Hello, fellow-EDers.

Has anyone read this story?

I'll tip my hand here: it is strangely memorable because it creates, for me, an impression of filth, vileness. Not so much in actual description, but in atmosphere.

Not a particularly skillful story, but memorable in its own right.

--Sawfish

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"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2 Aug 21 | 07:33PM by Sawfish.

Sawfish Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello, fellow-EDers.
>
> Has anyone read this story?
>
> I'll tip my hand here: it is strangely memorable
> because it creates, for me, an impression of
> filth, vileness. Not so much in actual
> description, but in atmosphere.
>
> Not a particularly skillful story, but memorable
> in its own right.

I'd rather focus on the Beautiful in our favorite authors, etc. ... if anyone wants to return to my original first posting here.

[www.eldritchdark.com]

(Of course, just 'cause the Cave story doesn't sound like a good bet to me, doesn't mean other might not want to take you up on the invitation.)

Dale Nelson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sawfish Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Hello, fellow-EDers.
> >
> > Has anyone read this story?
> >
> > I'll tip my hand here: it is strangely
> memorable
> > because it creates, for me, an impression of
> > filth, vileness. Not so much in actual
> > description, but in atmosphere.
> >
> > Not a particularly skillful story, but
> memorable
> > in its own right.
>
> I'd rather focus on the Beautiful in our favorite
> authors, etc. ... if anyone wants to return to my
> original first posting here.
>
> [www.eldritchdark.com]
> ,page=1
>
> (Of course, just 'cause the Cave story doesn't
> sound like a good bet to me, doesn't mean other
> might not want to take you up on the invitation.)


Hah!

It's dead-center conventional supernatural. Proab\ably appeared in Weird Tales.

--Sawfish

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

It seems to me I first heard of it a long time ago, and yet I haven't been a haunter of the most intense WT circles.

Dale Nelson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> I'd rather focus on the Beautiful in our favorite
> authors, etc. ... if anyone wants to return to my
> original first posting here.
>
> [www.eldritchdark.com]
> ,page=1
>
> (Of course, just 'cause the Cave story doesn't
> sound like a good bet to me, doesn't mean other
> might not want to take you up on the invitation.)


To fully appreciate light we need to be aware of darkness. To grasp beauty we also need to be familiar with the ugly. To experience the Pleasant, we should know the horrible. To appreciate yellow wee need to see purple, for green we need red. Opposites are important. ... Contrasts are important.

I have few files on Cave, including "Murgunstrumm", but have not read them yet. So much else to read. I need to catch up! I understand he is pulpy, but wildly imaginative and grimy. He lived in Providence alongside Lovecraft, colleagues in Weird Tales, but they never met! They seemed very different personalities, Cave less artistically scrupulous, more concerned with making a buck. I am sure Minicthulhu has read the story.

Knygatin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have few files on Cave, including
> "Murgunstrumm", but have not read them yet. So
> much else to read. I need to catch up! I
> understand he is pulpy,

Yes! Pulpy!

What I'm interested in is how this guy, who is far from a subtle writer, managed to induce such a strong impression of supernatural filth--not normal filth, mind you, but *special* filth...a sort of soul-contaminating filth--that it still stands out in my memory.

(BTW, Ligotti also does this, I feel, but much less distinctly...)

The details of the plot are a bit interesting--a remote roadhouse that is to be experienced by the young rich, out for a good time--but the overall plot is nothing special. But the *feeling* induced inside the roadhouse is what's pretty over-the-top.

Kinda like Dusk til Dawn, but without a semi-naked Selma Hayak dancing with an albino constrictor of some sort.

> but wildly imaginative and
> grimy. He lived in Providence alongside Lovecraft,
> colleagues in Weird Tales, but they never met!
> They seemed very different personalities, Cave
> less artistically scrupulous, more concerned with
> making a buck. I am sure Minicthulhu has read the
> story.

Yes, seems very commercial to me. Robert Chambers-like, but less broadly skilled.

But you know me: I care much less about the background of the writers than I do about their product. I see it as similar to knowing that the eminent still master at a Scottish distillery keeps basset hounds. Who cares? Let's pour another round, shall we?

:^)

--Sawfish

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

I had not read this story. I missed this when I did my thread on early vampire stories a while back.

It is a very busy story. Alot of characters running around, and the author seems unsure what to do with most of them half the time. Did the plot really need two kidnapped madhouse doctors? Would not one have been enough? Not to mention that when a kidnap victim dies in the course & furtherance of a kidnapping, that is murder in all common law jurisdictions, which means that Paul should probably now exchange his madhouse cell for a jail cell.

But yes, Hugh Cave is very good at creating that aura of vileness. This is an aspect of such monsters that does not translate to the silver screen, which may be why vampires just kept getting sexier and sexier the more Hollywood sunk its teeth into the vampire genre.

I had been wondering about the origins of the idea of ghouls or ghoulish mortals as vampire minions, and here is an early example of that. I think it is the earliest example I know of, other than Renfield from DRACULA. But Renfield never quite got to the point of feasting on human corpses, nor did Dracula ever employ him as a daytime guard, IIRC.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 4 Aug 21 | 03:48PM by Platypus.