If I Were King
There has been considerable enthusiasm and
nearly universal approval of the idea that Guillermo del Toro might direct At
the Mountains of Madness. Typical of my contrarian disposition, I raise a
flag. This is based on the objectionable job he did on Hellboy, also
widely praised. While the movie began with the wonderful atmospherics of a rain
storm, this was quickly dissipated by the appearance of the Hellboy character,
whose infernal cuteness and wisecracking destroy a sense of menace and the
sinister. At the end his talking to the cosmic, tentacled monster in a cheeky
style enervates the terror that should be inspired. While other del Toro films
have been successful if non-Lovecraftian, it is Hellboy I'm judging him
by.
Since I find fault in del Toro as an
interpreter of Lovecraft, who would I elect? If I was an omnipotent producer,
able to select any director I would for whatever Lovecraft work I thought
appropriate, here is my list of names of some living artists, why they are on
it, and the two works I would assign. In the interests of democracy I have
usually chosen an early HPL story and a later one. From his oeuvre, some
stories receive repeated mentions, some none. I confess that my pairing of
titles with directors is somewhat arbitrary.
Jean‑Jacques Annaud. With movies such as Quest for Fire and The
Bear he has shown an interest in dealing with pre-human and non-human
subjects. Adaptations: "The Doom That Came to Sarnath" showcases an
early civilization, which could be depicted. Another possibility is At the
Mountains of Madness, where so much takes place in the wilderness, nor
would the screenplay require much dialogue, similar to Quest for Fire.
Dario Argento. His Suspiria, which seems to deal with witchcraft,
has a great scene of a semi-human, hoarsely-breathing shadow, and that comes
closest to the suggestiveness of HPL. Adaptations: With his vivid use of
color in that movie, he might try "The Colour out of Space." And since he deals
with witches as well as stabbings, "The Dreams in the Witch House" might prove
an interesting attempt.
Tim Burton. His Sleepy Hollow has a rich, New England
atmosphere, while The Nightmare before Christmas beautifully showcases
the macabre and whimsical. Adaptations: Either as animation or live, The
Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath's fabulous beings and adventures could show
Burton's strengths. Or there's the more serious "The Shadow out of Time," which
has the animation possibilities of the Great Race and other things.
John Carpenter. He's acknowledged HPL's importance and done some
films (e.g., In the Mouth of Madness) recognizing this. Adaptations:
The most Lovecraftian of his films, Prince of Darkness, seems to borrow
from "The Dunwich Horror," so why should he not tackle this? His fine Big
Trouble in Little China involves wandering through an underground world,
and since he's done The Thing, both
films seem to point to At the Mountains
of Madness.
David Cronenberg. Think of those horror movies of his where the human
body transforms, and the ghastly deaths. Adaptations: "The Thing on the
Doorstep" has human decay plus the gender fascination found in Dead Ringers,
etc. A less satisfying, though still interesting, alternative is "The Colour
out of Space," in particular because the change in human flesh could be
emphasized.
Frank Darabont. The credential that ensures his inclusion is the
exceptional monster flick, The Mist. Adaptations: Like this
movie, "From Beyond" contains another dimension with monsters, though it is
certainly dissimilar in other aspects. Concerning monsters in Lovecraft's later
works, I'd pick "The Whisperer in Darkness," which also features a siege
scenario.
David Fincher. He's done the so-so Alien3 and Se7en,
plus Rendevous with Rama has been announced as a project. Adaptations:
Due to his Gothic sensibility, I'd like to see what he would do with the
impossible-to-film "The Outsider" or, with its mystery, "The Shadow over
Innsmouth."
Terry Gilliam. Like Tim Burton, he is another director who
appreciates animation. He uses with a heavy style traditional and archetypal
fantasy, as in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and The Brothers Grimm.
Adaptations: His whimsy
could be employed with The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, while his
heavy-handed humor and animation sensibility could be used for "The Dunwich
Horror."
Stuart Gordon. He's already done the second-best Lovecraft film (Re-Animator),
and probably the fourth best (Dagon). Adaptations: In this case,
the story I'd pick he is already filming, "The Thing on the Doorstep," a kind
of Dr. Jekyll-Sister Hyde that allows rein to his interest in sexual
outragedness. After that, I'd like to see what he would do with the various
perversities of degeneration in "The Rats in the Walls."
Peter Jackson. His big films have created fantasy worlds with
monsters. Adaptations: As I've noted in a previous 'aster the
creviced landscape of Skull Island (King
Kong, 2005) would fit in with R'lyeh, so one of my choices is "The Call of
Cthulhu." Since he's also done an over-the-top horror film (Dead Alive),
"The Hound" could appeal to his macabre streak.
David Lynch. He has a surreal imagination. Adaptations:
Since he has done the epic Dune, why not a go at an ice desert, At
the Mountains of Madness? And since he has done Eraserhead, maybe
the same tone could be transferred to "The Outsider"?
George Lucas. He's created complete worlds with Star Wars films.
Adaptations: Having such a scope for imagination, the world of The
Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath could provide an entertaining experience.
Another story that could prove to be chock-full of strange beings is "The
Shadow out of Time."
Michael Mann. He's done the vaguely Lovecraftian The Keep,
though his home is the crime film. Adaptations: "The Hound" would make
an interesting subject for his very visual style. While HPL didn't write crime
stories, there is gun play and pursuit in "The Whisperer in Darkness."
Wolfgang Petersen. He's best known for the submarine movie Das Boot,
but he also did The NeverEnding Story. Adaptations: With its
submarine setting "The Temple" would be a shoo-in, and because he's done movies
where the elements reign supreme (e.g., The Perfect Storm), I'd choose
"The Colour out of Space."
Alex Proyas. Probably the least known name on this list, his
artistic and atmospheric films have included The Crow and the Philip K.
Dickean Dark City. Adaptations: For his knowledge of incredible
city scapes, "He" would be appropriate, or maybe "The Shadow over Innsmouth."
George A. Romero. The director is most closely identified with, and
most successful in, zombie films. Adaptations: An obvious choice is
"Herbert West-Reanimator." Then there's "The Lurking Fear," a story about
semi-humans attacking (and cannibalizing) people, as in The Night of the
Living Dead, etc.
Ken Russell. The Devils and The Lair of the White Worm show
his interest in the bizarre, with a quirky humor noteworthy in the latter. Adaptations:
Also, since Russell has been drawn to music biographies, "The Music of Erich
Zann" would seem a natural fit, while "The Dunwich Horror" should lend itself
to the extravagancies of his style.
Martin Scorsese. His interest in the dark aspects of human behavior
often reveals itself in gangster films, but then there's Taxi Driver. Adaptations:
The artist in "Pickman's Model" could prove an interesting study in pathology,
while Wilbur and his father in "The Dunwich Horror" are outside the law (of
both nature and man), so they would be fit subjects.
Paul Schrader. More of a writer (Taxi Driver) than a director, in the latter camp he has Cat
People and Witch Hunt (with detective H. Philip Lovecraft). Adaptations:
With his bleak view of humanity (as revealed in an interview), I'd like to see
his "Picture in the House" or, considering its taboo sexuality (Hardcore),
"The Thing on the Doorstep."
Ridley Scott. One of my two top choices to direct a Lovecraft
adaptation, the director in Alien has produced the most Lovecraftian
scene to ever appear-the discovery of the outsized "space jockey," which
combines Gothic terror, wonder, and beauty. Adaptations: Due to its
difficulty but great atmospheric quality, "The Outsider" is one candidate. The
creation of a transmundane "colour," the farm, and the mutations could evoke a
Lovecraft experience in "The Colour out of Space."
M. Night Shyamalan. By some contiguous alphabetical miracle, my other
top choice for directing is here. Both Signs (Gothic suggestions of
alien? presence) and The Village (frightening beings surround an
isolated village) have some terrific build-ups, though the payoff in the latter
is particularly disappointing. Adaptations: Lovecraft's imagination and
narrative strengths could compensate for the weakness of some of this
director's movies. "The Rats in the Walls" would allow him scope to accumulate
suggestive details, while "The Whisperer in Darkness" would allow him to again
deal with hostile aliens.
Steven Spielberg. Here's a wildly popular entertainer, particularly
when it comes to action. Therefore, I'd like to see him do one work that is the
antithesis of this. Adaptations: Much of "The Temple" takes place on a
submarine (so it could be a stage play). The confinement would make for an
interesting challenge. On the other hand "The Whisperer in Darkness" could lend
itself to action in the way that "The Invaders" (Twilight Zone) episode
did, where the Agnes Moorehead character wordlessly fights off things in an
isolated cabin.
Oliver Stone. Known for his conspiratorial view of history (JFK),
he might fit in well with the Lovecraftian mind-set. Adaptations: With
its mystery, documentary history, and dream elements "The Rats in the Walls"
offers much, though the sheer horror might be beyond his reach. "The Haunter in
the Dark" offers similar elements without the pure Gothic horror.
Robert Zemeckis. The opening of Contact is very Lovecraftian
as a space probe recedes from the solar system and the audience is made to feel
the immensity and alienage of the cosmos; and thanks to the soundtrack's background
play of earlier and earlier broadcasts from television and radio, there is
likewise the sense of going back in time. Zemeckis has also been
involved in various genre films, most recently Beowulf. Adaptations:
Since he has directed several animation works, notably those involving types of
rotoscoping, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath would be a candidate,
supplying a dream, medieval atmosphere that contains outlandish creatures. With
its two monsters, and the chance to glimpse Yog-Sothoth, "The Dunwich Horror"
could also prove to be an interesting animation opportunity.
Among the passel of directors I've omitted: The Coens prefer crime
melodrama to such horror material; Sam Raimi is content with comic books; Peter
Weir and James Cameron have been away from the camera for a long while; Quentin
Tarantino dotes on dialogue; Curtis Hanson may have written the screenplay
for "The Dunwich Horror," but he doesn't seem really dedicated to horror. And
so on.
Now, were I able to raid one director from
the past, that would be Stanley Kubrick, whose 2001: A Space Odyssey revels
in cosmic scale for both space and time. With that in mind, I would pick him to
adapt "The Shadow out of Time" or At the Mountains of Madness.
Before ending this exercise in cinematic
fantasy, I'm going to choose the best three Lovecraft adaptations, so far.
1) The Call of Cthulhu (2006). Not
only is this silent the most faithful adaptation, it comes closest to the
Lovecraftian spirit. The music conveys sound narrative while the visuals are black-and-white,
so an otherworldly feel is enhanced. There's an attempt to render in images
some concepts in the story, notably the jigsaw puzzle with a cosmic picture, a
literal representation of the piecing together of dissociated knowledge. The
expressionist set for the scene involving R'lyeh affirms the film's place in
the twenties (with reminiscences of The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari) and
creates a dream-like atmosphere by its deliberate unreality.
2) Re-Animator (1985). Compared
with the first choice, this is a professional, mainstream movie, so it makes
inevitable compromises, which is less regrettable than it might be because the
source material is rather below-par Lovecraft. In its pulp rawness Re-Animator
catches some of the Gothic spirit and outrageousness of the original. Nor is
the movie's injection of humor off the mark, since the Lovecraft story appeared
in Home Brew, a magazine that claimed to be full of moonshine.
3) The Resurrected (1992). This is
one of the most faithful adaptations of any Lovecraft work, though by no means
flawlessly so. However, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward offers so much conceptually and in details that it is a
pleasure to see some of it accurately translated to the screen.
140
Scott (in The Daily Lurker): I
appreciate you providing the facsimile and "translation" of the letter of
thanks from Lovecraft to Forrest J Ackerman, but I wish you had included
information about where it resides-the John Hay Library, a private collection,
etc.
Ben: I'd dispute that HPL "might well be
just another forgotten pulpist" were it not for Derleth. Certain genre pulp
writers seem to have an immortality that owes more to a continued interest of
readers and later scholars than to any one person. Websites are dedicated to
the pulps, and even relatively obscure pulpists elicit an interest, if only
from a dedicated hardcore. *** Thanks for the gathering of illustrations. The
Finlays were my favorite. A few that I know have been produced in The Dark
Brotherhood and Other Pieces.
John N.: There's as much chance that
Lovecraft was an occultist as there is that he was a closet Christian, though
you'll find advocates for at least the first. *** I think I recall seeing Mad
Monsters for sale, but I recall it as photos of monsters with "funny"
captions added, and didn't care for such an approach. Maybe I'm thinking of
another publication with a similar title? As for comic books, I was firmly a
Dell, funny animal (e.g., Uncle Scrooge, Tweety and Sylvester)
kind of guy, never purchasing DC's and that ilk. I hope some member can
contribute further information on Joseph Howard Krucher.
Linda: There's a 1990 article about
monster-maker Paul Blaisdell in Cinefantastique; for aught I know, it
may be by the same author. *** I wonder how much the inferiority of insulation
and heating back in the 1920's affected Lovecraft's indoor sensitivity to cold;
maybe if he had the conveniences of today he wouldn't have complained so much.
*** While Lovecraft used the element of cold in his stories (as you point out),
the use of its opposite, heat, is nowhere so common. It is mentioned in
"Nyarlathotep," and deserts appear in both "The Nameless City" and "The Shadow
out of Time," but not to the same degree, if you'll excuse the pun. *** I can
think of a couple of possible reasons Lovecraft did not visit Barlow in the
winter time. 1) He may not have been invited during this season. 2) To travel
from Providence to Florida in the winter may have meant that he had to hazard
some cold outside (e.g., getting to the bus) before reaching the warm south.
*** Reasons for HPL's sensitivity to cold must remain speculative, as it must
for any medical condition when the subject is no longer available for an
examination. For that matter, think of the proportion of mis-diagnoses even
when there is a patient.
Fred: Even though Lovecraft was an
atheist, there is reason to doubt that he established this view in his stories
(e.g., "The Tomb"). His disbelief in occultism did not preclude him from
convincingly using it as a device in his fiction. *** Concerning the 130° that you struggled with in Egypt, just think that HPL
would've flourished (see remarks to Linda). *** It sounds as though you gave a
great piano concert in Jordan. I wish I could've heard it.
Douglas: Going by your description of the
stories in The Student and the Body-Snatcher and Other Trifles, I'd say
it takes a rare man to enjoy them, and I ain't he. On the other hand The
Face of Air sounded very intriguing, until your criticism deflated it.
T.R.: Your discovery or reasoning is
persuasive of the connection between Lovecraft's perusal of his first new book
on astronomy and the incident recounted in the third sonnet of the Fungi
from Yuggoth. You make some intriguing queries about the origins of
Lovecraft's astronomy collection. On the other hand, you'd have to do more
persuading to establish a close overlap betwixt Burritt's story of Perseus and
Lovecraft's. *** If HPL didn't have issues of Popular Astronomy in his
personal library, it is possible that he read them in the Providence Public
Library (or some other), which owns this title, though I'm unsure if the
holdings are complete. *** In several stories Lovecraft makes isolated
references to chemistry, but goes great guns when it comes to its predecessor,
alchemy. Think of "The Alchemist," or much more importantly, The Case of
Charles Dexter Ward, where the subject is center stage.
John H.: I'm troubled by your definition
of "canon," which makes it sound as though it was decreed and controlled by snobs.
Also, when authors are admitted or dragged into the canon, so comes some of
their inferior work, which of itself would never have got them in. *** Edmund
Wilson causing the demise of interest in Lovecraft? Since he slammed both
Tolkien and Agatha Christie (and other mysterios), did this also cause a
problem for these writers? He has appeared in the ballyhooed Library of
America, and wouldn't it be a further irony that Lovecraft's LoA's sales might
have made the company enough profit to issue Wilson? One can muse on this. ***
So far as Derleth co-creating the Mythos, there is a difference, more than
semantic, between creation and expansion. HPL created the idea
and the premises, Derleth and others enhanced them.
*** There's been such an uproar over the
quote, one version of which is "You will, of course, realize that all my
stories, unconnected as they may be, are based on one fundamental lore or
legend: that this world was inhabited at one time by another race, who in
practicing black magic, lost their foothold and were expelled, yet live on
outside, ever ready to take possession of this earth again." Some of it is
close to the mark, some of it not. The stories are "unconnected" in that they
are distinct and could stand on their own, yet they also share a "lore or
legend" or premise, or whatever you wish to call it. Moreover, in the majority
of the stories it is explicit that the world was previously inhabited by "another
race"-races, of course. In many instances they "lost their foothold," though I
generally would balk that they were "expelled" (by who or what?; and this gives
an adscititious moral spin to HPL). The stories are much more than being
reduced to a formula, by Derleth or anyone.
The part about "practicing black magic"
has to be disputed. However, in such works as The Case of Charles Dexter
Ward-not to be published till the forties-and "The Dunwich Horror" a sense
of black magic is present. Some of the beings "lost their foothold" through the
ineluctable march of time. If they were expelled, then it sounds as though
something inimical to black magic had to expel them; this is not Lovecraftian, for
here creeps in the Biblical (Satan's expulsion from Heaven), the moral (black
magic is evil (as opposed to white magic?)), and a generic pulp set-up. Those
who "live on outside" include Cthulhu (asleep in the deep) and Yog-sothoth,
both of who would take over the world if conditions were right.
In sum, the quote is a mashup. One part
accurately describes one story or stories, and another part describes another
story (stories)-except for the black magic and expulsion parts, that are
grafted on. There's enough truth in the quote, its compact and logical enough,
and it has a glamour so that it could be used by Derleth and in Wise and
Fraser's introduction to Lovecraft's work in the landmark Great Tales of
Terror and the Supernatural.
*** Derleth made "a bad decision"
for blending Lovecraft's world with his? It was a creative decision,
expanding the Mythos as Derleth saw fit. *** You state that the files of Arkham
House are full of requests that Derleth write Mythos stories-but who requested
this? Editors? Readers? *** I don't think S.T. will ever be confused with a
temperate critic. His judgments are pronounced. Thus he states of the Gatto
work that its "value is almost nil." *** You state "Lovecraft was dead when I
was in my Senior year of high school"-this would make you now around 87, which
seems completely wrong. *** In some two boxed pages you are quoting and
rebutting someone (S.T.? in the previous mailing on Derleth?) or ones, and that
plus the crowding of paragraphs makes for confusion.
Scott: Re: "Surely in any contest a winner
may be determined only by a face to face confrontation." I think a closer
analogy are those polls for the greatest athlete, etc. of the century or
decade, where there is not the face-to-face that you suggest. Like that, the
popularity of Lovecraft vs. Quinn (could be a prize fight) is a retrospective
evaluation. *** You give a persuasive rebuttal. While I was won over by T. R.'s
very detailed and impressive evidence, I've swung to your side (somewhat), but
depending on what T. R. does, I might abandon your defense and go back with T.
R. As you can see I'm a fair weather friend. I'll make two inferences. Those
who voted also represented the non-voters' sentiment, as much as such a group
can. Moreover, rather than appealing to the common, non-discriminating
denominator, Weird Tales attracted a majority of readers who could
identify the qualitatively best writers.
Anthologies
Stories mentioning the Necronomicon
are collected in the Italian translation I
Racconti del Necronomicon (Newton Compton, 2008).
Art
"Sticks and Bones: The Life and Art of Lee Brown Coye" was featured in Illustration (no. 13). *** With an
association going as far back as the seventies (sixties?) and in various media,
Richard Corben will have published-beginning in June-the three-part series Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft (Marvel
Comics MAX). This follows his Haunt of
Horror: Edgar Allan Poe (2006). Corben also gives an interview related to the topic.
Audio
Hear Nick Gisburne read "The Beast in the Cave" and "The Cats of
Ulthar."
Biography
An image of an announcement of the opening of Sonia Greene's millinery
is available. Chris Perridas states that the announcement answers the question
in S.T.'s biography about the location of the business (368 East 17th Street,
Brooklyn, at Cortelyou Road).
As Character
He appears in a vast list of historical and fictional characters who
have appeared in Sherlock Holmes pastiches.
Comic Books and Graphic Novels
BOOM! Studios is coming out with a monthly anthology of the heretofore
one-shots Cthulhu Tales. *** H.P. Lovecraft's Visiones (Norma Editorial) is a
collection of stories written and illustrated by the Uruguayan Hernán
Rodríguez. *** Lovecraft, Massachusetts is a place in the series Locke & Key (IDW Publishing ) by Joe
Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. *** Mike Mignola states that he probably hasn't
read all of HPL and what he did read was "a billion years ago."
Conferences
At the next-to-last session track at the
2008 Popular Culture Association's annual conference in San Francisco, the talk
by Nick Mamatas billed as being about Lovecraft and copyright seemed more about
HPL's influence, though I missed some of the words because of loud air handler
machinery. Mamatas (who wrote the Lovecraft-related Move Under Ground) and
Tim Pratt co-authored recently "The Dude Who Collected Lovecraft," available
free. *** At the last
session I was among four presenters, the others about horror but not HPL. Mine
was titled "The Shadow of His Smile: Humour in H.P. Lovecraft's Fiction."
Criticism
HPL and M.R. James receive attention in several essays featured in Collapse (vol. iv) whose theme is
"Concept Horror." Thomas Ligotti and China Miéville are among the contributors
here. ***
"The Darker Islam within the American Gothic: Sufi Motifs in the Stories of H.P
Lovecraft" (Zeitschrift fur Anglistik und
Amerikanistik 52:3; 2004, p. 231-242)
by I. Almond looks at daemon-sultans, etc. in the first part, and in the second
at "Through the Gates of the Silver Key."
Drama
Thanks to a link at "Grim Blogger" I learned of Lovecraft, performed in Prague, Czech Republic. Put on in April by
the English college drama department, "the play is an unconventional series of
student- and staff-produced dramas based on the science fictional/horror
writings of author H.P. Lovecraft. Sea demons, psychiatric patients and ghastly
ghouls will abound."
Education
Writer and editor Amy Sturgis will teach a summer seminar at Brown
University on HPL, her favorite author.
Games
Combine Cthulhu with car racing and you
might have the card game of Cthulhu 500,
which includes such vehicles as the Sports Cthutility Vehicle and Car of
Cthulhu. Was it back in the
nineteen-forties that some fan dubbed his auto the "Chariot of Cthulhu"?
Genealogy
Lloyd's Register of British and
Foreign Shipping from 1st July 1840 to the 30th June 1841
lists a "Lovecraft" as a master of the brigantine Gleaner. *** In 1891 the National Education Association lists a M[ary]
L. Lovecraft of Mt. Vernon, NY. *** In the DAR Lineage Book (XXXV, 1901; published 1912) a Martha Meazie Lovecraft
is listed as married to a Luther Andrews Chase. *** The "elite family
directory" of The Providence Society Blue
Book (1905) lists under the name of Mrs. Winfield S. Lovecraft those of Mr.
Whipple V. Phillips and Mrs. nee
Phillips. The Providence House Directory and Family Address Book (1899) is by
street and number, which allows a researcher to discover the names of the
Lovecraft neighbors. At Angell 454 is Mrs. Winfield S. Lovecraft, Miss Lillian
Phillips, and Mr. Whipple V. Phillips. I guess children weren't included, for
there is no mention of HPL. *** A report of the Indiana State Board of
Agriculture (1869) mentions a Mrs. J. E. Lovecraft.
Language
Encyclopedia of Fictional & Fantastic
Languages (Greenwood Press, 2006) by Tim Conley and Stephen Cain includes
among others those created by Lovecraft, Poe, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Library Collections
There's another reason to visit Orlando:
the Howard J. Duerr Collection, 1915-1978, whose object was material
related to the Cthulhu Mythos. A former EOD member, Duerr had various Ofians among the correspondents,
according to the online list.
Magazines
Former Ofian Mike Ashley has produced
Gateways to Forever: The Story of the Science‑Fiction Magazines, 1970‑1980
(Liverpool University Press, 2007), wherein HPL receives a number of mentions.
Movies
Winning the "Best Short" prize at the Cinema City International Film
Festival, the three-minute "The Vault" was said to be in part inspired by
Lovecraft's fiction. *** Dean Stockwell, who starred
in The Dunwich Horror (1970), will be
appearing in another Lovecraft film, story basis currently unknown. In speaking
of the earlier film, he states he is a Lovecraft fan, and because it didn't
follow Lovecraft, it was "a little disappointing."
Music
"Lovecraft in Brooklyn" and "Sax Rohmer" are among the songs on the
album Heretic Pride by The Mountain
Goats. There have been lots of Internet references to this album. *** Members
of Frostmoon Eclipse are all fans of Lovecraft, hence the album I Am Providence (God Is Myth, 2008),
which is volume vi of a limited H.P. Lovecraft series.
Presentations
On different evenings at Treadwell's (a London bookshop specializing in
the esoteric) there has been a performance of Poe works, a lecture about Machen
and the occult, and a reading of extracts from Lovecraft tales, plus
commentary.
Religion
A letter of Lovecraft's appears in The
Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Nonbeliever (Da Capo Press,
2007) edited by Christopher Hitchens.
Science
The evolution writings of T.H. Huxley and Alfred Russel Wallace and
their impact on H.P. Blavatsky and Lovecraft is the subject of "Humanity's
Place in Nature, 1863 - 1928: Horror, Curiosity and the Expeditions of Huxley,
Wallace, Blavatsky and Lovecraft" (Theology
& Science (March 2008), p73-88) by Abel Alves. *** Two Finnish
scientists, F Sabot and A. H. Schulman, ended "Parasitism and the
Retrotransposon Life Cycle in Plants: A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Genome" (Heredity, 1 December 2006, p. 381-388)
with the quote beginning "That is not dead."
Television
According to a blogger, the book At
the Mountains of Madness makes an appearance in the science fiction series The 4400.
Theatre
Combining Lovecraft and Kafka, Brown University's Production Workshop
has given a new play, "The Music of Erich Zann in the Penal Colony." *** What, Has This Thing Appeared Again Tonight?
by Jim Fitzmorris comes to the Shakespeare Festival at Tulane University (New
Orleans) July 25-Aug. 3. According to someone involved in the production, the
title is from Hamlet, Lovecraft, and
Charles Schulz.
Influence and Allusions
One observer notes the homages to HPL,
Raymond Chandler, and others in So Dark
the Night by Cliff Burns, available under a Creative Commons license. *** Pulitzer
prize-winner Michael Chabon collects Arkham House, Gnome Press, Fantasy Press,
H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Heinlein, and Robert E. Howard. His
recent collection of non-fiction, Maps
and Legends (McSweeney's, 2008), includes something on M.R. James (and his The Yiddish Policemen's Union (reviewed
by Ben) has been nominated for a Hugo, Nebula, and Edgar). *** Author of Critical Synoptics: Menippean Satire and the
Analysis of Intellectual Mythology (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press,
2000) Carter Kaplan notes that in his late teens he was motivated to write
seriously by REH, CAS, and HPL, hoping to become "a famous and reclusive
fantasy writer" who lived in a Scottish castle (quoted from Contemporary Authors Online, Thomson
Gale, 2004). *** World Fantasy nominee Eric S. Nylund notes that his favorite
writers are Roger Zelazny, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and HPL. *** The latter two,
plus Dashiell Hammett are named influences of J.B. Post, responsible for the
well-known An Atlas of Fantasy
(1978). *** HPL was one of a number of early influences for short story writer
Pinckney Benedict. And he is one of a number enjoyed by Peter Charles Horstead
Smith, novelist and military writer. *** Apparently in Michel's Butor's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ape HPL
was on a recommended reading list. *** "Shoggoths in Bloom" (Asimov's Science Fiction (March)) by Elizabeth Bear is reviewed by
Karen Burnham. The first
part of the story can be read at the Asimov site. *** Gene Wolfe's 2008 An Evil
Guest is described on the Amazon site as "Lovecraft meets Blade Runner,"
though the accompanying summary makes me question that.
Contemporaries
A recent publication is C.L. Moore's Northwest
of Earth: The Complete Northwest Smith (Paizo, 2008). There's also her Black
God's Kiss (Paizo, 2007).
Lovecraftisms
"Most horrible of all sights are the
little unpainted wooden houses remote from travelled ways...In such houses have
dwelt generations of strange people, whose like the world has never seen....
Divorced from the enlightenment of civilization, the strength of these Puritans
turned into singular channels...Erring as all mortals must, they were forced by
their rigid code to seek concealment above all else."-"The Picture in the
House"
Cf. "There, remote from the power of
example and the check of shame, many families exhibit the most hideous parts of
our society."-St. Jean de Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer
(1782)
In Memoriam: Arthur C. Clarke
Thanks for reading the 56th
issue of The Criticaster (April 2008, mailing 142) by St. Eve Walker.
Eventually published on the Net as The Limbonaut (no 27).