[Tour de Lovecraft] The White Ship
An unexceptionable, if unexceptional, immram, "The White Ship" is the sort of story that just sits there and breathes allegory at you, gravid with Symbolism.
Take your pick:
* The White Ship is the path to Self-Knowledge (Hermetic, Jungian, whatever, take your pick)
* The White Ship is the True Soul, which we cannot partake of
* The White Ship is Dream
* The White Ship was sent by the ocean-soul to kidnap Elton and the story is an early sketch for "Shadow Over Innsmouth"
* The White Ship is Jesus; the story is about HPL's regrets at being an atheist
* The Bird of Heaven is Jesus; the story is about HPL's insistence that religion is hateful illusion meant to lead us away from happiness
* The White Ship is the illusion of Human Progress; trying to reach Cathuria leads only to watery Cthulhoid destruction
* The White Ship is the Psychopomp; Basil Elton is a continuously-reincarnate spirit of the Eltons, and the Bearded Man is his Lar, the spirit of his family
* The Bearded Man is Nyarlathotep, on the grounds that anything problematic in a Lovecraft story always winds up being Nyarlathotep
* The White Ship is a political allegory for Warren Harding, who evades all the real troublesome issues, tries to maroon you in a land of happy talk, but eventually smashes up when you follow him (West) into splendid isolation and normalcy
* The White Ship is a political allegory for Woodrow Wilson, who exposes you to horrible dangers, strands you in pointless stagnation while claiming it's for your own good, and wrecks everything when you follow him to Cathuria, which is the League of Nations, and hence impossible of attainment
See how easy that is?
Me, I think that Darrell Schweitzer has it right and "The White Ship" is Lovecraft playing at allegory, that the message is transparent Epicureanism, and that it's pastiching "Idle Days on the Yann."
NEXT: "The Temple"
Take your pick:
* The White Ship is the path to Self-Knowledge (Hermetic, Jungian, whatever, take your pick)
* The White Ship is the True Soul, which we cannot partake of
* The White Ship is Dream
* The White Ship was sent by the ocean-soul to kidnap Elton and the story is an early sketch for "Shadow Over Innsmouth"
* The White Ship is Jesus; the story is about HPL's regrets at being an atheist
* The Bird of Heaven is Jesus; the story is about HPL's insistence that religion is hateful illusion meant to lead us away from happiness
* The White Ship is the illusion of Human Progress; trying to reach Cathuria leads only to watery Cthulhoid destruction
* The White Ship is the Psychopomp; Basil Elton is a continuously-reincarnate spirit of the Eltons, and the Bearded Man is his Lar, the spirit of his family
* The Bearded Man is Nyarlathotep, on the grounds that anything problematic in a Lovecraft story always winds up being Nyarlathotep
* The White Ship is a political allegory for Warren Harding, who evades all the real troublesome issues, tries to maroon you in a land of happy talk, but eventually smashes up when you follow him (West) into splendid isolation and normalcy
* The White Ship is a political allegory for Woodrow Wilson, who exposes you to horrible dangers, strands you in pointless stagnation while claiming it's for your own good, and wrecks everything when you follow him to Cathuria, which is the League of Nations, and hence impossible of attainment
See how easy that is?
Me, I think that Darrell Schweitzer has it right and "The White Ship" is Lovecraft playing at allegory, that the message is transparent Epicureanism, and that it's pastiching "Idle Days on the Yann."
NEXT: "The Temple"