johnson, but probably not what you
were looking for if you pick up a Lovecraft story.
Polaris:
(Originally written in 1918, first published in Philosopher in 1920). This is one of his better short pieces,
steeped in the developing mythos, and deals with an aspect he would explore
later with The Great Race of Yith (The
Shadow Out of Time), in psychic time travel. The action revolved around a
man, a guard standing watch for an oncoming enemy, whose mind is thrown twenty
six thousand years into the future (to 1917) into a distant ancestor. The
character is desperate to get back to aid his people, but is powerless. The
Pnakotic Manuscripts, the first of Lovecraft’s arcane texts, are introduced in
this story. They are texts which predate mankind, written in part or whole by
The Great Race or the Elder Things.
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
(Written in 1918, first published in Pine
Cones in 1919). This is an anticipation of several other stories in
Lovecraft’s line, dealing with the themes of a consciousness being transported
through sleep and alien possession of the unwary human. This will be developed
much more in The Shadow Out of Time.
Lovecraft also begins to add science fiction elements into his horror. Here we
have a not-so bright backwoods man from the Catskill Mountains, being seized by
“attacks” where he becomes another person and demands to leap into the sky.
Lovecraft is not shy
about defaming “white trash” as he calls it. “One of those strange, repellent
scions of a primitive colonial peasant stock whose isolation for nearly three
centuries in the hilly fastness of a little-traveled countryside has caused
them to sink to a kind of barbaric degeneracy, rather than advance with their
more fortunately placed brethren of the thickly settled districts.” Mind you,
Lovecraft had never been to the Catskills before writing this. I’m aware that
the low nature of this character is meant to be a foil for the being
encountered later on, but it still is harsher a description than I expected.
An intern hooks a device
up to the man’s head, so that the doctor could experience the other man’s
dreams. What he discovers is probably the most spiritual (in a
non-denominational sense) of human existence for Lovecraft. A rare ray of hope.
 |
| Beyond the Wall of Sleep |
Memory:
(Originally written 1919, first published in United Co-operative in that same year). A piece of flash fiction-
barely a page long. This story takes place in the ancient valley of Nis, in
moss-overrun stone ruins filled with relics of the deep past and things
"without name". These crumbling blocks of monolithic stone now serve
only for grey toads and snakes to nest under. Interspersed in the ruins are
large trees that are home to little apes. There is a sort of plot and bit of
nater between a Genie and a Daemon.
Old Bugs:
(Originally written in 1919, first published by Arkham House in The Shuttered Room and Other Stories in
1959). This was a private story and a joke between Lovecraft and his friend
Alfred Galpin. It was not meant for publication. Lovecraft was a lifetime
teetotaler and on the eve of prohibition his friend suggested that he would
like to try a drink just to see what it was like. It is a sardonic tale of a
young man, like his friend, whose life is ruined due to taking just that one
drink. Apparently at the end of the original manuscript Lovecraft had written,
“Now will you be good?”
For more readings, try books by Rex Hurst.
No comments:
Post a Comment