The Necronomicon

[Duchessprozac]

I picked this book up a few years ago when I was barely more than a naieve teenager and thought it was an actual occult text, it was however when I found it out to be nothing more than a hoax that I really began to appreciate it and I wonder what do other people think about this so called real Necronomicon?

 

[j d worthington]

I picked this book up a few years ago when I was barely more than a naieve teenager and thought it was an actual occult text, it was however when I found it out to be nothing more than a hoax that I really began to appreciate it and I wonder what do other people think about this so called real Necronomicon?

Well, it partly depends on the question: which one? There have been several versions of the Necronomicon: one by someone signing himself as "Simon", another an "occult" text with several essays, another a hoax done in Arabic script, but which is simply nonsense which is rearranged to look like a genuine text. This is not to mention the anthologies and other such things under the title. I'm assuming this is the "Simon" Necronomicon, in which case... it's not only a hoax, but a bad hoax, poorly researched even on the Lovecraftian front, let alone the mythological links given. It is also rather poorly written, which is a pity.... One of the best things ever done on the whole thing is The Necronomicon Files, by Daniel Harms and John Wisdom Gonce III; here's a brief review:

http://www.sfsite.com/02b/nec51.htm

 

[Duchessprozac]

It is indeed the 'Simon' Manuscript I am referring to, I found it suspect as a genuine article when I read it but I liked the ideas it put forth and this has lead me to look deeper into the Cthulu mythos. I must admit I still not delved into reading any of Lovecraft's orignal works yet, although I am aware of when other pay homage or indeed outright straight fromhis works nowadays.

 

[brsrkrkomdy]

Speaking of "Simon" of the Fraudonomicon, he already came out with a book called "Dead Names" that chronicles the so-called origins of how that infamous book came about. I'm halfway thru it. It's BS but it's fun.

 

[Nesacat]

The 'real' Necronomicon lives in the basement and always welcomes visitors especially if they have good taste.

On another note ... I've not read the Simon book but I have read The Necronomicon: The Wanderings of Al Hazred and that is an abomination and the writers deserves to be consumed by shogoths at the very least.

Some things were perhaps not meant to be dragged out into the light of day and dissected and explained to death or to life in this case. They belong to the shadowy world of twilight and that is where they can be best appreciated and understood.

I'd say the best way to get to know the tome, aside from visiting the basement, would be to read the Old Gent's works. There you'll get the feel for the book and its awful antiquity and the way it has affected people all down through the ages.

 

[brsrkrkomdy]

Hate to say this but, most of the Lovecraft stories don't always tell you everything about the dreaded tome other than it's a blasphemous book and not something to be trifled with unless you've taken leave of your sanity.

 

[j d worthington]

Hate to say this but, most of the Lovecraft stories don't always tell you everything about the dreaded tome other than it's a blasphemous book and not something to be trifled with unless you've taken leave of your sanity.

No... Lovecraft (like Chambers with the play The King in Yellow) knew that hints are much, much more effective than laying everything out there... especially with a book that is supposed to have such disturbing qualities (not necessarily making one mad; after all, I can't recall any of Lovecraft's characters who were actually driven mad by the Necronomicon or what they learned from it, though it did give them an understanding of reality that would forever set them apart from their fellows and leave them permanently shaken....

 

[brsrkrkomdy]

Yeah? Who said they were sane when they started tampering with the Cthulhuoid elements?

 

[GOLLUM]

The 'real' Necronomicon lives in the basement and always welcomes visitors especially if they have good taste.

HMM..looks like my secret has finally been discovered......

 

[Lobolover]

Simon-the one that links THEM to babylonian deities?

ugh

 

[Ningauble]

Simon-the one that links THEM to babylonian deities?

ugh

Yes, that's the one.

 

[Lobolover]

Then im not buying.Terrible fact is a local popular magazine about science, history and nature wrote a short paragraph about the Necronomicon-and they said it was portrayd in HPL's works to portray ways to summon up "ancient babylonian gods".

God im pissed at them.Also mad a fool out of me when I followed their info, cause they claimed Moses had hornes .

 

[Ningauble]

God im pissed at them.Also mad a fool out of me when I followed their info, cause they claimed Moses had hornes .

They are not actually COMPLETELY wrong. If you look at Michelangelo's famous statue of Moses, he has horns. This is because of a mistranscription in the version of the Bible common in Michelangelo's time, where "facies coronata" (radiant face) became "facies cornuta" (horned face). And because the Bible can't be wrong, artists then portrayed Moses with horns.

 

[Lobolover]

I know WHY it is,but they just didnt state the oposite.And seing a site who puts pseudo-quotes from wikipedia into their bellow-title description......

 

[Ningauble]

I know WHY it is,but they just didnt state the oposite.And seing a site who puts pseudo-quotes from wikipedia into their bellow-title description......

YUCK!!! You'd imagine they could come up with something of their own.

 

[Lobolover]

Last offtopic post:a good magazine,but since they changed the editor-in-chief, they became even MORE sketchy.

 

[nigourath]

Does anybody know about this H.R GIGER "NECRONOMICON" book ?All i know is its supposed to be somekind of artwork collection created by this guy Giger who after this work got the whole "Alien" movie -you know with sigurny weaver on the leading role- artwork package designing the unique creatures and environment of the film.It happens to be one of my favorite films and the same goes for "Alien 2" which ofcourse is based on his designs and visual effects as the first one.I think he also got an oscar too,but i couldnt believe his connection with necronomicon and lovecraft.
Upon searching i found his official site on the net but not much there worth downloading-the great stuff are locked since it's more of a commercial site.
Then i found this collection of his "necronomicon" images -created before his "alien" work-which completely amazed me.You should check it out in this link:
YouTube - Giger's Necronomicon slide-show
a great compilation of images(accompanied by this great dark music -one of the best youtube posts).You have to see this!
So what"s his connection with HPL ?Is there any?Does anybody here has a hint or something?Do you know anything,j.d?I must admit i have never seen anything like this before!Checking this youtube video i somehow get some otherworldly "LOVECTRAFTIAN VIBE" by it!Could i be so overwhelmed thinking that probably this is a perfectly lovecraftian infuenced modern artwork?And certainly they have a similarity to the creatures from the great ALIEN movie!Is it possible the ALIEN film and saga to be somehow part of the lovecraft influenced cinema?
I also remember the "ALIEN MOTHER" figure in the second film.I watched this film as a little kid then and her figure was the prime thing that stayed in my mind that first time!You know the "Queen alien " giant female creature spawning thousands of creature eggs at a relatively short time! When years later i saw that movie again somehow that name from the lovecraftian universe came to memory :"Shub-Nigurath" watching this alien queen laying more than a Thousand eggs and communicating with her alien subjects through somekind of telepathy or was it some weird kind of a hive mass consciousness thing?(At first i "disregarded" this thought a lot myself!!).What do you thing? Isnt this "black goat -mother of a thousand young" a worthy rendering of this alien hive queen?When i realize the similarity in this rendering i cant react differently but consider this:What could be the most
perfect symbolization in a film of Lovecraft"s own Shub-nigurath as it is scarcely well described in his novels as "mother of a thousand young" than this Mother Alien figure-who is the "Mother of a thousand eggs" laying in front of her?Blame me a movie-obssesed fan but i cant find a better Shub nigurath at least till today"s filming history!!(Ofcourse there are no woods in the alien films,....but still......) So upon my previous question is it possible that there was somekind of lovecraft influence in H .R GIGER"S mind when he was designing these astonishing creatures for Ridley Scott, the director of alien film or for the sequel,especially the alien queen?It certainly points that way to me!And what about necronomicon"s connection in this?Any ideas here?

 

[j d worthington]

nigourath: I'd not thought of the Alien queen in that light, but there just might be a such a connection. As I recall (I haven't had a copy of Giger's Necronomicon in nearly two decades, sadly), Giger was influenced -- or at least inspired -- by various things in Lovecraft. Certainly he was aware of him, and made reference to him here and there. And yes, Giger's art is definitely worth getting into. Exceptional work; one of the most impressive surrealist artists of the latter 20th century, Lovecraft connection or no....