Define Appertaining To Books Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (The H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus)
| Title | : | Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (The H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus) |
| Author | : | H.P. Lovecraft |
| Book Format | : | Hardcover |
| Book Edition | : | Fifth Arkham House printing |
| Pages | : | Pages: 448 pages |
| Published | : | October 28th 1986 by Arkham House Publishers, Inc. (first published 1965) |
| Categories | : | Horror. Fiction. Short Stories. Fantasy. Weird Fiction |
H.P. Lovecraft
Hardcover | Pages: 448 pages Rating: 4.21 | 4881 Users | 119 Reviews
Narrative As Books Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (The H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus)
Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list.
Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front.
I hated this book.
I mean, I really hated this book.
Which took me by surprise because I quite liked the first in this series, Omnibus 1: At the Mountains of Madness and Other Tales of Terror and was expecting more of the same here. I didn't find it.
Omnibus 1 collects Lovecraft's longer works, and these are goods. Given a proper plot to hang a few thousand words around, Lovecraft crafted some wonderfully tense, creepy tales, where the horror is hinted at more than seen directly. That is a book I can recommend.
Omnibus 2 collects Lovecraft's shorter works, and these are not so good. There are a few gems amongst the collection, but you have to trawl through a great deal of dross to unearth them. And because the stories are presented in chronological order, and Lovecraft undoubtedly improved with age, you have to wade through many of the weakest stories first.
What got to me the most is the repetition. I'm not a huge fan of short stories, but I've been impressed by collections by Miéville and Murakami which explore a diverse range of subjects and/or styles between their covers. This is not an approach Lovecraft embraces. He had a very narrow idea about what sort of atmosphere he wanted to evoke, and every piece of work is a different attempt to achieve the same ends. It gets repetitive. And after reading dozens of repetitive short stories in quick succession you start to feel the patterns emerging, the recurring underlying world-view - let's be frank; the racism. It's something I can attribute to the era, and set aside my objections to enjoy an individual story, but on mass like this it becomes distasteful... and then repellent.
The 'early works' and 'partial fragments' weren't worth it. As for the extensive essay which concludes Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (yes, I read every page because I'm frakking stubborn about finishing books once I've committed to them) - unless you're a serious student of Lovecraft-esque weird - just don't bother. There are no humorous little anecdotes to carry you through it; it's a dry, dated, (dull) and opinionated history of horror.
Do you know the best feeling about finishing this book?
"Thank frak that's over."
Now - get this book out of my house - donate it to the charity shop this second - maybe someone else will find inspiration where I found naught but drudgery and despair.
After this I read: Let the Right One In 
Point Books To Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (The H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus)
| Original Title: | Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (The H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus, #2) |
| ISBN: | 0870540394 (ISBN13: 9780870540394) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | The H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus, Mitos de Cthulhu #I |
| Characters: | Herbert West |
Rating Appertaining To Books Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (The H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus)
Ratings: 4.21 From 4881 Users | 119 ReviewsWrite-Up Appertaining To Books Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (The H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus)
The second book in the Omnibus series collects shorter (and lesser known) works. It is a very mixed bag with some real gems and some pretty awful stories. It also contains the only HPL story I've ever read that is almost pure sci-fi.There is an essay on horror at the end, which doesn't really seem to fit the book at all. That being said it is a treasure trove of earlier horror authors and works.Collection of short weird fiction by one of the master and pillars of the genre: H.P. Lovecraft. It includes stories ranging from Juvenilia to some of his most acclaimed works. They also vary in themes, from urban horror (He) to pure phantasy (The Quest of Iranon, The White Ship) and even sci-fi (In the Walls of Eryx, crafted in collaboration with Kenneth J. Sterling and being the only sci-fi story Lovecraft ever published) or mythology (The Tree). Of course, it also includes some of the best
The second in an omnibus trilogy I purchased, containing the complete stories of H. P. Lovecraft. DAGON AND OTHER MACABRE TALES collects together all of his shortest stories in a single, weighty volume. There are no less than 36 tales collected here, along with the excellent non-fiction essay, 'Supernatural Horror in Literature'.Some highlights:DAGON, inevitably. The tale has collected lots of critics over time, but I find it the quintessential Cthulhu story. The ending still captures a sense of
A mixed bag of tales: the best are Poe-like evocations of atmospheric eeriness; the worst are either repetitive or silly.
Reading these by the end of the evening and curling into a deep sleep, made my worlds from the other side of conscious richer, so I could understand them better after I wake up. Big thanks to H.P., showing me places I never knew I've always wanted to visit.
One of Lovecraft's earlier stories, and the first one mentioning one of the so-called Elder Gods who become part of his "Cthulhu mythos."It's very short and full of the windy prose Lovecraft is famous for. A sailor whose cargo ship was sunk by a U-boat (this being World War I) is captured by Germans but escapes, and after falling asleep, wakes up on a big black slimy island that's apparently just been heaved up from the bottom of the ocean by a volcano. He hikes over the island until he
Imagery, Imagery, imagery!
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