Hello.

Is there a weird fiction (horror, scifi, fantasy, etc.) story or a book in which a bulding or a room or a landscape or some other part of solid reality is described in a way that is so clumsy or unintelligible that you cannot visualize what exactly the author means? It has happened to me many a time in past and probably the most extreme example of it is "The Metal Monster" by Mr. Merritt in which I was sometimes pretty at sea in trying to imagine what this or that thing should look like ...

nest Minicthulhu Wrote:
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> Hello.
>
> Is there a weird fiction (horror, scifi, fantasy,
> etc.) story or a book in which a bulding or a room
> or a landscape or some other part of solid reality
> is described in a way that is so clumsy or
> unintelligible that you cannot visualize what
> exactly the author means?

Merritt's The Metal Monster.

I see it as an honest attempt to render an impression or description of the *truly* alien which, for me, failed.

It may simply point up the paradox of trying to describe the indescribable, since it is at best only marginally related to anything within human experience. A noble experiment predictably doomed to failure, a lot like school busing of the 70s..... :^o

...or it might mean I lack sufficient imagination... :^)

> It has happened to me
> many a time in past and probably the most extreme
> example of it is "The Metal Monster" by Mr.
> Merritt in which I was sometimes pretty at sea in
> trying to imagine what this or that thing should
> look like ...

Hah! I just now read down this far!!! BINGO!!! Same-same...

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Some of the things CAS described in his "Eternal World" were too much or too vague to wrap my mind around. I'm not sure if it counts as clumsy writing or if I simply lack the imagination everyone else has, but everything in this story looks blurred in my mind, like this description of a world beyond space and time:

"It was only afterwards that Chandon could figure out what had occurred, and divine the nature and laws of the new environment into which he had been projected. At the time (if one can use a word so inaccurate as time) he was wholly incapable of anything but a single contemplative visual impression — the strange world upon which he looked through the clear wall of the cylinder: a world that might have been the dream of some geometrician mad with infinity.

It was like some planetary glacier, fretted into shapes of ordered grotesquery, filled with a white, unglittering light, and obeying the laws of other perspectives than those of our own world. The distances on which he gazed were literally interminable; there was no horizon; and yet nothing seemed to dwindle in size or definitude, whatever its remoteness. Part of the impression received by Chandon was that this world arched back upon itself, like the interior surface of a hollow sphere; that the pale vistas returned overhead after they had vanisbed from his view."

Or this description of its inhabitants:

"The foreground beyond the planking was thronged by innumerable rows of objects that were suggestive both of statues and of crystalloid formations. Wan as marble or alabaster, each of them presented a mélange of simple curves and symmetric angles, which somehow seemed to include the latency of almost endless geometrical development; They were gigantic, with a rudimentary division into head, limbs and body, as if they were living things."

Or this description of the inhabitants' transformation:

"Pondering, he turned to the giant things that were his companions. He could scarcely recognize them in the red glow: their pallid planes and angles seemed to have undergone a subtle rearrangement; and the light quivered upon them in bloody lustres, conferring an odd warmth, a suggestion of awaking life. More than ever, they gave the impression of latent power, of frozen dynamism.

Then, suddenly, he saw an unmistakable movement from one of the statue-like entities, and realized that the thing had begun to alter its shape! The cold, marble substance seemed to flow like quicksilver. The rudimentary head assumed a stern, many-featured form, such as might belong to the demi-god of some foreign world. The limbs lightened, and new members of indeterminate use were put forth. The simple curves and angles multiplied themselves with mysterious complexity. [...] The geometric facets began to swell like opening buds, and flowed into lines of celestial beauty and grandeur. The boreal pallor was suffused with unearthly iridescence, with opal tones that raced and trembled in ever-living patterns, in belted arabesques, in rainbow hieroglyphs."

Hespire Wrote:
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> Some of the things CAS described in his "Eternal
> World" were too much or too vague to wrap my mind
> around. I'm not sure if it counts as clumsy
> writing or if I simply lack the imagination
> everyone else has, but everything in this story
> looks blurred in my mind, like this description of
> a world beyond space and time:
>
> "It was only afterwards that Chandon could figure
> out what had occurred, and divine the nature and
> laws of the new environment into which he had been
> projected. At the time (if one can use a word so
> inaccurate as time) he was wholly incapable of
> anything but a single contemplative visual
> impression — the strange world upon which he
> looked through the clear wall of the cylinder: a
> world that might have been the dream of some
> geometrician mad with infinity.
>
> It was like some planetary glacier, fretted into
> shapes of ordered grotesquery, filled with a
> white, unglittering light, and obeying the laws of
> other perspectives than those of our own world.
> The distances on which he gazed were literally
> interminable; there was no horizon; and yet
> nothing seemed to dwindle in size or definitude,
> whatever its remoteness. Part of the impression
> received by Chandon was that this world arched
> back upon itself, like the interior surface of a
> hollow sphere; that the pale vistas returned
> overhead after they had vanisbed from his view."
>
> Or this description of its inhabitants:
>
> "The foreground beyond the planking was thronged
> by innumerable rows of objects that were
> suggestive both of statues and of crystalloid
> formations. Wan as marble or alabaster, each of
> them presented a mélange of simple curves and
> symmetric angles, which somehow seemed to include
> the latency of almost endless geometrical
> development; They were gigantic, with a
> rudimentary division into head, limbs and body, as
> if they were living things."
>
> Or this description of the inhabitants'
> transformation:
>
> "Pondering, he turned to the giant things that
> were his companions. He could scarcely recognize
> them in the red glow: their pallid planes and
> angles seemed to have undergone a subtle
> rearrangement; and the light quivered upon them in
> bloody lustres, conferring an odd warmth, a
> suggestion of awaking life. More than ever, they
> gave the impression of latent power, of frozen
> dynamism.
>
> Then, suddenly, he saw an unmistakable movement
> from one of the statue-like entities, and realized
> that the thing had begun to alter its shape! The
> cold, marble substance seemed to flow like
> quicksilver. The rudimentary head assumed a stern,
> many-featured form, such as might belong to the
> demi-god of some foreign world. The limbs
> lightened, and new members of indeterminate use
> were put forth. The simple curves and angles
> multiplied themselves with mysterious complexity.
> [...] The geometric facets began to swell like
> opening buds, and flowed into lines of celestial
> beauty and grandeur. The boreal pallor was
> suffused with unearthly iridescence, with opal
> tones that raced and trembled in ever-living
> patterns, in belted arabesques, in rainbow
> hieroglyphs."

To my "ear" this does not read like CAS--stylistically feels different.

Other opinions/observations?

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To my own "ear" I can sense a few similarities with his other interplanetary sci-fi, though I can't explain just what those qualities are. Maybe they're simply less poetic than his fabulous cycle stories. A bit more like the drawn-out descriptions I'd expect from interplanetary tales, but with somewhat half-hearted attempts at colorful metaphors. I don't know, it just feels like CAS had a creative idea he wanted to write through as quickly as possible.

I was also wondering if anyone could make sense of this description of the lizard statue in CAS' "The Maze of the Enchanter", a story that's otherwise easy to visualize.

"Fifty feet away, on the same level as the onyx pavement, there stood an elliptic dais or low altar of moonwhite stone at whose center the maiden Athle', emerging from the labyrinth on a raised walk of porphyry, had paused in an attitude of wonder. Before her, in the claws of an immense marble lizard that reared above the dais, a great circular mirror of steely metal was held upright, with the monster's head hidden from view behind it. [...] the mirror itself was seen obliquely, with the foreshortened body of the lizard reaching away at a sharp angle and mingling obscenely with the half-reptilian maze."

From that last description, I'm not sure if the lizard is supposed to be emerging from a wall, or if it's standing on the floor in an area filled with foliage. And it sounds like the lizard's body is bending at an extreme angle, but it's a little mystifying for me to imagine.

Hespire Wrote:
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> To my own "ear" I can sense a few similarities
> with his other interplanetary sci-fi, though I
> can't explain just what those qualities are. Maybe
> they're simply less poetic than his fabulous cycle
> stories. A bit more like the drawn-out
> descriptions I'd expect from interplanetary tales,
> but with somewhat half-hearted attempts at
> colorful metaphors. I don't know, it just feels
> like CAS had a creative idea he wanted to write
> through as quickly as possible.
>
> I was also wondering if anyone could make sense of
> this description of the lizard statue in CAS' "The
> Maze of the Enchanter", a story that's otherwise
> easy to visualize.
>
> "Fifty feet away, on the same level as the onyx
> pavement, there stood an elliptic dais or low
> altar of moonwhite stone at whose center the
> maiden Athle', emerging from the labyrinth on a
> raised walk of porphyry, had paused in an attitude
> of wonder. Before her, in the claws of an immense
> marble lizard that reared above the dais, a great
> circular mirror of steely metal was held upright,
> with the monster's head hidden from view behind
> it. [...] the mirror itself was seen obliquely,
> with the foreshortened body of the lizard reaching
> away at a sharp angle and mingling obscenely with
> the half-reptilian maze."
>
> From that last description, I'm not sure if the
> lizard is supposed to be emerging from a wall, or
> if it's standing on the floor in an area filled
> with foliage. And it sounds like the lizard's body
> is bending at an extreme angle, but it's a little
> mystifying for me to imagine.

I probably don't read carefully enough. I took it as an impression that the view was from a 3/4 view sideways, with the lizard's body extending even further away from the point-of-view making it appear foreshortened.

Again, I hadn't thought much about it before, but it strikes me as merely an attempt to give the reader an impressionistic experience of what was then in the maze.

Besides, I was more hooked on Athle...

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sawfish Wrote:
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> Besides, I was more hooked on Athle...


As was every male in the story. She was the shapely centerpiece of that maze for sure!