Where to start

Good points. Yes, considering how Lovecraft generally tended to try to be accurate with his science (even with the ether bit, he had run into scientists who still argued for its continued validity -- even as late, if I recall correctly -- as 1936), he'd not have been able to have such a site at the Antarctic by our time... though it would have been possible to a surprisingly late period. As for the formation of the moon... yes, it was becoming less and less tenable, but remained a fairly popular theory well into the 1940s, as I recall.

Incidentally, your posting this reminded me that I'd meant to respond to your earlier post with some thoughts, and had never got around to it. So...

Fried Egg said:
One further thought is that it did not seem to me so much of an anomaly when set against other work he has done. In "Call of Cthulu" for instance, humanity comes once again very close to being overwhelmed by "evil". It is only by chance that this menace is overcome, as it is in "Dunwich Horror" (William Whately failing in his attempt to secure the book he needed).

The organised defence that Armitage and his collegues manages to mount against the loosed beast has it's simularities with the way Dr. Willet finally overcomes Joseph Curwen in "the Case of Charles Dexter Ward".

That Armitage saw his task as a good vs. evil challenge doesn't really change the nature of the menace that always lurks and threatens humanity in Lovercraft's other works.
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You have a point about what happened with Wilbur being what really saved us, and it's a point that most people miss, given his brother. Yes, it is chance that keeps the Dunwich Horror limited -- capable of vast destruction still, but not of the cosmic variety it would have been had Wilbur succeeded. However, it's more than merely Armitage seeing it that way; it is the tone of the whole, which -- given that it is told in an omniscient narrative voice -- makes it something of an anomaly. For a human narrator to interpret things that way (the way Wilmarth does, for instance, in "The Whisperer in Darkness", or Thurston does in "The Call of Cthulhu") is perfectly natural, as they are characters within the story (or at least very closely connected to it), and therefore emotionally tied to the effects of the incidents. Here the case is different, as the narrator is not so connected.

And as for the danger always being there -- well, though it has been questioned as to accuracy (after all, Alhazred would also be interpreting his knowledge based on his cultural matrix), the Necronomicon passage would tend to indicate that this is also the case here; so the menace remains after the closing of the story, as analogous phenomena may -- almost certainly will -- happen again... if not in Dunwich, then elsewhere. But the tone of the story takes ever-so-slightly away from the power of that conception, which seems a pity, given that it has so many other sterling strengths.

As for the similarities between Armitage and Willett -- in character, the two men are very similar (though Willett is a bit less sententious and pompous in general), but the situations are quite different. In "The Dunwich Horror" we are dealing with a cosmic intrusion which, it is indicated, has very human motives, whereas in Ward we are dealing with a menace brought about by a human being with human motives... one is quite fitting, the other is too anthropocentric in point of view... putting a "human mask" on the universe, and one that Lovecraft himself insisted it was a mistake to use.

Nonetheless, "The Dunwich Horror" remains high on my list because of its other strengths, and it is certainly a tale I continue to enjoy on various levels to this day....

Oh, and as for taking a break... I can easily understand that. It's a challenging piece, is MM.... As for "The Thing on the Doorstep"... it's a bit closer to genuine grue than Lovecraft usually went (with such exceptions as "In the Vault"), but it's still a rather good story, with some very interesting implications... and I love the quiet but powerful punch of the final line....
 
Well I found out my library does have a collection of Lovecraft's works, so I borrowed that. I finished Shadow Over Innsmouth yesterday, and started the Dunwitch Horror.

I loved Innsmouth. It was very, very good.
 
Glad you enjoyed "Innsmouth". That's one of his more complex stories, in some ways, and much more subtly written than one might at first realize. Hope you enjoy "The Dunwich Horror". The criticisms of the story aside, it is a very enjoyable tale, and does have a lot of superb writing....
 
Ah, at last, I've finally gotten hold of The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories. I haven't read any Lovecraft for ages and I am really looking forward to this final collection of his tales...although I will be quite sad when I finish them. I'll probably take this collection slow, intersperse the stories between other reads to allow me to fully savour each.
 
This one certainly has more of his weaker tales ("From Beyond"; "The Terrible Old Man" -- fine in its way, but the irony is far too heavy-handed; "The Lurking Fear"; "The Moon-Bog"; "In the Vault"; "The Horror at Red Hook" -- though a fair number of people, including Edmond Hamilton, really like that one), but also some very strong work, including at least two I would count as among his very best or most memorable....
 
To be honest, with rare exceptions, even at his worst, HPL is better than many at their best....
 
True . I saw an animated film made out of "The terrible old man" and it was as quite funny as the original . Though I seem to have quite a fondness for the early tales, and then epsecialy for "The music of Erich Zann" .
 
Interestingly, I, too, have quite a fondness for his earlier tales; as for "Zann"... that one is a little different, and I'd have to agree with many (including HPL himself) that it probably comes in just after "The Colour Out of Space" (and At the Mountains of Madness) as among his best tales... if perhaps a trifle vague at the climax about what is actually seen. (Nonetheless, I think the choice of words is just right to give the nature of what it is....)
 
ravenus said:
Ha, another soon to be dyed in the wool Lovecraft fan :D

From what you've said so far, I'd say go ahead and read any Lovecraft you get. The only ones you're likely to dislike are the ones that are actually below par...it happens sometimes with his short stories and I personally don't think highly of The Dunwich Horror (yawn!) or The Case of Charles Dexter Ward (OK, too long and nothing special).

btw I recommend you see the film Dagon, based mainly on the Innsmouth story. You'll find the last twist incorporated in a more natural fashion in the movie (and special mention made of it in the director's commentary)
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IMO Dagon is the best film adaptation done of HPL.
 
"Polaris" was a good opener and reminded me (very loosely) of a CAS story I read once although I can't remember it's name...possibly "The Planet of the Dead"? In that story the protagonist was an astronomer who, when spying on a star got transported there, back into his real identity that had fled to earth in order to escape being killed.

I've also enjoyed "Thre Tree" and "The Cats of Ulthar" so far; was less impressed by "The Doom That Came to Sarnath" and "The Terrible old Man". Anyway, I'll be keen to get past his "Dunsananian" phase...
 
His "Dunsanian" stories are an odd lot. While he obviously was into the quasi-Biblical, sonorous sort of prose in writing them, he certainly has his own concerns and approach. They aren't quite what one expects from Lovecraft (if one comes to him through his later, more well-known work), and yet they are far from Dunsany, in most cases.

I'm one of those who find his works in this vein quite interesting and enjoyable, but I do seem to be in the minority with this....

Also, as I'm sure you're noting, he builds on references from his Dunsanian works for his later, more "Lovecraftian" tales, as well....
 
Some of them I enjoy more than others and they are all interesting, not only because he builds on themes that he returned to later, but interesting in themselves for their themes and ideas. It's just that he doesn't quite do that kind of story as well, or have quite an elegant turn of phrase as Dunsany did...Although in "Cats of Ulthar" he comes pretty damn close. The way the story opens for instance:

It is said that in Ulthar, which lies beyond the river Skai, no man may kill a cat; and this I can verily believe as I gaze upon him who sitteth purring before the fire. For the cat is cryptic, and close to strange things which men cannot see. He is the soul of antique Aegyptus, and bearer of tales from forgotten cities in Meroe and Ophir. He is the kin of the jungle’s lords, and heir to the secrets of hoary and sinister Africa. The Sphinx is his cousin, and he speaks her language; but he is more ancient than the Sphinx, and remembers that which she hath forgotten.

In Ulthar, before ever the burgesses forbade the killing of cats, there dwelt an old cotter and his wife who delighted to trap and slay the cats of their neighbors. Why they did this I know not; save that many hate the voice of the cat in the night, and take it ill that cats should run stealthily about yards and gardens at twilight.

Just beautifully written.
 
Hmmm...I just read "From Beyond" and I noticed that it was in your list of Lovecraft's weaker tales...did you not like it then? I thought it was very good. Ok, I suppose it could have explored more what they were seeing and hearing from beyond but I still enjoyed it.
 
Fried Egg said:
Hmmm...I just read "From Beyond" and I noticed that it was in your list of Lovecraft's weaker tales...did you not like it then? I thought it was very good. Ok, I suppose it could have explored more what they were seeing and hearing from beyond but I still enjoyed it.
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Let's say that there are things I like about it -- in fact, things I like quite a lot about it -- but I find the tale overall to be one of his lesser efforts. For one thing, the "mad scientist" theme there is already hackneyed, to say the least; and most of the more egregious faults laid to HPL as a literary artist are present, which seriously dilutes the effect of the whole, I think. (And, unlike such things as the later "Herbert West" entries, or "The Hound", the overly-colorful prose and the like doesn't seem to be intended parodically, but rather just an example of Lovecraft shading over into the ultraviolet....)

I should explain that, when I say something is among Lovecraft's "weaker" or "weakest" works, this doesn't mean I'm entirely against a piece. There are darned few of his works in which I don't see some redeeming qualities (even "The Street" has its points of interest, and even some quite good passages, to me). Rather, it is such a familiarity with HPL and his work that I have no qualms about calling a spade a spade, and noting that this or that piece has serious enough faults to place it much lower in the scale as an accomplished piece of art than many of his other works.... As I've said before, though, with very rare exceptions, even Lovecraft at his worst still compares favorably with a number of writers at their best, as I think there is more going on there than one finds in many others....
 
Hmmm....I didn't even notice the prose being overly-colourful. I found it very pleasurable to read...
 
Just found this on Bookhopper and hopefully it'll be on its way soon-
Dagon and Other Macabre Tales No. 2 (H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus),which if I get it will be my first piece of Lovecraft.
Now,this is number 2. What is in number 1 and how many are there? Also is this classic Lovecraft?
 
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