The Call of Cthulhu - October 2017

[Leni]

Actually, Voytenko's violin version is freakier that his cello work. I guess there's a reason why all the film adaptations have used a violin rather than cello. It's easier to torment and sound tormented with a violin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAwSx...

[Kathleen]

Okay, Leni. You did it again. Color me tempted.

[Sue]

Kathleen wrote: "Okay, Leni. You did it again. Color me tempted."

Me too! I didn't watch the short film because I like to read a story first. I've added this one to my list.

[Renee]

This was my first Lovecraft story, and maybe I went in with my expectations set too high, but I just didn't get into the story at all. I found it boring. I kept waiting for something to happen, but not much did until the last few pages. For a short story, it seemed to go on forever. I do plan to read more of his works though.

[Terris]

Yes, it was pretty strange! So I was glad it was only a short story. However, since this is the first thing I've read by Lovecraft, I'm going to go ahead and read At the Mountains of Madness and see how I like it. I hate to judge an author on just one short story, even though I liked it okay. I'll let you know what I think! :)

[Suki]

Nikki wrote: "I just finished Call of Cthulu and I absolutely loved it. The scientific tone and building evidence to connect the pieces together into a story was right up my alley. I find the suggestions of horr..."
Yes! I completely agree with you. 😊

[Wreade1872]

Oh i forgot to mention that i noticed this odd similarity with Arthur Conan Doyles The Lost World. which seemed straight from Call of Cthulhu:
"I will tell, too, of the great nocturnal white thing—to this day we do not know whether it was beast or reptile—which lived in a vile swamp to the east of the lake, and flitted about with a faint phosphorescent glimmer in the darkness. The Indians were so terrified at it that they would not go near the place, and, though we twice made expeditions and saw it each time, we could not make our way through the deep marsh in which it lived. I can only say that it seemed to be larger than a cow and had the strangest musky odor."

This is just a throw away in Doyles book we never find out anything else about it.

[Milena]

Loretta wrote: "It bored me to sleep, so I'd say, go for it! 😜"

Ha ha ha Loretta! This is plainly speaking. :D
I cannot say this is one of my favourites either, although I enjoyed some parts.

[Milena]

Sue wrote: "I found it interesting from the anthropological perspective as well even though I'm not an anthropologist."

Same here, Sue. I found Legrasse’s tale a bit boring, whereas I enjoyed the narrator’s investigations.

[Milena]

Wreade1872 wrote: "...There's also three very funny parody films of Lovecraft stories here...."

Thanks Wreade! I enjoyed the parody films! I had read two stories: The Statement of Randolph Carter and Pickman's Model. The actor that appear in both stories is so funny!

[Milena]

Leni wrote: "when I get started on Lovecraft I do go on. And I haven't even said anything about the story specifically under discussion yet. :-/ .."

Thanks Leni, I enjoyed your post. When you feel like writing something else, please do go on.

[Milena]

Kathleen wrote: "I really enjoyed the idea of it, ..... Will definitely try more...."

Same here, Kathleen

[Tara]

I’m only about halfway through the story, but I personally LOVE that this is “weird fiction” (as someone said) rather than straight up horror. Turns out that I enjoy exploring the general concept of indescribable horrors much more than immersing myself in the details. And maybe it’s because I’m not a huge fan of stories of real awfulness that I’m also sort of enjoying the sometimes-laborious language. It all keeps anything truly terrible at a nice arm’s length, while allowing me to enjoy the mystery behind what’s being uncovered. Maybe I should’ve read some Lovecraft earlier after all.

[Bob, Short Story Classics]

I read this for the second time this past weekend. I felt, based on the discussion that I might have missed something, I haven’t changed my mind. It’s still not an enjoyable read and I don’t think I will attempt Lovecraft again. I did make a personal observation about the horror aspect of the story and that may be one of the reasons I wasn’t overly enamored with the story. To me the narrator came off as being hysterical not horrified.

[- Jared -]

Sorry, I'm a bit late to the conversation. H.P. Lovecraft almost has this tendency to over describe everything to the point where there is very little in the way of suspense or action that leaves you feeling the fear or horror that, I assume, it's intended to convey. I think the part that was suppose to be scary was in the The Call of Cthulhu is 'the fear of the unknown' and of course the mind control or madness that the Cthul-liens invoked on their human victims. These seem to be common themes for Lovecraft, that and Science Vs Humanity, Natural Vs SuperNatural, and The Grandeur of the Universe vs The Insignificance of Humanity.

For me these themes don't inspire fear, horror, or suspense, but they do inspire wonder, intrigue, and imagination. Perhaps it can be attributed to a difference our the times in what style is found by readers to be scary. Perhaps in Lovecraft's era, these were scary books but today we like other themes. What tends to invoke fear in today's books is in the possible injury to the safety and happiness of charatoris in the books/movies. It is better done when we feel an emotional investment and interest in the protagonists or other innocents in the book and with action sense in the present. So, perhaps by yesterday's standards or Zeitgeist these were fearful books but by today's they seems rather lame.

Still, once you read it you can't help but appreciate the language. I always think that his short stories would make a great preface to a novel or that they could be expanded into one. Some of his writings that did inspire a little fear and horror in me, like At the Mountains of Madness because of the malicious Aliens, along with a few others but not any great degree of fear. However, this one -for me, didn't invoke the feelings that I assume were intended. Nevertheless, I personally liked the story and the way it was written.

I think the ideas and imagination of Lovecraft were amazing and definitely original for his time but the story's telling lacks the quality of a timeless horror, in the aspect of fear for the safety of the protagonist, then again that is part of what makes it so... well, Lovecraft. Given his ideas and imagination no one can deny the extensive impact Lovecraft has had on various Fiction such as Sci-Fi, Horror, Thrillers, etc. Just gotta 'Love' his 'Craft'! :D (Sorry couldn't help myself).

[- Jared -]

Catching up....

Suki wrote: "I guess I'm in the minority here, but I really enjoyed rereading Call of Cthulhu. I like all of Lovecraft's works-- I guess it's that creeping sense of dread thing. I'm also a big fan of Poe, Mache..."

Then I suppose I'm among the minority too. I'll have to look into those other writers you mentioned.
Thanks!

Leni wrote: "Lovecraft liked Machen's work and gives a nod to him (and to Algernon Blackwood) in a few stories. He borrowed freely from others, but also encouraged others to borrow from him. In a letter to Augu..."

Great comment! I love your insights and analysis! I really like Lovecraft myself despite that I don't find it real scary.

Leni wrote: "..so whatever your stance on horror, cosmic horror, or Lovecraft's writing style, he should be of interest as a matter of literary history..."

Agreed!

Nente wrote: "I felt very uneasy about the idea that something is horrible and repulsive, only and precisely because that something is not human but different."

Good point. Coming from a Trekkie background, I'd feel compelled to agree. There seems to be more to gain form cooperation than fighting.

Then again, some scientist and psychologists argue that aliens would probably have very little regard for humanity and only have the most malicious intents. They may instead just want to take what they could from us and expolite and terraform our planet to their own liking. I really like the book The Three-Body Problem and how it dove deep into that subject.

[Mark]

Tara wrote: "I’m only about halfway through the story, but I personally LOVE that this is “weird fiction” (as someone said) rather than straight up horror. Turns out that I enjoy exploring the general concept o..."
My only experience with Lovecraft is his Mountains of Madness which I thought was terrific!

[Tara]

After finishing the story, I agree that it's not very scary at all. I will own up to a complete failure of imagination on my part, but I couldn't help picturing the action in terms of old monster movies ... which wasn't terribly terrifying. Maybe it's language like "slavered and gibbered" or "went mad, laughing shrilly in intervals."

What's really lacking horror-wise is a sense of jeopardy about any character that the reader cares deeply about. (Or even just the existence of any character that the reader cares deeply about, perhaps.) We don't hear much about about the horror affecting sweet innocents ... but as I mentioned before, personally I'm fine with that.

The part I really do like is the glimpse into the world of the creatures. We hear just secondhand accounts of them and their mythos, and Lovecraft implies that they in turn are just a taste of the strangeness out there beyond our awareness. The vast weird unknown is intriguing. I assume Lovecraft's other stories explore more of that unknown?

[Terris]

Mark wrote: "Tara wrote: "I’m only about halfway through the story, but I personally LOVE that this is “weird fiction” (as someone said) rather than straight up horror. Turns out that I enjoy exploring the gene..."

I'm so glad you said Mountains of Madness is terrific -- I'm getting ready to start it :)

[Mark]

Cool! - )

[Macala]

As a few people have already said about themselves, I too am in the minority, since I enjoyed this story very much. I didn't find it scary at all, but I especially found the description of the island vivid enough for my imagination to picture. I have never read anything of Lovecraft prior to this, but now I am interested in reading more. However, I must say that if the story was too much longer I might not have been interested in finishing it. There were definite places where it seemed to drag on at this length.

[Elisandra]

It was my first readings by Lovecraft and I am kind of disappointed. Maybe I will read another book by him to be sure he is not my cup of tea. :-)

[Rosemarie]

I enjoyed the story, but didn't love it. I liked it because it was weird, not scary, since I am not a big fan of horror. I plan on reading At the Mountains of Madness next.

[Tara]

Yes, I'll put At the Mountains of Madness on my list as well.

[Jen]

I feel really bad for writing a negative review :( but this just wasn't for me!
I think maybe I was expecting this to be better than other Lovecraft stories, but it wound up being my least favourite piece of his writing.
I remember giving a very positive review when I read my first Lovecraft short story, based on the beautiful individual sentences and overall atmosphere he constructed, but this just wasn't the best example of that.

Also I agree with Loretta re: Poe vs. Lovecraft...I'd pick Poe every time, I love Poe ^^"

Here's the review I posted:

I think its fair to say I didn't enjoy this, which is odd, because I love all kinds of modern takes on Lovecraft's work, I was honestly expecting to enjoy this.

One of my issues is that Lovecraft is repetative, once you've read one of his stories (and I've read a few), there's really no point in reading any more. I thought that this, his most famous tale, might be different but sadly it wasn't.

Some of the more famous lines from this story have made their way into modern stories, games etc. so I'm glad I read it to help me understand these references; there's also some beautiful individual sentences. I don't think that made up for the dated morality, unquestioned racism and overall boring stilted style.

2.5 stars from me, and that's being generous

[Hilary]

Well, what can I say? I thought that his writing ranged from dull to very creative. He had me and then he lost me, the whole way through. The ending was really good and did make me think more positively of the whole story. Does anyone know if the ending is intended to have a particularly ominous thrust?

[Hayley]

Lovecraft's dead so he doesn't mind. Don't feel bad about negative reviews. You feel what you feel. That's all.

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Leni wrote: "Lovecraft liked Machen's work and gives a nod to him (and to Algernon Blackwood) in a few stories. He borrowed freely from others, but also encouraged others to borrow from him. In a letter to Augu..."


I am reading old threads again! LOL Leni this is pure lyricism:

I find that Lovecraft is at his best where he fuses the lyricism of a Dunsany dreamscape with the gritty despair of Poe. Honestly though, whatever the influences on Lovecraft's style, what he did in contents was a complete break with tradition. Horror would generally be human centric. Humanity vs science, humanity vs supernatural monsters etc. In Lovecraft humanity is insignificant. We can easily get squashed. We are so limited that if the universe takes notice of us, we wither and gibber under its regard. His characters are basically staring into the abyss and go mad when the abyss stares back. This is cosmic horror.