methinks it rings most monstrous deep, but hollow
Reading of "The Statement of Randolph Carter," by H.P. Lovecraft. Read by Leeman Kessler and produced by Leah Bond.
One day I will get distracted from my Lovecraft obsession, but it is not this day. I've been rereading "He," the story about the aged Georgian-era cosplayer who cruises Generic Lovecraft Protagonist late one night somewhere in Greenwich Village. This is one of those stories that derives its horror from the guilty-white-people/racist trope that vengeful Native American ghosts are out to get us because WE HAVE IT COMING. Pet Sematery, eat your heart out. Also, I am distracted by how gay this story is. Coming from virtually any other writer, this would be the story of a late-night quest for societally unacceptable sex, and a hook-up that starts well but then gets creepy. Lovecraft usually writes characters who have architecture drives where most other people would have a sex drive, however, so the reader has to fill in the sex on their own time.
"The Shunned House" doesn't get a lot of love, but I value it. It's that "curse on a family down through the ages; or IS IT a curse?" narrative that Lovecraft has written more skilfully elsewhere. I find the way the story is told aggravating and off-putting, but the actual story intriguing. Also, this is downplayed, but the narrator is relating how his aged and beloved uncle was killed while fighting something awful, and the narrator himself can never tell anyone what happened, apart from writing this (presumably secret) manuscript. I like how grieved the narrator sounds.
One day I will get distracted from my Lovecraft obsession, but it is not this day. I've been rereading "He," the story about the aged Georgian-era cosplayer who cruises Generic Lovecraft Protagonist late one night somewhere in Greenwich Village. This is one of those stories that derives its horror from the guilty-white-people/racist trope that vengeful Native American ghosts are out to get us because WE HAVE IT COMING. Pet Sematery, eat your heart out. Also, I am distracted by how gay this story is. Coming from virtually any other writer, this would be the story of a late-night quest for societally unacceptable sex, and a hook-up that starts well but then gets creepy. Lovecraft usually writes characters who have architecture drives where most other people would have a sex drive, however, so the reader has to fill in the sex on their own time.
"The Shunned House" doesn't get a lot of love, but I value it. It's that "curse on a family down through the ages; or IS IT a curse?" narrative that Lovecraft has written more skilfully elsewhere. I find the way the story is told aggravating and off-putting, but the actual story intriguing. Also, this is downplayed, but the narrator is relating how his aged and beloved uncle was killed while fighting something awful, and the narrator himself can never tell anyone what happened, apart from writing this (presumably secret) manuscript. I like how grieved the narrator sounds.