Lovecraft's brilliant idea

[orpheus]

Currently re-reading At the Mountains of Madness. I've always loved this novella. And I'd forgotten what a brilliant idea this was:

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

He builds up much of the book to the discovery, description and exploration of the sinister higher-than-Himalayas mountains. And it's really effective. But then, toward the end, he springs on us the fact that off to the west, barely visible, is an even bigger mountain range - and these are the true mountains of madness. Something so chilling about that.

[Bella Fortuna]

I'll have to re-read - it's been decades since I read Lovecraft, and I can't remember if I read that one.

[macdoc]

Me either and you just reminded me I'd like to revisit Storm Constantine as well.

[Rum]

I love the image too, but I suspect opium is at least in part to be credited.

[Audley Strange]

Currently re-reading At the Mountains of Madness. I've always loved this novella. And I'd forgotten what a brilliant idea this was:

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

He builds up much of the book to the discovery, description and exploration of the sinister higher-than-Himalayas mountains. And it's really effective. But then, toward the end, he springs on us the fact that off to the west, barely visible, is an even bigger mountain range - and these are the true mountains of madness. Something so chilling about that.

It's a good read, and the Plot of Prometheus essentially, only replace mountain with moon. Probably why Del Toro couldn't get the funding to make it.

[Bella Fortuna]

Darn it, my ex kept all my Lovecraft. I shall have to go looking for this story.

[laklak]

Got a lovely edition of The Necronomicon for my birthday last year, I'm about half way through now. There's only so much abyssal, howling madness and thin wailing of accursed flutes you can stand in one go.

[Bella Fortuna]

There's only so much abyssal, howling madness and thin wailing of accursed flutes you can stand in one go.

That's called "work" I come from...

[orpheus]

Darn it, my ex kept all my Lovecraft. I shall have to go looking for this story.

Seek and ye shall find.

http://manybooks.net/titles/lovecraftho ... dness.html

(downloadable in various formats)

[Bella Fortuna]

Ah, brilliant! Thanks, orph!

[Horwood Beer-Master]

...There's only so much abyssal, howling madness and thin wailing of accursed flutes you can stand in one go.

I wouldn't know; I've never watched X-Factor.

[Svartalf]

Darn it, my ex kept all my Lovecraft. I shall have to go looking for this story.

If my ex had tried keeping that part of my library, she'd be my late.

[Jason]

I have never read any Lovecraft, though I've oft heard him name-dropped. What's the big deal?

[Audley Strange]

He made horror impersonal, made mankind a trivial actor in the face of eternal cosmic hostility and considered primate carnality which is the essence of most horror not lustful and animalistic, but infectious and viral.

[orpheus]

He made horror impersonal, made mankind a trivial actor in the face of eternal cosmic hostility and considered primate carnality which is the essence of most horror not lustful and animalistic, but infectious and viral.

Well said, especially the part about mankind being "a trivial actor in the face of eternal cosmic hostility." I think that gets at the essence of Lovecraft.

Important to realize that his output is deeply uneven. His worst is quite bad, but his best is extremely good. At The Mountains of Madness is one of the best. It's also one of his few long-ish works; most are short stories. The Case of Charles Dexter Ward is his other novella. Also very good.

Of the short stories (and maybe they're the best places to start), some of the best are The Haunter of the Dark, The Dunwich Horror, and The Shadow Over Innsmouth. I also like The Shunned House and The Rats in the Walls.

Most of his stories are set in a somewhat fictionalized New England. At the Mountains of Madness is set in Antarctica. I mention this because atmosphere is quite important in his stories.