Want to read some Lovecraft, where should I start?

[j d worthington]

*blush* Thank you both; though there was little (if anything) original to what I said on much of this (certainly with "Rats", one of his most studied stories); but he is a writer who repays multiple readings, providing deeper and deeper layers of interpretation and meaning with each read. In this, he seems to me much like Le Fanu. I recall, for instance, being particularly unimpressed with "Green Tea" on my first reading some 30+ years ago; but, drawn back to it by other things, I found it had grown considerably in the interim, and continues to do so, as the layers of thought, of the concepts he very subtly lays into the story, takes on more and more (and nastier) implications. This is true with a large portion of Le Fanu's work, and -- if only on that level (though I think there are others) this is something the two writers share.

 

[jowolf359]

I have been a reader of Lovecraft since I was a child in Emporia, KS. He is a wonderful writer and his stories are chilling, both his short stories and his longer stuff like At The Mountains of Madness. His poetry follows the same general chilling way of grabbing you and not turning you loose.

 

[j d worthington]

I have been a reader of Lovecraft since I was a child in Emporia, KS. He is a wonderful writer and his stories are chilling, both his short stories and his longer stuff like At The Mountains of Madness. His poetry follows the same general chilling way of grabbing you and not turning you loose.

Tell me about it. I first read HPL's work back in 1971, and haven't come one iota closer to getting loose yet!

Welcome to the Chrons, jowolf -- feel free to drop by the Introductions section and tell us a bit more about yourself... not to mention joining in (or starting) any good discussions of HPL (or other matters) you feel interested in....

 

[Voldemort]

I would recommend purchasing 'Tales of H.P.Lovecraft', it contains 10 stories which aren't longer than 50 pages. That was my beginning Lovecraft book, good luck! :]

 

[UnderTheOath]

Opinions on 'The Curse of Yig'?

I personally loved it. But he co-wrote it, correct?

 

[j d worthington]

Opinions on 'The Curse of Yig'?

I personally loved it. But he co-wrote it, correct?

Ummm, not really:

By the way -- if you want to see a new story which is practically mine, read The Curse of Yig in the new Weird Tales, next your [Clark Ashton Smith's] verses. The "authoress", Mrs. Reed is a client for whom [Frank Belknap] Long & I have done lots of work, & this specimen is well-nigh a piece of original composition on my part, since all I had to go by was a synopsis of notes describing a pioneer couple, the attack on the husband by snakes, the bursting of his corpse in the dark, & the subsequent madness of the wife. All the plot & motivation in the present tale are my own -- I invented the snake-god, the curse, the prologue & epilogue, the point about the identity of the corpse, & the monstrously suggestive aftermath. To all intents & purposes it's my story -- though not my latest, for I wrote The Dunwich Horror afterward.

-- Selected Letters II, pp. 29-30​

While it has some flaws, and occasional laxness in prose (something one finds now and again in his revision work, as opposed to his own original tales), it's a very fine tale of grisly horror, all right, and I find it retains a good deal of its power upon repeated readings....

 

[Lobolover]

Hmm.Anywhere would be good,I supose,though if youre a beginer,his lighter tales like "Celephais","The cats of Ulthar" or "The beast in the cave" or "The Alchemist",and if you wanna get the feel,then "Dagon" ,because if youve just started you have to get used to the mood beore digesting "Dexter Ward,The Mountains of Madness or Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath
(hardest to read or me,for I always strive till a certain point(chapter end) and there are no chapters here!)