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The Call of Cthulhu
One of the feature stories of the Cthulhu Mythos, H.P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu is a harrowing tale of the weakness of the human mind when confronted by powers and intelligences from beyond our world.
43 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 1, 1928
About the author
H.P. Lovecraft
4,578 books18k followersHoward Phillips Lovecraft, of Providence, Rhode Island, was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction.
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
Lovecraft's major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: life is incomprehensible to human minds and the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. Lovecraft has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of the Enlightenment, Romanticism and Christianity. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality.
Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades. He is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th Century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.
See also Howard Phillips Lovecraft.
— Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 6,987 reviews
August 23, 2024
Oh my! So scary! NOT.
A bas-relief, weird events, dark cults, secret documents and obscure references, everything points to an ancient creature, dormant since eons ago, something immensely powerful, and beyond horrifying. The mythical Cthulhu.
First ever Lovecraft! Very interesting to finally know the legendary story that inspired and spawned countless of other works. However, must say it was pretty boring, slow paced and exceedingly difficult to read, even for a classic.
This was overall ok, but far from enjoyable. Will try a couple more of his stories, and possibly something in spanish to see if it makes any difference, but not really looking forward to it.
It's public domain, you can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1928] [43p] [Horror] [2.5] [Not Recommendable]
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¡Uy pero qué miedo! NO.
Un bajorrelieve, extraños eventos, cultos oscuros, documentos secretos y obscuras referencias, todo apunta hacia una antigua criatura, inactiva desde eones atrás, algo inmensamente poderoso, y más allá de horroroso. El mítico Cthulhu.
¡Primera vez Lovecraft! Muy interesante finalmente conocer la legendaria historia que inspiró y dio origen a tantas incontables obras. Sin embargo, debo decir esto fue bastante aburrido, de ritmo lento y excesivamente difícil de leer, incluso para ser un clásico.
Esto estuvo dentro de todo bien, pero lejos de ser disfrutable. Intentaré algunas más de sus historias, y posiblemente algo en español para ver si hace alguna diferencia, pero no me emociona mucho.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1928] [43p] [Horror] [2.5] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
A bas-relief, weird events, dark cults, secret documents and obscure references, everything points to an ancient creature, dormant since eons ago, something immensely powerful, and beyond horrifying. The mythical Cthulhu.
First ever Lovecraft! Very interesting to finally know the legendary story that inspired and spawned countless of other works. However, must say it was pretty boring, slow paced and exceedingly difficult to read, even for a classic.
This was overall ok, but far from enjoyable. Will try a couple more of his stories, and possibly something in spanish to see if it makes any difference, but not really looking forward to it.
It's public domain, you can find it HERE.
-----------------------------------------------
PERSONAL NOTE :
[1928] [43p] [Horror] [2.5] [Not Recommendable]
-----------------------------------------------
¡Uy pero qué miedo! NO.
Un bajorrelieve, extraños eventos, cultos oscuros, documentos secretos y obscuras referencias, todo apunta hacia una antigua criatura, inactiva desde eones atrás, algo inmensamente poderoso, y más allá de horroroso. El mítico Cthulhu.
¡Primera vez Lovecraft! Muy interesante finalmente conocer la legendaria historia que inspiró y dio origen a tantas incontables obras. Sin embargo, debo decir esto fue bastante aburrido, de ritmo lento y excesivamente difícil de leer, incluso para ser un clásico.
Esto estuvo dentro de todo bien, pero lejos de ser disfrutable. Intentaré algunas más de sus historias, y posiblemente algo en español para ver si hace alguna diferencia, pero no me emociona mucho.
Es dominio público, lo pueden encontrar ACA.
-----------------------------------------------
NOTA PERSONAL :
[1928] [43p] [Horror] [2.5] [No Recomendable]
-----------------------------------------------
February 1, 2012
This here, folks, is the most impressive image of Cthulhu that I’ve come across:
He just looks so damn regal, this eldritch, malevolent entity that appears partoctopus kraken, part dragon, part human caricature…the so called "mountain who walks."
Yes, I admit that I’m a Lovecraft/Cthulhu mythos junkie. I can’t help it. I think his stories are just amazing.
Depending on which HPL story I’ve most recently consumed, I vacillate regarding what is my absolute favorite HPL tale, The Call of Cthulhu, the Dunwich Horror or At the Mountains of Madness. Well this one has again rocketed itself to top billing on the HPL chart…for now at least. The story covers so much ground and touches on so many aspects of what would become central “mythos” lore that it’s easy to see why people hold this up as HPL’s best work. I certainly wouldn’t disagree having just read it for the fourth time.
Regardless of where you come out on the issue of Lovecraft’s best work, let me postulate that HPL never wrote a better passage describing the fundamental philosophical underpinnings of his work than the opening paragraph of The Call of Cthulhu:
Okay, so it’s not the rosiest, most upbeat of pictures, but hey…this is horror after all and when it comes to creating atmosphere and imagery to tantalize and terrify, these stories are gold.
PLOT SUMMARY:
Told in epistolary format as a transcript of the papers of our narrator, the Late Francis Wayland Thurston, the story recounts Thurston’s piecing together of a series of strange incidents all connected to a mysterious Cthulhu Cult and the dread being that the members of the cult worship. The tale is only 35 pages long and so I don’t want to give away plot details as that slow build of terror is central to the joy of this slice of scary. Let me just say that narrative stretches around the globe, from Boston to New Orleans to Greenland to China to the uncharted waters between Antarctica and New Zealand and involves shared nightmares, bizarre rituals, the dread Necronomicon, a failed expedition to hell on Earth and the sick, twisted devotees of a religion as old as man itself.
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"*
*Translation: - "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. "
Squeeeeeee.
THOUGHTS:
Well, I just emasculated myself and squeeeeed so that should tell you that I love this stuff. I have always been a huge fan of Lovecraft’s prose with its abundant melodrama, the dread-filled angst and the over the top references to “nameless horrors” and “eldritch, cyclopean buildings” and “dark, ancient vistas” that can stop the heart and send uncontrollable fear into all that see them. The man can make walking down a dark staircase feel like the scariest moment in history.
If you find that kind of atmosphere-manipulating prose to be off-putting, than HPL is likely not your cuppa. It is certainly mine and I have been drinking the kool-aid for a while now. In my opinion, this is about as good as classic horror gets and I can feel gush welling up even as I type this.
Still, even as a complete fanboy of Lovecraft I try not to read too much of his work at one time because I find the stories have a tendency to blur together and lose a bit of their emotional power. I’ll usually restrict myself to handfuls of 2 to 4 at a time and this allows me to savor the details of each tale and keep the entertainment level set on high.
5.0 stars. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!
He just looks so damn regal, this eldritch, malevolent entity that appears part
Yes, I admit that I’m a Lovecraft/Cthulhu mythos junkie. I can’t help it. I think his stories are just amazing.
Depending on which HPL story I’ve most recently consumed, I vacillate regarding what is my absolute favorite HPL tale, The Call of Cthulhu, the Dunwich Horror or At the Mountains of Madness. Well this one has again rocketed itself to top billing on the HPL chart…for now at least. The story covers so much ground and touches on so many aspects of what would become central “mythos” lore that it’s easy to see why people hold this up as HPL’s best work. I certainly wouldn’t disagree having just read it for the fourth time.
Regardless of where you come out on the issue of Lovecraft’s best work, let me postulate that HPL never wrote a better passage describing the fundamental philosophical underpinnings of his work than the opening paragraph of The Call of Cthulhu:
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark ageThose few sentences say so much. They touch on the insignificance of man…the substantial ignorance of humanity regarding the universe…the concept of things so vast, unknowable and unable to be comprehended…and the soul-chilling coldness of what lay beyond our tiny sphere of knowledge.
Okay, so it’s not the rosiest, most upbeat of pictures, but hey…this is horror after all and when it comes to creating atmosphere and imagery to tantalize and terrify, these stories are gold.
PLOT SUMMARY:
Told in epistolary format as a transcript of the papers of our narrator, the Late Francis Wayland Thurston, the story recounts Thurston’s piecing together of a series of strange incidents all connected to a mysterious Cthulhu Cult and the dread being that the members of the cult worship. The tale is only 35 pages long and so I don’t want to give away plot details as that slow build of terror is central to the joy of this slice of scary. Let me just say that narrative stretches around the globe, from Boston to New Orleans to Greenland to China to the uncharted waters between Antarctica and New Zealand and involves shared nightmares, bizarre rituals, the dread Necronomicon, a failed expedition to hell on Earth and the sick, twisted devotees of a religion as old as man itself.
"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"*
*Translation: - "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming. "
Squeeeeeee.
THOUGHTS:
Well, I just emasculated myself and squeeeeed so that should tell you that I love this stuff. I have always been a huge fan of Lovecraft’s prose with its abundant melodrama, the dread-filled angst and the over the top references to “nameless horrors” and “eldritch, cyclopean buildings” and “dark, ancient vistas” that can stop the heart and send uncontrollable fear into all that see them. The man can make walking down a dark staircase feel like the scariest moment in history.
If you find that kind of atmosphere-manipulating prose to be off-putting, than HPL is likely not your cuppa. It is certainly mine and I have been drinking the kool-aid for a while now. In my opinion, this is about as good as classic horror gets and I can feel gush welling up even as I type this.
Still, even as a complete fanboy of Lovecraft I try not to read too much of his work at one time because I find the stories have a tendency to blur together and lose a bit of their emotional power. I’ll usually restrict myself to handfuls of 2 to 4 at a time and this allows me to savor the details of each tale and keep the entertainment level set on high.
5.0 stars. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!
March 2, 2013
I am largely underwhelmed by this “master of horror.” I find the writing simply dull, repetitive, anti-climactic, and that it uses the same tricks over and over and over again. I am not horrified by the stories, or at least not by any intended reasons. The narration, pacing, and lazy writing wreck whatever interest I had in the premises of the stories had, such as the twist to Arthur Jermyn and The Color Out of Space. (Such potential, OH WHY?!)
I admit my strong reaction to these stories is due to the huge hype I’ve heard around them and the high expectations I had starting them. After reading some of his most famous works (Call of Cthulhu, Call of Cthulhu, and don’t forget, Call of Cthulhu) I am completely lost to why they’ve achieved the memetic status they’re at now. Before actually reading anything, I was always delighted to see the occasional “CTHULHU”-fish emblem on the back of a car or a creative homage to the famed monster on DeviantArt, and I was eager to become a loyal member of the fanbase, but it just wasn’t for me.
Here are some notes I jotted down while reading:
- Lovecraft makes random misspellings in an attempt to sound archaic. “Shewn”, “coördinated”, “reëmbarked”, etc. Admittedly this only happens once every couple pages, but it’s still distracting.
- Every protagonist is exactly the same. “It was very horrible but my own scientific curiosity for the horrible made me very curious as to what lay forward.” Sometimes the narrators are completely unnecessary, with an obvious case of this being in The Call of Cthulhu, where the narrator summarizes other people’s actions or journal entries, when it would have been much more effective to just show the journal entries or articles themselves.
- There are lazy attempts at shewing horrific things. He will write what is basically a wordy version of “And it was so horrible and I could never describe it without going crazy/dead and I really don’t want to bring those memories back in my mind so yeah just trust me it was horrible.”
- When he does describe actual horror, it’s not very horrific. “And I looked out the window and saw a bunch of weird people chanting and dancing to this big black pyramid and I screamed loudly for what seemed to be an hour in sheer horrible terror.”
- Lovecraft uses description of people that human beings do not (and should not) use. The narrator of Cool Air describes Dr. Muñoz as being “high-bred”. In He, the narrator describes the titular pronoun as bearing “the marks of a lineage and refinement.” The Call of Cthulhu describes tribal peoples as being “mix-blooded.” This is just creepy, as most humans do not describe others the same way you would describe a dog. This technique would be effective if it was coming out of the mouth of a character who was meant to be portrayed as inhuman or emotionless, but no, it’s coming out of the narrator we’re supposed to identify with.
- Physical improbabilities are rampant. In The Rats in the Walls, there’s an enormous lair complete with bottomless ravines underneath an old manor. Uh, why? Enormous mile-high structures will be completely unnoticed in the wild by the world around them, which I find highly unlikely for the 1920’s setting.
- The pacing is distractingly inconsistent. While Lovecraft will never miss an opportunity to describe the scenery and archaic architecture at length, long voyages and passages of time will be handwaved with a few words mid-sentence.
However, I would recommend this edition of the book for someone who wants to start with Lovecraft (even after reading all of this review). It has every story of his I’ve heard anyone talk about, the painting on the cover is cool, and Penguin crams all 420 pages into a surprisingly thin width. The “Explanatory Notes” at the end are in-depth, and well-researched. They don’t always add to one’s understanding of the story (Cool Air has a note about a fold-out couch Lovecraft kept in his study). While definitely not necessary for getting the full-effect of the stories, they’re interesting to read and I’m glad they’re included.
Please leave comments! I want to see if I'm not alone in my opinion, or if I just "don't get it". :P
– – –
Super-exaggeration time:
“I drove around the old toun while calling my well-bred Negro acquaintance with my iPhewn when I heard a sound that struck me as being from an ancient cosmic terror of terrible horrors buried deep within the crevice of time and the darkest corners of the recurring nightmares of humankind undernaeth the horrors of Old New Yoark. Although I can’t pinpoint exactly why I came to this conclusiön but it was of such disturbance to my psyche that I am to leap out of this window in 5 4 3 2-”
- - -
2012 UPDATE: No, I still haven't read any more Lovecraft since writing this review. But here are some extra thoughts for clarification: I am completely familiar with the kind of horror Lovecraft aims for, and that his fans love him for. I do love this style of horror (unspeakable, unseen, ancient, and cosmic), and I love it when it's envoked—but Lovecraft was unable to envoke it for me. My main problem with Lovecraft (and most horror out there) is that his stories feel more like stories about his narrators getting scared, without myself feeling an iota of involvement. I find that literature is an extremely difficult medium for horror, as it takes an extreme, almost poetic ability to be able to write the perfect description, atmosphere, or even single sentence that begins to spook the reader—not just the author's characters. It's not impossible, it's just hard. I can get myself into an intense horrified scizophrenic state before I begin reading, and enjoy the stories much more, but why should I? I went into this author with an open mind, and I wasn't convinced. I shouldn't have to perform "well what if this was happening to me" exercises or stay awake until four in the morning and convince myself there's a murderer behind me to get myself in the mood to properly enjoy horror.
October 19, 2023
The Call of Chut...Ctthoo...Cuthuo...
THE CALL OF CTHULHU!
I finally got around to this one.
And what did I think?
I think it's a well-known short story that has spawned countless far better stories. Which is something I'm finding to be true across the board when it comes to classics. A vast amount of the source material for famous characters is utter shit, at least plotwise. The core ideas are different and interesting, so over the years, you have other authors take those ideas and run with them into some very cool territory. Eventually, those characters become completely iconic, and then some ignorant peasant like myself grows a wild hair and decides to read the original stuff.
It's almost always a disappointment.
Well, not this time!
No, I'm kidding. This was shit, too.
Well, not shit. But certainly not terrifying or creepy.
It's wordy and more meandering than you'd think Lovecraft could manage in such a few short pages.
The gist is that this dude inherited his dead uncle's papers. Now his uncle was a respected science-y guy, and the papers were related to this research he had been doing about some long-forgotten space god that was showing up in artsy-fartsy people's dreams on a certain date, driving some of them mad. His uncle died under mysterious circumstances.
Sounds like Kthooloo!
Then he finds out about this policeman who raided some cultists in a jungle. They were undulating and screaming around a tentacle monster statue that they were worshiping. Which was weird, but it was actually all the dead humans they'd managed to sacrifice that got them in trouble with the law.
Kuuuhthoulou!
And last, he finds the lone survivor of a ship. Well, he almost finds him. That dude also drops dead for no good reason. But not before he leaves a letter describing how he and his crew were almost eaten by the monstrous Ctttttoolou as he rose from the depths of the frothy ocean.
Now our narrator knows his own days are numbered. <--because the cultists of Cthulhu don't play!
So, shhhhh. Don't tell anyone the secrets you learned here...
I'm not the world's biggest Lovecraft fan, so I really didn't want to wade through another ENTIRE set of his stories. I decided it would be easier to swallow his verbose style if I just grabbed the one story that I actually wanted to read.
It's not some great tale of cosmic horror, but as a teeny-tiny audiobook novella, this was cool enough for me to be glad I ticked it off the bucket list.
The audio version I listened to was from Renegade Arts Entertainment & was read by Doug Bradley <--it had a dramatic musical soundtrack to go along with the narration.
THE CALL OF CTHULHU!
I finally got around to this one.
And what did I think?
I think it's a well-known short story that has spawned countless far better stories. Which is something I'm finding to be true across the board when it comes to classics. A vast amount of the source material for famous characters is utter shit, at least plotwise. The core ideas are different and interesting, so over the years, you have other authors take those ideas and run with them into some very cool territory. Eventually, those characters become completely iconic, and then some ignorant peasant like myself grows a wild hair and decides to read the original stuff.
It's almost always a disappointment.
Well, not this time!
No, I'm kidding. This was shit, too.
Well, not shit. But certainly not terrifying or creepy.
It's wordy and more meandering than you'd think Lovecraft could manage in such a few short pages.
The gist is that this dude inherited his dead uncle's papers. Now his uncle was a respected science-y guy, and the papers were related to this research he had been doing about some long-forgotten space god that was showing up in artsy-fartsy people's dreams on a certain date, driving some of them mad. His uncle died under mysterious circumstances.
Sounds like Kthooloo!
Then he finds out about this policeman who raided some cultists in a jungle. They were undulating and screaming around a tentacle monster statue that they were worshiping. Which was weird, but it was actually all the dead humans they'd managed to sacrifice that got them in trouble with the law.
Kuuuhthoulou!
And last, he finds the lone survivor of a ship. Well, he almost finds him. That dude also drops dead for no good reason. But not before he leaves a letter describing how he and his crew were almost eaten by the monstrous Ctttttoolou as he rose from the depths of the frothy ocean.
Now our narrator knows his own days are numbered. <--because the cultists of Cthulhu don't play!
So, shhhhh. Don't tell anyone the secrets you learned here...
I'm not the world's biggest Lovecraft fan, so I really didn't want to wade through another ENTIRE set of his stories. I decided it would be easier to swallow his verbose style if I just grabbed the one story that I actually wanted to read.
It's not some great tale of cosmic horror, but as a teeny-tiny audiobook novella, this was cool enough for me to be glad I ticked it off the bucket list.
The audio version I listened to was from Renegade Arts Entertainment & was read by Doug Bradley <--it had a dramatic musical soundtrack to go along with the narration.
May 6, 2018
Lovecraft does not waste a single word. Every expression, every phrase, is masterfully selected to evoke a sense of the macabre. Like a masterful surgeon, Lovecraft’s meticulous prose is methodical and scrupulous.
Such expertise is carried across the body of his writing, though The Call of Cthulhu is undoubtedly the best example. This story captures so much of Lovecraft’s twisted imagination; it is the pinnacle of his writing, the best of his form. The brilliance of it resides in the way it can be mysterious, ethereal and untouchable yet so real and physically haunting. Cthulhu is an ancient entity, shrouded and forgotten, yet he is very real in the minds of those he touches and those that worship him.
Hidden away, buried, in a dark underground city deep under the ocean, Cthulhu is older than the sun and the stars. Like nothing that has ever walked the earth, he is part man, part dragon and part octopus; he is a being of unimaginable cosmic proportions: beholding his form is enough to drive the sanest man into the lowest pits of hysteria and despair. Although he is near impossible to find, even for the most devout and deranged of his followers, he has the power to find you: he has the power to invade your dreams and unhinge your thoughts forevermore.
Cthulhu is one of my favourite creations within fiction, period. I find the scope of such an entity magnificent and the open-endedness of this story spectacular. Will Cthulhu ever rise? Could anything stop him mastering the earth? Will he finally call his followers to his side?
"This was that cult, and the prisoners said it had always existed and always would exist, hidden in distant wastes and dark places all over the world until the time came when the great priest Cthulhu, from his dark house in the might city of R’lyeh under the waters, should rise and bring the earth again beneath his sway. Some day he would call, when the stars were ready, and the secret cult would always be ready to liberate him."
Such expertise is carried across the body of his writing, though The Call of Cthulhu is undoubtedly the best example. This story captures so much of Lovecraft’s twisted imagination; it is the pinnacle of his writing, the best of his form. The brilliance of it resides in the way it can be mysterious, ethereal and untouchable yet so real and physically haunting. Cthulhu is an ancient entity, shrouded and forgotten, yet he is very real in the minds of those he touches and those that worship him.
Hidden away, buried, in a dark underground city deep under the ocean, Cthulhu is older than the sun and the stars. Like nothing that has ever walked the earth, he is part man, part dragon and part octopus; he is a being of unimaginable cosmic proportions: beholding his form is enough to drive the sanest man into the lowest pits of hysteria and despair. Although he is near impossible to find, even for the most devout and deranged of his followers, he has the power to find you: he has the power to invade your dreams and unhinge your thoughts forevermore.
Cthulhu is one of my favourite creations within fiction, period. I find the scope of such an entity magnificent and the open-endedness of this story spectacular. Will Cthulhu ever rise? Could anything stop him mastering the earth? Will he finally call his followers to his side?
"This was that cult, and the prisoners said it had always existed and always would exist, hidden in distant wastes and dark places all over the world until the time came when the great priest Cthulhu, from his dark house in the might city of R’lyeh under the waters, should rise and bring the earth again beneath his sway. Some day he would call, when the stars were ready, and the secret cult would always be ready to liberate him."
November 30, 2021
This is a short story about a cult which worships a strange and ancient monster called Cthulhu. It is one of the first horror stories and I understand its importance. However, I did not like it too much. I am not a big fan of books where the main character discovers a mystery in some letters/ documents and does not experience anything 1st hand. It lacked any tension and that should be a must for a horror story.
September 2, 2019
This, the first of three volumes of Lovecraft tales edited by S.T. Joshi, is--as are the other two--chronological, featuring a selection of tales from the earliest to the very last. (An odd organizational principle for a complete tales, but I suppose Joshi did this so most of the best tales wouldn't be found in the last two volumes.)
Every Lovecraft fan should purchase all three volumes, but—if you must confine yourself to one only—I would suggest this one as the best to buy, since it contains many of the best and most characteristic tales. Among my favorites are the early “Dagon” (which foreshadows the Cthulhu mythos), “The Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family” (first appearance of the Lovecraft theme of genetic pollution), “Nyarlathotep” (a perfectly realized early prose poem), “The Picture in the House” (a tale of cannibalism narrated by a degenerate old New Englander), “The Outsider” (Lovecraft’s first masterpiece, written in the style of Poe), “The Rats in the Walls” (an English gothic, involving a literal descent into an ancient world of horrors), “The Festival” (an underappreciated dream journey through an old New England town, worthy of Ligotti), “The Call of Cthulhu” (a masterly use of many narrative points of view), “The Colour Out of Space” (the tale of a mysterious meteor, perhaps Lovecraft’s best use of description”), “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” (the secret behind the degenerate denizens of a small New England port, perhaps Lovecraft’s best sustained longer work), and “The Haunter of the Dark” (H.P.’s last story, featuring a haunted description of his native Providence and the best concluding sentence in horror fiction).
Also included: “The Statement of Randolph Carter,” “Celephais,” “Herbert West – Reanimator”, “Cool Air,” “The Hound,” “He”, and “ The Whisperer in Darkness”—all of which are of interest—and the excellent introduction and helpful notes of the great scholar of horror S.T. Joshi (particularly good at revealing the connections between Lovecraft’s life and his fiction.)
All in all, this is a fine collection, certainly the best of the excellent series of three.
July 21, 2017
Perhaps no story more defines H.P. Lovecraft’s eldritch hold on speculative fiction than The Call of Cthulhu.
Pronounced: Cthulhu.
First published in 1928, in Weird Tales magazine, this launched what is now known as the Cthulhu Mythos. It was here, as much as his earlier unspeakable horrors like Dagon and The Tomb and The Nameless City, that formed what is today known as Lovecraftian; but it was great Cthulhu that gave this sub-genre it’s definition and a face from which to leer down upon poor, lost humanity.
Told as many of Lovecraft’s stories, as a lost manuscript found again, this highlights many ubiquitous Lovecraft themes such as forbidden knowledge, unspeakable horrors, pre-human civilizations, occultism and secret societies. Readers will also enjoy another mention of the un-mentionable Necronomicon, written by the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred. We are also introduced to the Old Gods and humans who are initiated into this unknowable and blasphemous sect.
Cthulhu is also the origin of many of Lovecraft’s best know quotes such as:
“In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming”
and
“That is not dead which can eternal lie, / And with strange aeons, even death may die”
Cthulhu’s influence on literature and the arts since has been legion, and while I read the two films that jumped out to me was Close Encounters of the Third Kind and, of course, Ghostbusters; but Lovecraft’s stamp on all sorts of fictional media since has been prodigious.
A classic and a MUST read for fans of speculative fiction.
Pronounced: Cthulhu.
First published in 1928, in Weird Tales magazine, this launched what is now known as the Cthulhu Mythos. It was here, as much as his earlier unspeakable horrors like Dagon and The Tomb and The Nameless City, that formed what is today known as Lovecraftian; but it was great Cthulhu that gave this sub-genre it’s definition and a face from which to leer down upon poor, lost humanity.
Told as many of Lovecraft’s stories, as a lost manuscript found again, this highlights many ubiquitous Lovecraft themes such as forbidden knowledge, unspeakable horrors, pre-human civilizations, occultism and secret societies. Readers will also enjoy another mention of the un-mentionable Necronomicon, written by the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred. We are also introduced to the Old Gods and humans who are initiated into this unknowable and blasphemous sect.
Cthulhu is also the origin of many of Lovecraft’s best know quotes such as:
“In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming”
and
“That is not dead which can eternal lie, / And with strange aeons, even death may die”
Cthulhu’s influence on literature and the arts since has been legion, and while I read the two films that jumped out to me was Close Encounters of the Third Kind and, of course, Ghostbusters; but Lovecraft’s stamp on all sorts of fictional media since has been prodigious.
A classic and a MUST read for fans of speculative fiction.
March 26, 2020
As a Lovecraft fan, I can easily demonstrate why this story is significant, but explaining exactly why it is so terrifying is a much more difficult thing to do.
So, easy things first.
The Call of Cthulhu is significant—at least to Lovecraft fans—because it is: 1) the first story in which we encounter Cthulhu himself, 2) the story which includes the first explicit rationale for the Cthulhu mythos, 3) the only H.P. Lovecraft story in which a human actually sees a god, and 4) the first production of an extraordinary spurt of creativity which began in the summer of 1926, shortly after H.P. returned to Providence (following the end of his unfortunate marriage and his traumatic time in New York City), and lasted for a period of ten months, during which time Lovecraft completed The Call of Cthulhu, Pickman’s Model, The Silver Key, The Strange High House in the Mist, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward, and The Colour Out of Space. Not bad for not quite a year’s work.
Okay, so that is why the story is important. But why is it so scary?
I’ll get to that. But first I'll tell you why it isn’t scary. First, it isn’t the mythos. The mythos may be a great way of connecting stories and making them even scarier together, but there’s little about the mythos that is scary all by itself. Second, it’s not Cthulhu himself that’s so scary. A big gelatinous octopus with a tentacle mustache and tiny wings is creepy, but I’ve seen worse. I’ve seen worse even in bad movies.
So what is it that makes The Call of Cthulhu so terrifying? Mostly, I think the terror arises from the profound disorientation the reader experiences, a disorientation which comes from the shattering of our expectations of space and time. Lovecraft does this by toying with our assumptions about geometric relationships, the integrity of form, the size and hierarchy of objects, and the relationship of proximity and immediacy to temporal sequence and significance.
The altering of geometries is probably the least disconcerting of the disorienting things I have listed here, for it is commonly hinted at in Lovecraft stories; indeed, it is almost a Lovecraft cliché. But in The Call of Cthulhu, although Lovecraft introduces the concept in typical fashion (the dream-haunted sculptor speaks of “the damp Cyclopean city...—whose geometry, he oddly said, was all wrong”), later applies the concept boldly and specifically:
Parker slipped as the other three were plunging frenziedly over endless vistas of green-crusted rock to the boat, and Johansen swears he was swallowed up by an angle of masonry which shouldn’t have been there; an angle which was acute, but behaved as if it were obtuse.Perhaps more disconcerting is that Cthulhu does not obey the physical laws about the integrity of form:
...as the steam mounted higher and higher the brave Norwegian drove his vessel head on against the pursuing jelly... There was a bursting as of an exploding bladder, a slushy nastiness as of a cloven sunfish, a stench as of a thousand opened graves, and a sound that the chronicler would not put on paper. For an instant the ship was befouled by an acrid and blinding green cloud, and then there was only a venomous seething astern; where—God in heaven!—the scattered plasticity of that nameless sky-spawn was nebulously recombining in its hateful original form.More subtle, but even more discomfiting, is the size of the Cthulhu statues. Every reader of Haggard and Burroughs (or every watcher of Indiana Jones, for that matter) knows what size sinister idols are supposed to be: huge. Yet the first idol we see—the dream-haunted sculptor’s carving--is a bas-relief “less than an inch thick and about five by six inches in area”, the second—the exhibit brought to the Historical Society by New Orleans’ Inspector Legrasse—is “between seven and eight inches in height”. Legrasse’s narrative indicate that Cthulhu’s dancing devotees attempt to compensate for this deficiency in size, for he describes their sinister place of worship:
in the centre of which, revealed by occasional rifts in the curtain of flame, stood a great granite monolith some eight feet in height; on top of which, incongruous with its diminutiveness, rested the noxious carven statuette.I find this all very disconcerting. It implies that the Old Ones are so alien, so other in their origins, that they disdain the significance of size. Even the statue later grasped by Johansen, though slightly larger than the others, is only “about a foot in height.” But of course, soon after that, Cthulhu shows up, in all his jellied magnificence, confounding expectations.
The last important element in the production of terror is the way Lovecraft plays with proximity and immediacy—two qualities we tend to associate. Again, the usual adventure tale involving ancient gods begins with the hero perusing a succession of manuscripts—from modern to medieval to ancient—the oldest of which reveals a secret. But in order to make that secret thing immediate and achievable, the hero must journey to a particular destination. Then, when he is proximate to the secret, the tale becomes vivid and immediate, and the adventure is brought to a climax.
In The Call of Cthulhu, the relationship between proximity and immediacy is deliberately skewed. There are a wealth of locations and small interlocking narratives, but the most proximate—the meeting with the local sculptor Wilcox—is the furthest removed from immediate experience. Our narrator—I suppose, the closest thing we come to a hero--journeys to various places (New Orleans, San Francisco, New Zealand, Norway) but the immediacy of a quest adventure is (mercifully) denied him. Instead it is revealed to him remotely, through the obscure diary of a deceased Norwegian sailor.
The reader, who experiences vicariously the immediacy of the sailor's quest, is disoriented when he realizes that the narrative has now come full circle, and that the full horror of Cthulhu which Johansen witnesses happened on the very same night that sculptor Wilcox was dreaming his dreams. However, though the narrative has come full circle, the reader remains disoriented, scattered like great Cthulhu upon the waves.
But, unlike the Great Old One, the reader may never "nebulously recombine". The artistry of Lovecraft has permanently changed him; it is doubtful whether he can ever return to his "original form" again.
September 10, 2020
The Call of Cthulhu is, to all appearances, a rather short and negligible story (little more than 30 pages long). And yet, it’s undoubtedly one of the most iconic novellas by H.P. Lovecraft, and one of his significant early achievements (with, perhaps, The Rats in the Walls). A novella which has spurred the imagination of countless fans, artists, writers, game designers and triggered many imitations.
In this story, we find the first mentions (to my knowledge) of nightmarish cyclopean corpse-cities, resurfacing like non-Euclidean mammoth monoliths from the unfathomable depths of time; the invention of strange and evil tongues (the repeated sentence: "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.”); the description of horrific squid-like entities; the mention of the mysterious Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred.
The story is in the form of an archaeological enquiry, piecing sinister clues together: from the discovery of a series of disturbing statuettes, an investigation around a sort of depraved voodoo cult, to a shipwreck in the South Pacific, finally to uncover an endless dark horror of apocalyptic proportions. Perhaps one of the major achievement of this short story is the blend of realistic background (narrated in first-person without any dialogue) with demonic details which, for the most part, are characterised as indescribable, and left to the reader’s weirdest imaginings.
Lovecraft drew his inspiration from the Greek myths of Atlantis, of the Gorgon, of Polyphemus (The Odyssey) and the Scandinavian legend of the Kraken, possibly also from Poe’s Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Melville’s Moby-Dick and Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The Cthulhu story has had a significant influence on late 20th-century sci-fi and horror genres, especially in the visual arts, from Druillet and Mœbius graphic novels to movie franchises such as Alien, Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean.
In this story, we find the first mentions (to my knowledge) of nightmarish cyclopean corpse-cities, resurfacing like non-Euclidean mammoth monoliths from the unfathomable depths of time; the invention of strange and evil tongues (the repeated sentence: "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.”); the description of horrific squid-like entities; the mention of the mysterious Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred.
The story is in the form of an archaeological enquiry, piecing sinister clues together: from the discovery of a series of disturbing statuettes, an investigation around a sort of depraved voodoo cult, to a shipwreck in the South Pacific, finally to uncover an endless dark horror of apocalyptic proportions. Perhaps one of the major achievement of this short story is the blend of realistic background (narrated in first-person without any dialogue) with demonic details which, for the most part, are characterised as indescribable, and left to the reader’s weirdest imaginings.
Lovecraft drew his inspiration from the Greek myths of Atlantis, of the Gorgon, of Polyphemus (The Odyssey) and the Scandinavian legend of the Kraken, possibly also from Poe’s Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Melville’s Moby-Dick and Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The Cthulhu story has had a significant influence on late 20th-century sci-fi and horror genres, especially in the visual arts, from Druillet and Mœbius graphic novels to movie franchises such as Alien, Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean.
May 8, 2019
من و کطولحو
اولین بار که با کطولحو آشنا شدم، توی بازی «شرلوک هلمز: بیدار» بود. دبیرستانی بودم و تازه با شرلوک هلمز آشنا و شدیداً هواخواهش شده بودم. این بازی رو هم به خاطر همین خریدم. بازی فوراً تبدیل شد به یکی از تجربههای تکرارنشدنیم. فضاهای تاریک و وهمآلود، فرقههای مذهبی مخفی که آدمهای بی خانمان رو که کسی پیگیر زندگی و مرگشون نبود، میدزدیدن و قربانی میکردن برای خدای وحشتآور اختاپوسمانندی که معتقد بودن قراره ظهور کنه و باید با قربانی انسانی ظهورش رو تعجیل کرد. بازی به شدت تخیل نوجوان من رو مسحور کرد و تا مدتها با برادرم خودمون رو داخل اون فضای جذاب و ترسناک تصور میکردیم و بازی میکردیم.
اون موقع نمیدونستم که داستان بازی، فضاسازیهای تاریک و نمناک و وهمآلودش، فرقهٔ مخفی و اعتقادات وحشتناکش و خدای اختاپوسمانندی که قراره ظهور کنه، همه و همه از داستانهای لاوکرافت اقتباس شده. من فکر میکردم که مسحور شرلوک هلمز شدهم، در حالی که در حقیقت بدون این که خبر داشته باشم شیفتهٔ لاوکرافت شده بودم.
چند سال گذشت تا پارسال یا پیارسال، نمیدونم چرا یادم افتاد که من، وقتی چهار پنج سالم بود، تصورم از خدا یک اختاپوس آسمانی یک چشم بود. بعد یادم افتاد که خدای بازی شرلوک هلمز هم اختاپوس بود و این خیلی به نظرم عجیب اومد. فکر کردم نکنه افراد بیشتری این تصور رو از خدا داشته باشن، و علت این تصور چیه؟ این شد که رفتم خدای اختاپوسمانند رو سرچ کردم، و گوگل فهرست بلند بالایی از مطالب راجع به کطولحو جلوم به نمایش گذاشت. اون جا بود که برای اولین بار با لاوکرافت و دنیای «وحشت کیهانی»ش آشنا شدم. فهمیدم این نویسندهٔ عجیب و غریب برای داستانهاش اساطیری کامل ساخته از خدایانی وحشتانگیز و فرقههایی مذهبی که با مناسکی مخوف قرنها این خدایان رو میپرستیدن. جهانی که در اون، عصر خرد در حقیقت چیزی نیست جز عصر فراموشی ذات وحشتانگیز جهان که در قرون وسطا و دوران باستان شناخته شده بود، و فقط وقتی این حقیقت وحشتانگیز از یادها رفت، عقل و منطق تونستن شکل بگیرن. اما این پوستهٔ عقلانی زیادی سست و شکننده است و حقیقت جهان خواه ناخواه از گوشه و کنارش بیرون میزنه و اون وقته که منطقیترین دانشمندها هم سر به جنون میذارن و شروع میکنن به هذیان گفتن و پرستیدن تاریکی و آدمخواری و در نهایت، خودکشی.
اون موقع در به در گشتم دنبال ترجمهٔ داستان اصلی لاوکرافت، یعنی «احضار کطولحو»، اما فقط یه ترجمهٔ نازل اینترنتی ازش پیدا کردم. وقتی دیدم نثر داستان انگلیسی خیلی برای من ثقیله، ناچار تن دادم و همون ترجمهٔ نازل رو خوندم. اما در حسرت یه ترجمهٔ خوب منتطر موندم و حتی به چند دانشجوی زبان انگلیسی پیشنهاد دادم که ترجمهش کنن. تا چند روز پیش که خیلی اتفاقی توی توییتر دیدم این داستان به همراه چند داستان دیگه از لاوکرافت بالاخره ترجمه شدن، و کسی هم گفت که مترجم مترجم خوبیه. بی معطلی خریدم و برای اولین بار بعد از دوازده سیزده سال که از آشناییم با لاوکرافت میگذشت، داستانهاش رو خوندم.
دو اشتباه، دو درس
اشتباهات لاوکرافت که ازش یاد گرفتم تکرار نکنم:
اول، اصرارش برای وحشتناک نشون دادن همه چیز، با آوردن توصیفاتی مثل «وحشتناک، منزجرکننده، نفرینزده» و لغتنامهای از انواع و اقسام توصیفات که یه نویسندهٔ وحشت نباید به کار ببره، به این دلیل ساده که گفتن این که فلان چیز «به غایت پلید و دیوانهکننده بود و گویی از دروازههای دوزخ به روی زمین گریخته بود» باعث میشه خواننده دیگه وحشت رو حس نکنه. قدیمیترین قانون داستاننویسی اینه که «نگو و نشان بده». و نویسندهٔ وحشت هم باید با زبانی خونسرد فقط واقعهٔ وحشتناک رو نشون بده و ترسیدن رو به عهدهٔ خواننده بذاره.
دوم، حضور، و بدتر از اون، موجودیت فیزیکی عامل ترس، که باعث میشه احساس ناشناختگی که باعث ترس میشه، از بین بره. انسن دیبل در طرح در داستان توصیه میکنه: اگر واقعهٔ نامعمول شما یک هیولا، قاتل روانی یا... است، او را مدام نشان ندهید بلکه غایب نگهش دارید. ندیدن باعث هیجان و ترس میشود و به تخیل خواننده اجازهٔ جولان میدهد. دیدن یک چیز آن را معمولی و پیش پا افتاده میکند.
خود لاوکرافت هم به شهادت مقدمهٔ داستان «موسیقی اریک زان» صراحت رو بزرگترین نقطه ضعف داستانهای خودش میدونسته، و معتقد بوده بهترین داستانش «موسیقی اریک زان»ـه، به خاطر این که عامل ترس توی این داستان به کلی غایبه.
اولین بار که با کطولحو آشنا شدم، توی بازی «شرلوک هلمز: بیدار» بود. دبیرستانی بودم و تازه با شرلوک هلمز آشنا و شدیداً هواخواهش شده بودم. این بازی رو هم به خاطر همین خریدم. بازی فوراً تبدیل شد به یکی از تجربههای تکرارنشدنیم. فضاهای تاریک و وهمآلود، فرقههای مذهبی مخفی که آدمهای بی خانمان رو که کسی پیگیر زندگی و مرگشون نبود، میدزدیدن و قربانی میکردن برای خدای وحشتآور اختاپوسمانندی که معتقد بودن قراره ظهور کنه و باید با قربانی انسانی ظهورش رو تعجیل کرد. بازی به شدت تخیل نوجوان من رو مسحور کرد و تا مدتها با برادرم خودمون رو داخل اون فضای جذاب و ترسناک تصور میکردیم و بازی میکردیم.
اون موقع نمیدونستم که داستان بازی، فضاسازیهای تاریک و نمناک و وهمآلودش، فرقهٔ مخفی و اعتقادات وحشتناکش و خدای اختاپوسمانندی که قراره ظهور کنه، همه و همه از داستانهای لاوکرافت اقتباس شده. من فکر میکردم که مسحور شرلوک هلمز شدهم، در حالی که در حقیقت بدون این که خبر داشته باشم شیفتهٔ لاوکرافت شده بودم.
چند سال گذشت تا پارسال یا پیارسال، نمیدونم چرا یادم افتاد که من، وقتی چهار پنج سالم بود، تصورم از خدا یک اختاپوس آسمانی یک چشم بود. بعد یادم افتاد که خدای بازی شرلوک هلمز هم اختاپوس بود و این خیلی به نظرم عجیب اومد. فکر کردم نکنه افراد بیشتری این تصور رو از خدا داشته باشن، و علت این تصور چیه؟ این شد که رفتم خدای اختاپوسمانند رو سرچ کردم، و گوگل فهرست بلند بالایی از مطالب راجع به کطولحو جلوم به نمایش گذاشت. اون جا بود که برای اولین بار با لاوکرافت و دنیای «وحشت کیهانی»ش آشنا شدم. فهمیدم این نویسندهٔ عجیب و غریب برای داستانهاش اساطیری کامل ساخته از خدایانی وحشتانگیز و فرقههایی مذهبی که با مناسکی مخوف قرنها این خدایان رو میپرستیدن. جهانی که در اون، عصر خرد در حقیقت چیزی نیست جز عصر فراموشی ذات وحشتانگیز جهان که در قرون وسطا و دوران باستان شناخته شده بود، و فقط وقتی این حقیقت وحشتانگیز از یادها رفت، عقل و منطق تونستن شکل بگیرن. اما این پوستهٔ عقلانی زیادی سست و شکننده است و حقیقت جهان خواه ناخواه از گوشه و کنارش بیرون میزنه و اون وقته که منطقیترین دانشمندها هم سر به جنون میذارن و شروع میکنن به هذیان گفتن و پرستیدن تاریکی و آدمخواری و در نهایت، خودکشی.
اون موقع در به در گشتم دنبال ترجمهٔ داستان اصلی لاوکرافت، یعنی «احضار کطولحو»، اما فقط یه ترجمهٔ نازل اینترنتی ازش پیدا کردم. وقتی دیدم نثر داستان انگلیسی خیلی برای من ثقیله، ناچار تن دادم و همون ترجمهٔ نازل رو خوندم. اما در حسرت یه ترجمهٔ خوب منتطر موندم و حتی به چند دانشجوی زبان انگلیسی پیشنهاد دادم که ترجمهش کنن. تا چند روز پیش که خیلی اتفاقی توی توییتر دیدم این داستان به همراه چند داستان دیگه از لاوکرافت بالاخره ترجمه شدن، و کسی هم گفت که مترجم مترجم خوبیه. بی معطلی خریدم و برای اولین بار بعد از دوازده سیزده سال که از آشناییم با لاوکرافت میگذشت، داستانهاش رو خوندم.
دو اشتباه، دو درس
اشتباهات لاوکرافت که ازش یاد گرفتم تکرار نکنم:
اول، اصرارش برای وحشتناک نشون دادن همه چیز، با آوردن توصیفاتی مثل «وحشتناک، منزجرکننده، نفرینزده» و لغتنامهای از انواع و اقسام توصیفات که یه نویسندهٔ وحشت نباید به کار ببره، به این دلیل ساده که گفتن این که فلان چیز «به غایت پلید و دیوانهکننده بود و گویی از دروازههای دوزخ به روی زمین گریخته بود» باعث میشه خواننده دیگه وحشت رو حس نکنه. قدیمیترین قانون داستاننویسی اینه که «نگو و نشان بده». و نویسندهٔ وحشت هم باید با زبانی خونسرد فقط واقعهٔ وحشتناک رو نشون بده و ترسیدن رو به عهدهٔ خواننده بذاره.
دوم، حضور، و بدتر از اون، موجودیت فیزیکی عامل ترس، که باعث میشه احساس ناشناختگی که باعث ترس میشه، از بین بره. انسن دیبل در طرح در داستان توصیه میکنه: اگر واقعهٔ نامعمول شما یک هیولا، قاتل روانی یا... است، او را مدام نشان ندهید بلکه غایب نگهش دارید. ندیدن باعث هیجان و ترس میشود و به تخیل خواننده اجازهٔ جولان میدهد. دیدن یک چیز آن را معمولی و پیش پا افتاده میکند.
خود لاوکرافت هم به شهادت مقدمهٔ داستان «موسیقی اریک زان» صراحت رو بزرگترین نقطه ضعف داستانهای خودش میدونسته، و معتقد بوده بهترین داستانش «موسیقی اریک زان»ـه، به خاطر این که عامل ترس توی این داستان به کلی غایبه.
August 22, 2022
هل رأيتم من قبل رجلاً يكتب الأساطير؟
دائماً ما تنشأ الأساطير مع تعاقب الأوقات و استمرار الأجيال
،لكن هنا يرسم لنا الكاتب (لافكرافت) أسطورة مرعبة وليدة لعقله المبدع.
كأنه يكتب بقلم الزمان و التاريخ.
و بالأسطورة هنا أقصد أن (كتولو) هذا صار علامة كبيرة في الأدب ، تُروي قصص عنه ، و تُكتب الروايات حوله ، و يظهر في الأفلام و المسلسلات ، و كأنه أسطورة من عهد الاغريق ليس فكرة و قصة كتبها أحد كتاب القرن الماضي.
يمتلك الكاتب قدرة مدهشة علي سرد و ربط أطراف القصة ، فتجد من أول كلمة لآخر كلمة من القصة ترابطاً ساحراً ، لا أذكر أني أعدت قراءة قصة مرتين أو ثلاثا من قبل لأستشعر مدي قوة الترابط فيها.
تبدأ القصة بشاب يرى أحلاما غريبة ، أبنية ضخمة تناطح السماء بطرق هندسية عجيبة و يسمع بعض الترانيم بلغة غير معروفة ، يثير هذا الحلم اهتمام أحد الأستاذة الجامعيين خاصة حين يعلم أن هذه الأحلام تكررت مع كثير من الناس في أماكن متفرقة ، و تزداد الغرابة حين يسمع عن تلك القبائل التي تعبد الكائنات القديمة و تستخدم نفس اللغة التي يسمعها الناس في أحلامهم!!
و يستمر نداء (كتولو) المرعب إيذاناً بانتهاء البشرية.
(لافكرافت) أحد أغرب الكتاب الذين سمعت عنهم ، كان محباً للعزلة ، متأثرً ب(ألف ليلة و ليلة) ، يعاني الأمراض النفسية ، يدرس الديانات الغريبة و الأساطير حول تلك الكائنات القديمة إلي حد جعله من خالقي هذه الأساطير المفزعة ، و قد مات هذا الكاتب فقيرا مؤمنا بأنه لم يحقق شيئاً في حياته ، و بعد مماته صار من أهم الكتاب تأثيراً علي الأدب الغربي في التاريخ.
يتميز (لافكرافت) بغرائبية عالمه و تفرد فكرته ، هل رأيت أحدا يكتب لك رعباً تراه في الرسومات ، ثم يكتب قصة كاملة عن رعب تسمعه في الأصوات.
أحد الكتاب المفضلين لستيفن كينج و الذي يتمني لو أنّ هناك متجراً لبيع أفكار (لافكرافت) 😂 ، و أحد أكبر المؤثرين علي طريقة و محتوي كتابة الدكتور أحمد خالد توفيق ، و غيرهم الكثير من الكتاب علي مستوي العالم.
و هذا الكتاب أفضل طريق لدخول عالمه الفسيح المخيف ، إذ جمع الدكتور أحمد خالد رحمه الله أهم قصة له ( نداء كتولو) مع بعض القصص المميزة الأخرى بترجمة بديعة.
أفضل ما أعجبني
-نداء كتولو
-موديل بيكمان
-حقائق تتعلق بالفقيد ( آرثر جريمين ) وأسرته.
يُنصح بدخول بيت الرعب العجيب هذا. ✨☠️
دائماً ما تنشأ الأساطير مع تعاقب الأوقات و استمرار الأجيال
،لكن هنا يرسم لنا الكاتب (لافكرافت) أسطورة مرعبة وليدة لعقله المبدع.
كأنه يكتب بقلم الزمان و التاريخ.
و بالأسطورة هنا أقصد أن (كتولو) هذا صار علامة كبيرة في الأدب ، تُروي قصص عنه ، و تُكتب الروايات حوله ، و يظهر في الأفلام و المسلسلات ، و كأنه أسطورة من عهد الاغريق ليس فكرة و قصة كتبها أحد كتاب القرن الماضي.
يمتلك الكاتب قدرة مدهشة علي سرد و ربط أطراف القصة ، فتجد من أول كلمة لآخر كلمة من القصة ترابطاً ساحراً ، لا أذكر أني أعدت قراءة قصة مرتين أو ثلاثا من قبل لأستشعر مدي قوة الترابط فيها.
تبدأ القصة بشاب يرى أحلاما غريبة ، أبنية ضخمة تناطح السماء بطرق هندسية عجيبة و يسمع بعض الترانيم بلغة غير معروفة ، يثير هذا الحلم اهتمام أحد الأستاذة الجامعيين خاصة حين يعلم أن هذه الأحلام تكررت مع كثير من الناس في أماكن متفرقة ، و تزداد الغرابة حين يسمع عن تلك القبائل التي تعبد الكائنات القديمة و تستخدم نفس اللغة التي يسمعها الناس في أحلامهم!!
و يستمر نداء (كتولو) المرعب إيذاناً بانتهاء البشرية.
(لافكرافت) أحد أغرب الكتاب الذين سمعت عنهم ، كان محباً للعزلة ، متأثرً ب(ألف ليلة و ليلة) ، يعاني الأمراض النفسية ، يدرس الديانات الغريبة و الأساطير حول تلك الكائنات القديمة إلي حد جعله من خالقي هذه الأساطير المفزعة ، و قد مات هذا الكاتب فقيرا مؤمنا بأنه لم يحقق شيئاً في حياته ، و بعد مماته صار من أهم الكتاب تأثيراً علي الأدب الغربي في التاريخ.
يتميز (لافكرافت) بغرائبية عالمه و تفرد فكرته ، هل رأيت أحدا يكتب لك رعباً تراه في الرسومات ، ثم يكتب قصة كاملة عن رعب تسمعه في الأصوات.
أحد الكتاب المفضلين لستيفن كينج و الذي يتمني لو أنّ هناك متجراً لبيع أفكار (لافكرافت) 😂 ، و أحد أكبر المؤثرين علي طريقة و محتوي كتابة الدكتور أحمد خالد توفيق ، و غيرهم الكثير من الكتاب علي مستوي العالم.
و هذا الكتاب أفضل طريق لدخول عالمه الفسيح المخيف ، إذ جمع الدكتور أحمد خالد رحمه الله أهم قصة له ( نداء كتولو) مع بعض القصص المميزة الأخرى بترجمة بديعة.
أفضل ما أعجبني
-نداء كتولو
-موديل بيكمان
-حقائق تتعلق بالفقيد ( آرثر جريمين ) وأسرته.
يُنصح بدخول بيت الرعب العجيب هذا. ✨☠️
November 22, 2022
It was nightmare itself, and to see it was to die.I wanted to taste death. I wanted to immerse myself, taint my soul with the words of this controversial genre godfather and see what all the fuss was. I may as well have gotten my cheek rubbed by the feathers of my sleep paralysis demon.
This story had its moments.
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.You can almost feel the desperation with which this loathsome man is trying to convey his terror at the unknown. But something just didn't land. It's like I was tossed a ball only to find out it had actually been a bubble that popped in midair.
I expected this to be a journey whereby our "hero" discovers questionable artefacts and goes on an ill-conceived adventure to find the source of the bas-relief. If I ever see that word again it will be too soon. Unfortunately, it is nothing as adventurous or heroic. It's a recounting of other people's stories. Who the fuck goes to a restaurant to hear about how the other diners are enjoying the food? I came to eat, not get second hand accounts of other people's adventures.
When I saw this, That glimpse, like all dread glimpses of truth, flashed out from an accidental piecing together of separated things—in this case an old newspaper item and the notes of a dead professor. I, at the very least, thought I would be getting an account from said professor. Perhaps this
Sadly for lovecraft here, it's not his monster that was the horror but his racism. The professor had been stricken whilst returning from the Newport boat; falling suddenly, as witnesses said, after having been jostled by a nautical-looking negro.
Oh and because the author probably forgot that you're reading about some bas-relief of a fucking octo-statue, here's yet another description of the likeness of Cthulu, The figure, which was finally passed slowly from man to man for close and careful study, was between seven and eight inches in height, and of exquisitely artistic workmanship. It represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopuslike head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind.
I'm at a loss as to what makes this special.
"In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming." Oooooh I'm so scared. Use your fucking commas.
But the pinhead of a narrator just had to be racist at every turn, Examined at headquarters after a trip of intense strain and weariness, the prisoners all proved to be men of a very low, mixed-blooded, and mentally aberrant type. Most were seamen, and a sprinkling of negroes and mulattoes, largely West Indians or Brava Portuguese from the Cape Verde Islands, gave a coloring of voodooism to the heterogeneous cult. I'm going to unearth this motherfucker and beat him to a pulp.
When I think of the extent of all that may be brooding down there I almost wish to kill myself forthwith. But you don't even tell us the extent. Folks on DeviantArt have given more life to this ill-described monster. There were bits where tidbits of promise peeked, I shall never sleep calmly again when I think of the horrors that lurk ceaselessly behind life in time and in space, and of those unhallowed blasphemies from elder stars which dream beneath the sea. But like some other stories, they leave me unimpressed and feeling like I wasted my time. In my culture there is a saying, Kutangulia bar sio kulewa. It's direct translation is a cosmic joke but it actually means, coming first means nothing.
September 7, 2023
“We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far."
Initial Thoughts
I've been a big fan of horror for years, with a staple diet of Stephen King, Dan Simmons and Robert McCammon. But up until recently I've never got into the work of H.P. Lovecraft. I've got to admit, I prefer the more modern author. But I finally decided that I couldn't go through life without reading one of the biggest and most influential names in the genre. The guy who literally put Cosmic Horror on the map. So I went with The Whisperer in Darkness as my first, and guess what? I really enjoyed it.
So I thought why stop there? And after reading The Dunwich Horror I've now arrived at perhaps his most iconic story. The one that kicked off the whole tentacle-faced god business. You got it...The Call of Cthulu. I've been looking forward to this for quite sometime.
The Story
We begin in Boston and the year is 1926. Francis Thurston uncovers some strange notes and a bizarre carving when digging through a stack of documents left behind by his grandfather's brother, who recently passed. With strange circumstances surrounding the death, it transpires that the brother was a professor carrying out an investigation into a voodoo cult.
The story basically breaks down into three parts with the first focussing on the discovery and the second learning about this dark and deadly cult who worship a bizarre entity. But it's the third part where the story really picks up, as Thurston falls further into the rabbit whole. Yes there's unspeakable horrors lying in wait, but you're going to have to read this one to find out.
The Writing
Lovecrafts prose take a bit of getting used to. They are a touch dated when compared to modern authors, being pretty dense. However, you can't deny the overall quality with some fantastic descriptions that really help to create atmosphere and tension. He's not going to smack you in the face with blood and gore. Lovecraft is much to clever for that. But what he is going to do is get under your skin with an ambience of existential dread that drips right off the page.
"Who knows the end? What has risen may sink, and what has sunk may rise. Loathsomeness waits and dreams in the deep, and decay spreads over the tottering cities of men. A time will come..."
Although really short, the Call of Cthulu is a slow burn where the tension builds towards an absolutely bonkers finale. It's well worth the patience as the author sets things up and I definitely recommend persevering. As the pace picks up I found myself heavily invested in the story and couldn't put it down during that last third.
Final Thoughts
Although this wasn't the best story from HP Lovecraft, it is perhaps the most important being the starting point for the Cthulu mythos (correct me if I'm wrong there). It really sets the tone for his work, being very bleak and introducing a race of great beings that are beyond the understanding of the human race.
It's a story that delivered on what I was looking for. Particularly, in the finale and has left me hungry for more Cthulu. It's already convinced me to get my daughter the boardgame for Christmas so I can play it with her. We can both share in the joy of becoming cultists and try summoning those demons from their eternal slumber. Wish us luck!
And thanks for reading and...cheers!
February 6, 2023
I forgot how fun this was! a dry kind of fun. it's been many years since I first read it and I'm surprised at how much I still retained, certain images & ideas really stuck with me. I guess once Lovecraft gets his hooks into you, those hooks stay embedded, little bits of Cthulhu shrapnel that burrow slowly in the mind, never to be pulled out. LOL how's that for a metaphor for the author's mythos; I think Cthulhu would approve. the empurpled Lovecraft style is in full effect: journalistic and full of archaic words, while also being VERY VERY EXCITABLE. well, the end of the world is nigh, a person should be excitable when sharing those facts.
the story itself is not straightforward. a lot of telling and very little showing. it works. through our narrator's eye, we meet a pretentious sculptor whose nightmares are shared by many other artists, a New Orleans detective who finds a horrible cult in the depths of a swamp, and a Norwegian sailor who lands on the very tip-top of the ancient submerged city of R'lyeh and whose shipmates meet shocking ends at the hands of Cthulhu itself. I had forgotten that Cthulhu makes an actual appearance here, literally swimming after the Norwegian's ship and then recombining after our brave sailor decides to turn his ship around and sail right into the Great Old One, cleaving the monster into pieces (temporarily). what I had not forgotten was the central concept of the story, and it's an awesome one: the "call" of Cthulhu is the call of the ancient being's own dreams, diffusing out into the world and into the minds of various cultists, madmen, and sensitive artists.
some words must be said about Lovecraft's abominable depictions of "queer and evil-looking half-castes." now, as an evil-looking (but dapper) and very queer half-caste myself, I was quite taken aback. sure, he's not wrong: half-breeds like me do possess ancient secrets and are forever in service to ancient gods; our main goal in life is to disturb the dreams of sensitive artists, sardonic detectives, brave sailors, and white people in general. but gosh, Lovecraft was just so blatant about it in this story, no subtlety whatsoever. he's totally, shamelessly blowing our cover - and that's pretty unforgiveable. he's lucky that he's long dead because otherwise someone would be sent some pretty bad dreams tonight. and maybe some other things too.
Cthulhu fthagn!
the story itself is not straightforward. a lot of telling and very little showing. it works. through our narrator's eye, we meet a pretentious sculptor whose nightmares are shared by many other artists, a New Orleans detective who finds a horrible cult in the depths of a swamp, and a Norwegian sailor who lands on the very tip-top of the ancient submerged city of R'lyeh and whose shipmates meet shocking ends at the hands of Cthulhu itself. I had forgotten that Cthulhu makes an actual appearance here, literally swimming after the Norwegian's ship and then recombining after our brave sailor decides to turn his ship around and sail right into the Great Old One, cleaving the monster into pieces (temporarily). what I had not forgotten was the central concept of the story, and it's an awesome one: the "call" of Cthulhu is the call of the ancient being's own dreams, diffusing out into the world and into the minds of various cultists, madmen, and sensitive artists.
some words must be said about Lovecraft's abominable depictions of "queer and evil-looking half-castes." now, as an evil-looking (but dapper) and very queer half-caste myself, I was quite taken aback. sure, he's not wrong: half-breeds like me do possess ancient secrets and are forever in service to ancient gods; our main goal in life is to disturb the dreams of sensitive artists, sardonic detectives, brave sailors, and white people in general. but gosh, Lovecraft was just so blatant about it in this story, no subtlety whatsoever. he's totally, shamelessly blowing our cover - and that's pretty unforgiveable. he's lucky that he's long dead because otherwise someone would be sent some pretty bad dreams tonight. and maybe some other things too.
Cthulhu fthagn!
August 17, 2017
از آن نیروها و موجودات عظیم، ممکن است هنوز بازمانده ای باشد... بازمانده ای از گذشته های بسیار دور، زمانی که آگاهی تازه پدید آمده بود، در اشکال و گونه هایی که مدت ها پیش از ظهور انسان فعلی از بین رفته اند. اشکال و گونه هایی که تنها اشعار و افسانه ها خاطراتی گذرا از آن ها را ثبت کرده اند، و آن ها را خدایان، هیولاها یا موجودات اساطیری نامیده اند.
آلجرنون بلکوود
۱.
یافته های اخیر محققان نشان می دهد که اختاپوس ها هیچ شباهتی ب�� باقی موجودات زندۀ زمین ندارند. با آن که اختاپوس ها گونه ای از نرم تنان به شمار می روند، اما در دی ان ای خود ژن های فراوانی دارند که کمترین شباهتی با باقی نرم تنان ندارد. تا جایی که این ناهمگونی باعث خللی در توضیح روند پیدایش تکاملی این جاندار شده، و یکی از محققان را بر آن داشته که در شوخی گروتسکی بگوید: «انگار داریم به موجودی فضایی نگاه می کنیم.»
۲.
وقتی خردسال بودم، تصورم از خدا موجودی شبیه به اختاپوسی در آسمان بود. هر بار می خواستم به خدا فکر کنم، بی آن که بخواهم تصویر این هشت پا، با چشم هایی مانند چشم های انسان در ذهنم شکل می گرفت، هر چند می دانستم خدا نباید شکلی داشته باشد، اما نمی توانستم جلوی این تصور را بگیرم. نمی دانم این تصور از کجا در ذهنم شکل گرفته بود، و فکر نمی کنم فایده ای داشته باشد که بخواهم به دنبال منشأ شکل گیری تصوری کودکانه بگردم.
۳.
فرعون آخناتون، اولین یکتاپرست شناخته شدۀ تاریخ در نقش برجسته های معابدی که برای آتون، خدای واحد، ساخته بود، آتون را به شکل موجودی دایره ای شکل در آسمان، با بازوهای فراوان تصویر کرده بود. نخستین تصویر شناخته شدۀ جهان از خدای واحد، شبه-اختاپوسی آسمانی بود، با بازوهایی شبیه به انسان که تا زمین پایین آمده بودند تا از زمینیان نگهداری کنند.
۴.
در اساطیر هاوایی، در جایی در زیر زمین یا زیر دریا، خدایی غول پیکر نهفته است، خدایی که علیه باقی خدایان شورید، در نتیجه به زیر زمین تبعید شد. این خدا که کانالوآ نام دارد، اختاپوسی عظیم الجثه است.
۵.
خدایان هندو، همگی شمایلی انسانی دارند، حتی ایزد-میمون، هانومان، با چهره و بدنی انسانی تصویر می شود. به نظر می رسد غیر انسانی کشیدن خدایان نوعی توهین محسوب می شده است. در نتیجه برای درک کیفیت حقیقی این خدایان در ذهن نخستین هندوها باید راه را برعکس طی کرد، و این خدایان را از تصویر انسانی تهی کرد. ایزد برهما، ایزد ویشنو، ایزد شیوا، و ایزدان بسیار دیگر، وقتی از شمایل انسانی تهی شوند، پیش از هر چیز به موجوداتی با بازوهای فراوان شبیه می شوند. بازوهای فراوان خصوصیت مشترک تمام خدایان هندو است: اختاپوس هایی در شکل و شمایل انسانی.
۶.
ستایش کثولهوی بزرگ راست
بزرگ ترین اختاپوس
اختاپوس واحد متعال
مرده در مأوایش در ریلای
خواب می بیند
و انتظار می کشد
تا روزی بیدار شود و بازگردد
از سروده ای باستانی
آلجرنون بلکوود
۱.
یافته های اخیر محققان نشان می دهد که اختاپوس ها هیچ شباهتی ب�� باقی موجودات زندۀ زمین ندارند. با آن که اختاپوس ها گونه ای از نرم تنان به شمار می روند، اما در دی ان ای خود ژن های فراوانی دارند که کمترین شباهتی با باقی نرم تنان ندارد. تا جایی که این ناهمگونی باعث خللی در توضیح روند پیدایش تکاملی این جاندار شده، و یکی از محققان را بر آن داشته که در شوخی گروتسکی بگوید: «انگار داریم به موجودی فضایی نگاه می کنیم.»
۲.
وقتی خردسال بودم، تصورم از خدا موجودی شبیه به اختاپوسی در آسمان بود. هر بار می خواستم به خدا فکر کنم، بی آن که بخواهم تصویر این هشت پا، با چشم هایی مانند چشم های انسان در ذهنم شکل می گرفت، هر چند می دانستم خدا نباید شکلی داشته باشد، اما نمی توانستم جلوی این تصور را بگیرم. نمی دانم این تصور از کجا در ذهنم شکل گرفته بود، و فکر نمی کنم فایده ای داشته باشد که بخواهم به دنبال منشأ شکل گیری تصوری کودکانه بگردم.
۳.
فرعون آخناتون، اولین یکتاپرست شناخته شدۀ تاریخ در نقش برجسته های معابدی که برای آتون، خدای واحد، ساخته بود، آتون را به شکل موجودی دایره ای شکل در آسمان، با بازوهای فراوان تصویر کرده بود. نخستین تصویر شناخته شدۀ جهان از خدای واحد، شبه-اختاپوسی آسمانی بود، با بازوهایی شبیه به انسان که تا زمین پایین آمده بودند تا از زمینیان نگهداری کنند.
۴.
در اساطیر هاوایی، در جایی در زیر زمین یا زیر دریا، خدایی غول پیکر نهفته است، خدایی که علیه باقی خدایان شورید، در نتیجه به زیر زمین تبعید شد. این خدا که کانالوآ نام دارد، اختاپوسی عظیم الجثه است.
۵.
خدایان هندو، همگی شمایلی انسانی دارند، حتی ایزد-میمون، هانومان، با چهره و بدنی انسانی تصویر می شود. به نظر می رسد غیر انسانی کشیدن خدایان نوعی توهین محسوب می شده است. در نتیجه برای درک کیفیت حقیقی این خدایان در ذهن نخستین هندوها باید راه را برعکس طی کرد، و این خدایان را از تصویر انسانی تهی کرد. ایزد برهما، ایزد ویشنو، ایزد شیوا، و ایزدان بسیار دیگر، وقتی از شمایل انسانی تهی شوند، پیش از هر چیز به موجوداتی با بازوهای فراوان شبیه می شوند. بازوهای فراوان خصوصیت مشترک تمام خدایان هندو است: اختاپوس هایی در شکل و شمایل انسانی.
۶.
ستایش کثولهوی بزرگ راست
بزرگ ترین اختاپوس
اختاپوس واحد متعال
مرده در مأوایش در ریلای
خواب می بیند
و انتظار می کشد
تا روزی بیدار شود و بازگردد
از سروده ای باستانی
October 25, 2017
If you like to read boring stories with no characterization, no dialogue, lazy descriptions, and rampant racism, this is for you. As for me, one star is a bit too generous.
July 2, 2017
A BR with a faithful member of Cthulhu Cult, Craig.
Quite a nice ride to sunset with Cthulhu. I liked the spooky atmosphere, the info about the Cthulhu Cult and Old Ones,and the tickles that it gave to unbelievers! :) It would have been really cool to get more limbs flying from the main Thing, but the ending was quite nice :)
October 24, 2023
My first Lovecraft novella/short story, The Call of Cthulhu is weird and wild and full of adjectives that somehow aren't very descriptive. What is a Cyclopean monolith? I would like to see it.
April 24, 2017
"Gentle reader - what I saw that night was so horrifyingly horrible, such a cavalcade of horrid, horrific horror, that I cannot describe its horrendousness to you. I pen these words whilst I foam at the mouth in a padded cell."
That is what almost all of The Call of Chthulu and Other Weird Stories felt like to me - a terrified narrator recounts a scarring encounter with an evil force as overwhelmingly powerful as it is vague. And I mean vague- trying to get a feel for the nature and appearance of the evil forces in Lovecraft's stories is a little like wearing dark glasses while trying to spot a green dog in a forest on a foggy night.
I thought I would love Lovecraft. I genuinely dig some of the mythos that has built up around his work. I have (and love) Fantasy Flight's Eldritch Horror boardgame, and have played and enjoyed Arkham Horror. Furthermore, I was keen to explore the early years of the horror genre and experience writing that has influenced later authors such as Richard Matheson and Stephen King.
I went into this book knowing that some of these stories may not have aged well, but I expected to enjoy them far more than I did. In all truth several of the stories in this collection were downright hard going, and it was only respect for Lovecraft's influence that kept me slogging forward on the months-long journey between other books that it took for me to knock this one off.
These days writers are told to show, not tell, but Lovecraft is the king of telling, resisting every temptation to show the reader anything much at all, in favour of repeated extended circumlocutions around the awfulness or terror induced by seeing something that is so awful that it cannot be described. Monsters are so horrifying as to be beyond description. Horrifying artifacts are so horrifying as to beyond description. Ancient rituals are... you get the gist. As a storytelling technique this might work once, but it is a common feature in many of the stories in this collection and I grew very, very tired of the paucity of description.
I don't need to see a knife slowly cutting through someone's carotid artery in all its bloody detail, but for goodness sake, at least show me what sort of knife it is, and the approximate appearance of the person it is going to be used on.
In saying all of that I did enjoy visiting some of the locations I've seen in Lovecraft-based games, such as Arkham and the Miskatonic university. I enjoyed some of the stories, such as The Colour From Space, and really liked The Shadow over Innsmouth- a story with a bit more description and action than many of Lovecraft's other works.
I can't recommend this collection as a whole but if you're interested in tackling it I strongly recommend reading each story separately over a longer period of time. Read too closely together their similar tone and style can become grating, and Lovecraft's writing tics can quickly become dull.
That is what almost all of The Call of Chthulu and Other Weird Stories felt like to me - a terrified narrator recounts a scarring encounter with an evil force as overwhelmingly powerful as it is vague. And I mean vague- trying to get a feel for the nature and appearance of the evil forces in Lovecraft's stories is a little like wearing dark glasses while trying to spot a green dog in a forest on a foggy night.
I thought I would love Lovecraft. I genuinely dig some of the mythos that has built up around his work. I have (and love) Fantasy Flight's Eldritch Horror boardgame, and have played and enjoyed Arkham Horror. Furthermore, I was keen to explore the early years of the horror genre and experience writing that has influenced later authors such as Richard Matheson and Stephen King.
I went into this book knowing that some of these stories may not have aged well, but I expected to enjoy them far more than I did. In all truth several of the stories in this collection were downright hard going, and it was only respect for Lovecraft's influence that kept me slogging forward on the months-long journey between other books that it took for me to knock this one off.
These days writers are told to show, not tell, but Lovecraft is the king of telling, resisting every temptation to show the reader anything much at all, in favour of repeated extended circumlocutions around the awfulness or terror induced by seeing something that is so awful that it cannot be described. Monsters are so horrifying as to be beyond description. Horrifying artifacts are so horrifying as to beyond description. Ancient rituals are... you get the gist. As a storytelling technique this might work once, but it is a common feature in many of the stories in this collection and I grew very, very tired of the paucity of description.
I don't need to see a knife slowly cutting through someone's carotid artery in all its bloody detail, but for goodness sake, at least show me what sort of knife it is, and the approximate appearance of the person it is going to be used on.
In saying all of that I did enjoy visiting some of the locations I've seen in Lovecraft-based games, such as Arkham and the Miskatonic university. I enjoyed some of the stories, such as The Colour From Space, and really liked The Shadow over Innsmouth- a story with a bit more description and action than many of Lovecraft's other works.
I can't recommend this collection as a whole but if you're interested in tackling it I strongly recommend reading each story separately over a longer period of time. Read too closely together their similar tone and style can become grating, and Lovecraft's writing tics can quickly become dull.
October 21, 2018
His most famous work!
LOVECRAFT'S SIGNATURE WORK
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.
Easily the most known story by H.P. Lovecraft and the text which gives a formal “birth” to the Cthulhu Mythos, along with the mention of the “fake” book of Necronomicon, inspiring dozens of other writers to contribute with their own pieces to enlarge the horror franchise.
Through a series of “found documents” during three sections in the narrative, it’s slowy revealed how a secret cult, so ancient along with the dawn of men, it was founded to keep memories of some kind of species from the stars who walk the Earth before humankind, and that they retired themselves to the depths of the sea and the core of the planet, but...
...before they pass to the first member of the cult, the promise that Cthulhu, its prophesied priest, someday will born and the cult is waiting,...
...always waiting.
LOVECRAFT'S SIGNATURE WORK
The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.
Easily the most known story by H.P. Lovecraft and the text which gives a formal “birth” to the Cthulhu Mythos, along with the mention of the “fake” book of Necronomicon, inspiring dozens of other writers to contribute with their own pieces to enlarge the horror franchise.
Through a series of “found documents” during three sections in the narrative, it’s slowy revealed how a secret cult, so ancient along with the dawn of men, it was founded to keep memories of some kind of species from the stars who walk the Earth before humankind, and that they retired themselves to the depths of the sea and the core of the planet, but...
...before they pass to the first member of the cult, the promise that Cthulhu, its prophesied priest, someday will born and the cult is waiting,...
...always waiting.
November 2, 2016
What better time to read The Call of Cthulhu than on Halloween?! Probably should've read this one by now, but I've been holding off for a while, waiting for that special occasion.
I do that with some books, usually classics. There's a Steinbeck or two I'm keeping in my proverbial back pocket for when I'm in the right mood or need to get out of a reading funk.
The Call of Cthulhu is pure horror. It's terrifying. If I'd been wearing boots, I'd be quaking in them. Reading this reminded me of reading Poe as a kid. The chills they were palpable. Lovecraft's elevated language is akin to Faulkner. Perhaps this is best described as Poe-stylings layered over Absalom Absalom. The darkness, the despair reaches out of the primeval swamp and sucks you in.
Unlike some classic horror, you actually get physical manifestations of the terror lurking in the shadows. This is no mere ghost story. This is a fucking monster. Yes, it's veiled, it's mysterious, but it's coming for you and it will have you.
I do that with some books, usually classics. There's a Steinbeck or two I'm keeping in my proverbial back pocket for when I'm in the right mood or need to get out of a reading funk.
The Call of Cthulhu is pure horror. It's terrifying. If I'd been wearing boots, I'd be quaking in them. Reading this reminded me of reading Poe as a kid. The chills they were palpable. Lovecraft's elevated language is akin to Faulkner. Perhaps this is best described as Poe-stylings layered over Absalom Absalom. The darkness, the despair reaches out of the primeval swamp and sucks you in.
Unlike some classic horror, you actually get physical manifestations of the terror lurking in the shadows. This is no mere ghost story. This is a fucking monster. Yes, it's veiled, it's mysterious, but it's coming for you and it will have you.
February 3, 2019
"This momentous story---which introduced the ersatz mythology that came to be called the 'Cthulhu Mythos'---was written in the summer of 1926."
It begins...."The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents."
A locked manuscript of a recently deceased elderly grand-uncle, an authority on ancient inscriptions, leads to bizzare and frightening research resulting in discovery of a monster like human caricature with a pulpy tentacled head and grotesque scaly body....possessing documented deadly powers.
Beware: You may not want to learn too much!
Weird, creepy Lovecraft tale.
January 29, 2015
What’s great about a Lovecraftian horror story, besides the fact that his writing is eerily similar to that of Jason Morais, is that it can afford such a welcome reprieve from a weekend otherwise consumed by madness and violence, the kind of violence that disturbs the soul to its core.
“The Call of Cthulhu” is the story of a man who uncovers evidence of otherworldly beings residing in a state of hibernation deep beneath the surface of the Earth’s oceans. Though the image of Cthulhu¹ is by no means original, as it is heavily borrowed from Scandinavian lore among other sources, Lovecraft’s descriptions—in this case of a bas-relief carved in its likeness—are still nothing short of chilling:
Cthulhu emerging from his ancient portal.
The only thing that detracts from the story in my opinion is the fact that the narrator is too far removed from it. Assembling manuscripts left by his late uncle with pieces of testimony from those who had purportedly fallen under the spell of Cthulhu during his attempts to resurface, the narrator slowly pieces together an understanding of who or what Cthulhu is, a revelation that induces a profound sense of fear and anxiety in those who discover it, but which leaves the reader feeling a bit miffed at not having been taken on a more intimate journey. Even eyewitness accounts of those who had encountered Cthulhu personally are learned through diary readings rather than by interview. Nonetheless, it is a story worth reading, especially for those who are intrigued by the concept of the Island in Lost as something that protects the world from a source of evil. In many ways, the Smoke Monster is like Cthulhu in that both entities are responsible for baseline levels of dread in people everywhere, driving some of them to madness occasionally. I’d like to think the madness of the events of this weekend could be attributed to a resurfacing of the monster Cthulhu, but unfortunately for us we do not live in an H. P. Lovecraft story.
I don’t know. I might read another Lovecraft, I might not. You people know I’m not crazy about the short story and short stories are pretty much all he has written. But he is from Rhode Island, the tiny state with the gargantuan ego, and that is pretty cool. He is like their Poe. And since Seth MacFarlane is one of their only other claims to fame (in the authorial/screenwriting context), maybe I should read more of him.
¹Cthulhu is pronounced Khlûl’·hloo, gutturally, in a way that calls attention to the otherworldliness of the being, as even its name is beyond the ability of human linguistics to phonologize.
“The Call of Cthulhu” is the story of a man who uncovers evidence of otherworldly beings residing in a state of hibernation deep beneath the surface of the Earth’s oceans. Though the image of Cthulhu¹ is by no means original, as it is heavily borrowed from Scandinavian lore among other sources, Lovecraft’s descriptions—in this case of a bas-relief carved in its likeness—are still nothing short of chilling:
It represented a monster of vaguely anthropoid outline, but with an octopus-like head whose face was a mass of feelers, a scaly, rubbery-looking body, prodigious claws on hind and fore feet, and long, narrow wings behind. This thing, which seemed instinct with a fearsome and unnatural malignancy, was of a somewhat bloated corpulence, and squatted evilly on a rectangular block or pedestal covered with undecipherable characters.And it is always a testament to good writing when a Google Image Search of that which is being described cannot turn up anything nearly as hair-raising as the text itself. On the other hand, this one is not half bad:
Cthulhu emerging from his ancient portal.
The only thing that detracts from the story in my opinion is the fact that the narrator is too far removed from it. Assembling manuscripts left by his late uncle with pieces of testimony from those who had purportedly fallen under the spell of Cthulhu during his attempts to resurface, the narrator slowly pieces together an understanding of who or what Cthulhu is, a revelation that induces a profound sense of fear and anxiety in those who discover it, but which leaves the reader feeling a bit miffed at not having been taken on a more intimate journey. Even eyewitness accounts of those who had encountered Cthulhu personally are learned through diary readings rather than by interview. Nonetheless, it is a story worth reading, especially for those who are intrigued by the concept of the Island in Lost as something that protects the world from a source of evil. In many ways, the Smoke Monster is like Cthulhu in that both entities are responsible for baseline levels of dread in people everywhere, driving some of them to madness occasionally. I’d like to think the madness of the events of this weekend could be attributed to a resurfacing of the monster Cthulhu, but unfortunately for us we do not live in an H. P. Lovecraft story.
I don’t know. I might read another Lovecraft, I might not. You people know I’m not crazy about the short story and short stories are pretty much all he has written. But he is from Rhode Island, the tiny state with the gargantuan ego, and that is pretty cool. He is like their Poe. And since Seth MacFarlane is one of their only other claims to fame (in the authorial/screenwriting context), maybe I should read more of him.
¹Cthulhu is pronounced Khlûl’·hloo, gutturally, in a way that calls attention to the otherworldliness of the being, as even its name is beyond the ability of human linguistics to phonologize.
February 20, 2020
For years now, I have been wanting to read Lovecraft after hearing Stephen King discuss his importance and just haven’t done so. Two years ago, I bought a Barnes and Noble collection of his ‘Great Tales of Horror’ that has only sat on my pretty shelves. So, I decided to dig into Lovecraft, or at least start and I read about Cthulhu. This started the mythos.
Cthulhu is described as a huge creature or god with the head of an octopus, the body of a dragon with scales and wings and both sets of feet had claws and it was humanoid. It is described as being not of this planet and coming here with others like its sleeping until the stars wake him to take over the Earth again.
I thought this was a good introduction to the world. A man has found papers from his dead relative about all these news articles of this beast. There was a ritual in New Orleans that was interrupted and it was the ritual of Cthulhu and no one has heard of it.
This is a short story and quick to read. Anyone interested in the classics and Lovecraft, I do suggest this is a good place to start. The language is a bit old, but it’s still readable.
Cthulhu is described as a huge creature or god with the head of an octopus, the body of a dragon with scales and wings and both sets of feet had claws and it was humanoid. It is described as being not of this planet and coming here with others like its sleeping until the stars wake him to take over the Earth again.
I thought this was a good introduction to the world. A man has found papers from his dead relative about all these news articles of this beast. There was a ritual in New Orleans that was interrupted and it was the ritual of Cthulhu and no one has heard of it.
This is a short story and quick to read. Anyone interested in the classics and Lovecraft, I do suggest this is a good place to start. The language is a bit old, but it’s still readable.
October 28, 2018
My life sort of changed a little bit this year when, for no reason at all, I decided to give Lovecraft a go. I picked up the three Penguin editions of his work that (I believe) gather almost all the stories he published in his lifetime, and have not been disappointed. Which probably deserves a qualifier -- I went into his ouvre with a certain expectation of what I would find, and found exactly that and more so. His faults as a writer (and, okay, as a human being) are unavoidable, but seriously? The was a grown man who couldn't keep a job and lived with his mom, and these stories still drip like an oil over the soul. No fiction you have ever read will leave you as inexplicably raw as this stuff will (I say 'inexplicably' so as not to discount the many books that offend in more obvious ways).
It's partly because of their sheer paranoia and despair, and partly -- and this is why it's worth it -- because there is something secret and true here. Not necessarily true in the people-are-really-taken-over-by-evil-mermen way, or the ghost-dog-actually-chasing-you-beneath-the-desert-tombs way, but true in that Lovecraft's stories essentially discuss humanity the way I dissected cats in twelfth grade science -- from a distance, with vague moral discomfort made worse when lain parallel with a guilty need to poke around in foreign guts.
It's partly because of their sheer paranoia and despair, and partly -- and this is why it's worth it -- because there is something secret and true here. Not necessarily true in the people-are-really-taken-over-by-evil-mermen way, or the ghost-dog-actually-chasing-you-beneath-the-desert-tombs way, but true in that Lovecraft's stories essentially discuss humanity the way I dissected cats in twelfth grade science -- from a distance, with vague moral discomfort made worse when lain parallel with a guilty need to poke around in foreign guts.
June 3, 2022
أول كتاب أقراه لكاتب سمعت عنه الكتير
وبصراحه التجربه كانت تستحق وبدون أي شك
نوفيلا قصيره خلصتها في جلسه وحده بتتكلم عن طائفه بتعبد كائن اسطوري عجيب اسمه كثولو الموجود قبل البشريه نفسها
المزايا
1- أسلوب سردي متميز
2- مرعبه
3- اهتمام شديد بالوصف
4- نهايه غير متوقعه
العيوب
1- حوارات قليله أوي
وبصراحه التجربه كانت تستحق وبدون أي شك
نوفيلا قصيره خلصتها في جلسه وحده بتتكلم عن طائفه بتعبد كائن اسطوري عجيب اسمه كثولو الموجود قبل البشريه نفسها
المزايا
1- أسلوب سردي متميز
2- مرعبه
3- اهتمام شديد بالوصف
4- نهايه غير متوقعه
العيوب
1- حوارات قليله أوي
June 24, 2014
Lovecraft's writing style is just not my cuppa and that's why I thought this was only OK. Even though this was a short story it felt like it took me forever to get through. I'm all for purple prose but Lovecraft describes things in 2 pages when he really only needed 2 sentences. Verbose is putting it mildly.
I always wanted to read this so that I would better understand what people were talking about when they mention Cthulhu. Now I do. Cthulhu is an interesting concept and I wanted to know more about it. I can understand the fascination around the creature.
I always wanted to read this so that I would better understand what people were talking about when they mention Cthulhu. Now I do. Cthulhu is an interesting concept and I wanted to know more about it. I can understand the fascination around the creature.
Shelved as 'dnf'
November 9, 2021Mrin coming back on GR after being MIA for 3-4 months:
Sees the 100+ notifs
I apologize in advance if it takes a while to reply to the comments 💕🥺
I'm reading for two reasons.
1)It's very short, and I'm trying to get back into reading.
2)The series Supernatural referenced this guy waaaaay too much
And, according to the series, THIS AUTHOR did some pretty messed up things that caused chaos.
Sees the 100+ notifs
I apologize in advance if it takes a while to reply to the comments 💕🥺
I'm reading for two reasons.
1)It's very short, and I'm trying to get back into reading.
2)The series Supernatural referenced this guy waaaaay too much
And, according to the series, THIS AUTHOR did some pretty messed up things that caused chaos.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 6,987 reviews