I have been intrigued with HP Lovecraft for many years, this interest stemming from an article in a video game magazine called The Official Xbox Magazine. They had previewed a game called Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. Some of the images they showed were downright creepy. I had never seen anything so intriging and as a fan of anything disgusting, revolting, or scary, when I found out the game was based on the writing of an author known as HP Lovecraft, I just knew I needed to start reading some of this authors work.
A few years went by when one day in Barnes & Noble I noticed a collection of some of Lovecraft's more famous fiction. It was called The Things at the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories [link]. I bought the collection but never opened it. For a time, I read some of Lovecraft's history, coming to know more about him, more interested in him, and yet, I still read nothing he wrote. Luckily, the major motivation to reading him came when Dylan purchased an omnibus of Lovecraft's work [link], which I have read on and off for a time now.
From now on I will present my experiences with the work of Lovecraft because I am falling deeper into love with his work, thinking of his as a true literary genius, possibly soon surpassing Tolkien, who everyone knows I love so much. I will start from the beginning, but be warned I read some of the stories about a year ago, so I may have too much of a nostalgic view of them.
Lovecraft wrote this when he was fourteen. It is obvious that Lovecraft was meant to write for he is a prodigy. A short story about a person lost in a cave. They have no light and have resigned to die in the cave. I like this because I have always been interested in caves and have wondered what I would do if lost in one. Some of the pictures of caves and the creatures that reside in them absolutely terrify me. So I could relate somewhat to this story, although I would probably be more freaked out then he was during his stay in it.
I do not remember this one quite well, but the premise was decent. A familiar curse plagues a family; everyone will die at the age of 32. Maybe I should go back and read it again, but it is not one of my favorites.
Another story that didn't impress me that much. A boy, heavily into daydreaming, discovers the entrance to a mausoleum. Buried there are the remains of a family who owned a mansion burned down many years prior. For some reason he sleeps at the entrance of the mausoleum. One day, he sleeps there, wakes up, goes to his house where he finds in an old chest a key. This key opens the door to the mausoleum. At this point, the story delves into some narrative twists.
Dagon! One of my favorite stories yet! A morphine addict, ready to commit suicide at a moments notice, is haunted by an experience he had during the War. He was on a ship destroyed by an enemy vessel. He survives the encounter but is adrift at sea. At some point while he is asleep, the character is grounded about land which has suddenly risen from below him. This land he then explores. After a few days he happens upon a deep chasm with a white monolith descended down the side of it. On the monolith is some hieroglyphic writing mostly depicting sea creatures. From here, the story gets even more interesting. Definitely one of my top 10.
Not quite sure what to make of this one because I did not understand it that much. According to critics, it is Lovecraft making fun of himself for being a cultured gentleman [link].
A decent story of a man who can't sleep, so stares at Polaris all night. He falls asleep one night though and has a strange, lucid dream about a city that slowly populates with townsfolk. Night after night, he dreams of this city, observing anything about it. Eventually he wants to become part of the town. he does, but the town comes under attack from an enemy and the rest of the story plays out in the dream.
In this story, a very violent and deranged man is brought into a mental institution. He murdered some family member after having a violent outburst where he was ranting about killing some creature of some sort. At the institution, all the doctors treat him as any other patient, but one doctor thinks there is something more to this patients condition. He is brought back to a time when he was an undergraduate and had tinkered with the idea of putting together a machine to read someone else's thoughts. Truly intrigued by what Joe Slater mumbles or screams when he wakes up from his dreams, the doctor wants to see if he can use a prototype of his device to get into the mind of this insane inmate.
Particularly appealing to me for I have been interested in the mythology of dreams since the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Very short, yet intricately detailed. About stone ruins in a valley near a river. Philosophical in subject and touching, to say the least.
A story Lovecraft wrote for his friend who said he wanted to try whiskey before Prohibition went into effect. More comical than most of his work, but dark enough so as to reinforce Lovecraft's teetotaler beliefs.
About a man, known as Old Bugs, who mops the floors of a bar in a back alley in Chicago taking place in the year 1950 (Lovecraft had no idea Prohibition would be repealed by then). Old Bugs is of the very lowest of class, always trying to get drunk, so he does all the dirty work in the bar. He always tries to dissuade newcomers from starting the drink, for that is how he supposedly lost everything. Old bugs then goes to be by himself, staring at a picture of a women from very high class. Can he stop people from turning out like him?
Another story I found interesting if only because of what happens later in the story.
Juan Romero is a Mexican, but not of Aztec descent like the rest of the group he comes to America with. He in fact knows little of his origins. However, he has a ring which is the only bridge he has not burned for coming to America. He knows little about the ring, but cherishes it deeply. Juan begins working for a mining company. One day, a large set of charges are placed in the mine to open up a new gold vein. Possibly too many charges. The explosions is so massive it shatters windows across the mining camp, but also opens up a hole so deep that no rope can reach the bottom. I crew sent into the hole to try and reach the bottom come back up after failing to do so, but also refusing to have anything else to do with the hole again, but not telling why. Late that night, some mysterious things start happening, and Juan thinks they have something to do with his ring.
Definitely my most favored story so far, if only because of its fantastical setting.
A lighthouse keeper stares out to sea for years. The sea is something that he knows, that he understands. Slowly but surely the sea begins giving its secrets away to the keeper. After a while, the keeper notices a white ship sailing out at sea everynight, in the same direction every time. Basil Elton, the lighthouse keeper, is eventually allowed to board the ship which takes him on a fantastical journey to the city of Thalarian, City of a Thousand Wonders where all the creatures poets and writers dream up but forget or don't publish. Eventually they land in Sona-Nyl, Land of Fancy. Everything here is always happy and perfect. However, Basil wishes to travel to Cathuria, the Land of Hope. He and the crew have heard stories of this place, a place that is supposed to be even better than Sona-Nyl. However, no one has ever tried to leave Sona-Nyl and travel past the great Pillars at sea because they just don't know enough of Cathuria to risk it. Eventually, Basil gets the crew and captain of the white ship to take him there...
I love lovecraft. What's amazing is how much he's influenced culture. I'm constantly finding subtle references to his work in media.
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