anotherdescentinto.blogspot.com
Continuing with my spotlight on H.P. Lovecraft, we begin with...
Inspired by a dream-like many of his works-Lovecraft's tale is about a British gentleman who slips into the dream world of Celephais, a mythical city by the mythical sea of the Cerenerian. In Celephais, there is no perception of time; one can leave for years and find nothing has changed. Some important landmarks the gentleman finds is the turquoise temple of Nath-Horhath and the Street of Pillars. Eventually, the gentleman meets his fate which will carry him into another story sometime later. A very imaginative tale about an imaginative place. Lovecraft also touches briefly upon longing for a dream and getting it! 8/10
Dread and foreboding are on the minds of many at the start of this brief tale. An evil is approaching the world and arrives in the form of Nyarlathotep, a man of the race of Pharaohs who has been hibernating for twenty-seven centuries. He travels from place to place, plaguing people's dreams with disturbing nightmares. The narrator is unconvinced of this man's powers and as a result, bad things happen to three columns of people. Dark, disturbing imagery. A power story in a mere three pages. 9/10
Set in rural New England, a traveler seeks shelter from a storm in an apparently abandoned house, only to find that it is occupied by an old, white-bearded, and ragged man, speaking in "an extreme form of Yankee dialect...thought long extinct", whose face is "abnormally ruddy and less wrinkled than one might expect." He shows a disquieting fascination for an engraving in an old book depicting a butcher shop of the "cannibal Anziques" from the historic Congo kingdom of Anziku), and admits to the narrator-who becomes nervous and frightened throughout the man's story- that it made him hunger for "something more". Sadly, the outlandish ending to the story sank an otherwise horrific story about a man's cannibalism(Rhonny would love this,lol.) 6/10
Next week I tackle The Outsider, Herbert West-Reanimator, and The Hound.
Yes!! Next week is going to rule. Herbert West baby.
ReplyDeleteI can tell you Mr.Gable it was an enjoyable descent(no pun intended) into madness and obession.
ReplyDeleteNyarlethotep and Celephais have always been two of my favorites. I thoroughly enjoyed your review of both. I look forward to the review of Herbert West - Reanimator, which I have recently acquired on audiobook.
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