World Famous Comics: H. P. Lovecraft: Tales (Library of America)
H. P. Lovecraft: Tales (Library of America)
By: H. P. Lovecraft Publisher: Library of America Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Library of America Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 850 Publication Date: February 03, 2005 Release Date: February 03, 2005
Cthulhu Fhtagn! While this collection is by no means perfect, it is the second best out there*. I'm not gonna go into detail about Lovecraft, plenty of reviews have done that, but I'll just say everyone I've tried to get into Lovecraft, even if it took some time, grew to like him, or at the very least appreciate him. While I won't tell you to go straight out and buy this book, at least rent it from the library, or any of his books, and read a few stories and see what you think. People have complained about some of the stories Peter Straub chose, but I like that he tried to show his different styles throughout his career. *I recently discovered, to my surprise and delight, and Barnes and Noble hardback that contains Lovecraft's complete fiction. It's large, beautiful, thread bound, and the cover price is only $12.95. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure you couldn't buy it from here, you'd have to get it from Barnes and Noble, but I feel to those Lovecraft fans who haven't discovered it, they should be told about it.
Excellent mix of Horror and Sci-fi One should know right off the bat some things about H.P. Lovecrafts works:
It is incredibly descriptive of environments. There is virtually no character development. It is horror from a scientist's perspective.
That there is no real character development may seem like a criticism, but in this case it's really not. The main theme of Lovecraft's work is the utter futility of man against cosmic forces that aren't malevolent towards them as much as indifferent or at the very best a little curious. Humanity is just a little blip in the universe, who were surpassed before their existence by interplanetary beings, many of which are still alive and simply sleeping. Humanity will die and be succeeded by another species, as is told by many of the characters who state their travels through time, switching minds with creatures horrible by human comprehension.
Most everything seemingly supernatural has its origins in beings that exist in other planets, other dimensions(some of which criss cross our own), and have knowledge of warped mathematics that are completely contrary to the euclidean framefork human beings are so accustomed to.
What's most interesting is his mythos of the Old Ones, Cthulhu, and the Necronomicon of the Mad Abdul Al Hazared(what a great name!). The short storuies piece themselves into a whole that speaks volumes of the long dead civilizations and the terror experience at encounters with them.
At The Mountains of Madness is the high point in this collection, but most of the stories as a whole are entertaining, if overly verbose at times. some of the stories feel a little repetitive, but one must remember there 800 pages of short stories here, so there's certainly going to be a little overlap.
Why did they put the Reanimator story in this collection? Egads was that terrible. Even Lovecraft himself explicitly stated it was bad. Other than that, a good collection that avoids the silly slasher gore of most modern horror.
Most Magnificent Collection of Scientific Minded Horror and Prose. This book, is one of the finest I have ever had the pleasure to read. For example, just this year, less than two months into it, I have read over 20 long and complex books. This is the finest, not only of this year, but of every year of my lifetime. I am 30, and am a student of literature, and writing.
Specifically, I have had much experience with masters of fiction, often self-proclaimed 'disciples of cthulhu mythos' fiction, too.
Until now, I have only briefly been engaged with Lovecraft. It took the Library of America, and its superb craft book, to bring me full-force-frontal with the genius that is Lovecraft. Rest his soul!
A poem for Lovecraft;
So fine a writer, superb and leaden with universe and time, inspired this and many others, so long and forever after his own life has drawn to a close.
amazing prose, man
It is exactly what it claims to be. This 800+ page volume is exactly what it says it is. A vast collection of H.P. Lovecraft's works from various points of his career. Some are bad, some are good. Some have obvious endings, and others are very difficult to follow, owing to the myriad mental journeys of the main characters.
If you're looking for 1 novel that will pretty much define the author, this would do it. Stories that inspired the board game 'Arkham Horror' and its numerous expansions are in here (Call of Cthulu, the Dunwich Horror, and others), which is why I picked it up.
As for the actual stories themselves, I will warn you, the words used are incredibly esoteric and archaic. If you do not immediately know the definitions of the following words (picked at random from the 50 or so words in the first 5 stories I've read with which I was not originally familiar), you'll be spending a lot of time looking things up:
I consider myself fairly erudite, but reading these stories is slow going, and unless you're simply planning skip every 10th word, be prepared to learn a lot more English!
Still, I would recommend this collection to anyone who wanted a small (3/4") hard bound collection of H.P. Lovecraft stories. The pages themselves are tissue-paper thin, and when you receive it, you'll probably think you got ripped off because it is so compact!
Outstanding, first-rate collection I recommend purchasing this item. The collection is the best of its kind. It gathers together 22 of his best-known stories, including some that, while not well-known, deserve more attention (e.g., The Horror at Red Hook, He). The editor is the author, Peter Straub, and his notes are informative and not excessive. The binding and pages are excellent for the low price as one would expect from a Library of America volume. If you have only room on your book shelves for one Lovecraft, this should be it.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Trevor
