Quote:jdworth
For example, he himself accredited the creation of his pseudo-mythology to the influence of Dusany's theogony
Hadn't thought of that--a very good point.
Quote:jdworth
We would also be missing some of the most striking imagery and passages from such works as At the Mountains of Madness were it not for Dunsany
I had thought of this--very observant. After careful consideration, I am realizing how very integral the Dunsany influence is to Lovecraft's style across his entire career. I suppose the early Dunsanian tales which I find boring
in comparison to his later more iconic works were a necessary phase; he had first to immitate Dunsany before he could assimilate him. The immitations I find
comparatively unintersting (though far more interesting than most anything else that's ever been written); the stories that assimilate Dunsany into Lovecraft's own darker style I enjoy greatly.
As for "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath," that is a very strange read. It successfully merges Lovecraft's darker world with Dunsanian Dreamland fantasy, and its strangeness and imaginitive scope certainly lend it plenty of merit; yet I still find it a bit tedious--probably because of its length. I would take "Innsmouth" or "The Whisperer" over "Kadath" any day. I suppose I prefer 'real-world' settings over blatant fantasy (when it comes to HPL--for me it's opposite with CAS), so that the line between reality and fantasy can be cunningly blurred. In the end, it's only a matter of taste, and my taste leans more toward stark, mind-blasting horror than soporific Dreamland fantasy.
I suppose I like CAS's fantastic locales because they generally seem 'real,' as paradoxical as that is. We don't have cats leaping up to the moon, or oceans that dissolve into the sky, for example. We have tangible places that generally obey the laws of physics, but for a few exceptions, and are not overly stupendous like Sarnath or Celephais. The City of the Singing Flame--Ydmos was it?--
is a rather impossibly awesome edifice--but the fact that its protagonist is awake, and arrives there through a rift in the dimensions gives it that ounce of realism that I require (I hold it possible that other dimensions exist).
As for the desert of Yondo--there is a very Dunsanian locale (it being 'at the edge of the world'), and yet--I love that story! I suppose the stark terror of the landscape is what attacts me to it--it is made to feel very
real, and is treated like a waking, physical place. When a place is treated like a real place, it begins to feel that way.
I don't know where else I'm going with this--but rambling about such matters sure is fun!
Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 9 Oct 11 | 05:46PM by K_A_Opperman.