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3.49 AVERAGE
3.49 AVERAGE
It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth's dark, dead corners and umplumbed depths be let alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests.
This novella, bordering between sci-fi and horror, describes an expedition to Antarctica, where a group of men is supposed to analyze the ground. However, their findings are much more mysterious and dark than they had suspected. I won't give away any more, because that could potentially ruin parts of the story. The story itself was incredibly intriguing, and the narrative was so well-executed in many ways. I was so curious to find out what would be next (granted, it deals with one of my favourite tropes), and loved the way Lovecraft placed this both within his own mythos, as well as in the contexts of some other, actual works, taking intertextuality to a whole other level. He made other stories part of this one, changing them through his own, and I was really impressed by that. In addition, I loved how it played with what makes horror actually scary: you just don't know what's out there. The scientific context of this one really elevated this theme - science could just discover anything, and it would change EVERYTHING. What if we did discover some mysterious remains of something-or-other right now, that would not be possible in our current scientific paradigm? In principal, (and to a certain extent, in reality), this is possible. It has literally happened. Dinosaurs would've been WILD before their discovery, and electricity! Whoo. Lovecraft just completely grabs fear of the unknown, and connects it to reality in no way I've ever seen done before. I'm amazed.
This would have been perfect, had it not been for the writing. I'm not sure what exactly it is, but I just could not get through it. Maybe it was just too descriptive, maybe the sentences were just structured wrong for me, but it took me a solid 7.5 hours to read this 123 page novella. How? Why? I've read 300-page novels in just half an hours more.
Spoilers ahead:
Something that did stand out to me, though, was the following section:
Radiates, vegetables, monstrosities, star-spawn - whatever they had been, they were men!
Not to be nit-picky, but, erm, why is Lovecraft able to humanize these alien creatures because they had art and culture, but not, like, able to see people of colour as humans? How can you be so open-minded about made-up monsters, but be so racist and xenophobic at the same time?
This novella, bordering between sci-fi and horror, describes an expedition to Antarctica, where a group of men is supposed to analyze the ground. However, their findings are much more mysterious and dark than they had suspected. I won't give away any more, because that could potentially ruin parts of the story. The story itself was incredibly intriguing, and the narrative was so well-executed in many ways. I was so curious to find out what would be next (granted, it deals with one of my favourite tropes), and loved the way Lovecraft placed this both within his own mythos, as well as in the contexts of some other, actual works, taking intertextuality to a whole other level. He made other stories part of this one, changing them through his own, and I was really impressed by that. In addition, I loved how it played with what makes horror actually scary: you just don't know what's out there. The scientific context of this one really elevated this theme - science could just discover anything, and it would change EVERYTHING. What if we did discover some mysterious remains of something-or-other right now, that would not be possible in our current scientific paradigm? In principal, (and to a certain extent, in reality), this is possible. It has literally happened. Dinosaurs would've been WILD before their discovery, and electricity! Whoo. Lovecraft just completely grabs fear of the unknown, and connects it to reality in no way I've ever seen done before. I'm amazed.
This would have been perfect, had it not been for the writing. I'm not sure what exactly it is, but I just could not get through it. Maybe it was just too descriptive, maybe the sentences were just structured wrong for me, but it took me a solid 7.5 hours to read this 123 page novella. How? Why? I've read 300-page novels in just half an hours more.
Spoilers ahead:
Radiates, vegetables, monstrosities, star-spawn - whatever they had been, they were men!
Not to be nit-picky, but, erm, why is Lovecraft able to humanize these alien creatures because they had art and culture, but not, like, able to see people of colour as humans? How can you be so open-minded about made-up monsters, but be so racist and xenophobic at the same time?
At the Mountains of Madness was my first foray into Lovecraft. I’ve long been aware of the various cultural adoptions of the writer’s work- the Cthulu Mythos, the Necronomicon, etc.- but I had never actually read any of his short stories of novellas. For the sake of deeper pop cultural understanding I took the plunge.
…And it was not really what I expected.
Praised as a master of Horror and a revolutionary in the field, I expected more from this work, which serves as an introduction to many of his invented beings and concepts. The modern concept of what is shocking and scary has perhaps spoiled my mind to this story that was published 80 years ago. I do not mean to say that the story lacked disturbing elements, just that it was with a pace and prose that dulled some of the actual horrors being articulately described.
While I was a little underwhelmed by those genre elements, and overwhelmed by the ultra-descriptive verbiage (which surprised me for something originally published in a pulp magazine), I was quite impressed by the amount of mythology building that such a short story could accomplish. At the Mountains of Madness is essentially a story in two parts- the retelling of the public’s perception of a doomed Antarctic expedition, and then an account of what really happened. It is told from the perspective of a survivor, baring his secrets for the first time in order to dissuade a new expedition from treading the horrible ground he had walked on.
During the first half that narrator, William Dyer, drops references to Lovecraft’s invented mythology as if it were common knowledge to the entire world. It would be like if people today had this casual cultural knowledge of not just the Greek myths and the Egyptian civilizations, but the Necronomicon and all that it inspired as well. These asides and observations felt very natural and ingrained within the understanding of every learned person.
The first half was tense and fascinating, an archaeological and geological mystery unfolding before these scientists. With a brief background in archaeology myself, my inner natural historian was intrigued and perplexed along with the fictional explorers. You know something is wrong, but the exact nature of the situation is mysterious and obscured.
The second half, where that fictional mythology moves out of legend and into something else entirely, was interesting on its own, though less urgent and mysterious. The reader is no longer left with a million questions about the tragic expedition, they are instead told a very exact, unambiguous history. The tension is lost as a result of the matter-of-fact exposition. That same tension returns at the end, but by that point the slow, descriptive, almost over-explanation has taken away much of the shock value.
I understand the purpose of that description- Lovecraft’s desire to cement more of his fictional universe. That narrative choice was valuable from that perspective, giving me a better understanding and baseline for the mythology that has inspired movies, games, and music for the better part of a century. It is for that point that I would recommend this novella. On its own it is not the world’s most amazing work of science fiction or horror, but when considered as part of the Lovecraftian whole, with everything that that has influenced, it is a read that I am glad I undertook.
…And it was not really what I expected.
Praised as a master of Horror and a revolutionary in the field, I expected more from this work, which serves as an introduction to many of his invented beings and concepts. The modern concept of what is shocking and scary has perhaps spoiled my mind to this story that was published 80 years ago. I do not mean to say that the story lacked disturbing elements, just that it was with a pace and prose that dulled some of the actual horrors being articulately described.
While I was a little underwhelmed by those genre elements, and overwhelmed by the ultra-descriptive verbiage (which surprised me for something originally published in a pulp magazine), I was quite impressed by the amount of mythology building that such a short story could accomplish. At the Mountains of Madness is essentially a story in two parts- the retelling of the public’s perception of a doomed Antarctic expedition, and then an account of what really happened. It is told from the perspective of a survivor, baring his secrets for the first time in order to dissuade a new expedition from treading the horrible ground he had walked on.
During the first half that narrator, William Dyer, drops references to Lovecraft’s invented mythology as if it were common knowledge to the entire world. It would be like if people today had this casual cultural knowledge of not just the Greek myths and the Egyptian civilizations, but the Necronomicon and all that it inspired as well. These asides and observations felt very natural and ingrained within the understanding of every learned person.
The first half was tense and fascinating, an archaeological and geological mystery unfolding before these scientists. With a brief background in archaeology myself, my inner natural historian was intrigued and perplexed along with the fictional explorers. You know something is wrong, but the exact nature of the situation is mysterious and obscured.
The second half, where that fictional mythology moves out of legend and into something else entirely, was interesting on its own, though less urgent and mysterious. The reader is no longer left with a million questions about the tragic expedition, they are instead told a very exact, unambiguous history. The tension is lost as a result of the matter-of-fact exposition. That same tension returns at the end, but by that point the slow, descriptive, almost over-explanation has taken away much of the shock value.
I understand the purpose of that description- Lovecraft’s desire to cement more of his fictional universe. That narrative choice was valuable from that perspective, giving me a better understanding and baseline for the mythology that has inspired movies, games, and music for the better part of a century. It is for that point that I would recommend this novella. On its own it is not the world’s most amazing work of science fiction or horror, but when considered as part of the Lovecraftian whole, with everything that that has influenced, it is a read that I am glad I undertook.
A pretty cool concept (I read this on a tip from a review of the books that The Thing is based on) but at times it was a bit repetitive and written in a dull way.
A clearly superior adaptation on the overwritten, classic mess that is Mountains of Madness.
The art is lovely, the pacing is good, the story left only the good parts and took away Lovecraft's abomination of a prose. All-around success.
The art is lovely, the pacing is good, the story left only the good parts and took away Lovecraft's abomination of a prose. All-around success.
H.P. Lovecraft excels in creating an atmosphere of fear and he deserves his reputation as he primarily created cosmic terror. Lovecraft's use of adjectives to create a move is superb, though bordering on wordy at points. I also read his essay on the supernatural in literature, and it serves as an interesting anthology of supernatural stories and the fact the essay begins with his most famous quote, the essay is very tedious at points (with certain exceptions of inspired insight and artistry).
Less than a fortnight later we left the last hint of polar land behind us, and thanked heaven that we were clear of a haunted, accursed realm where life and death, space and time, have made black and blasphemous alliances in the unknown epochs since matter first writhed and swam on the planet's scarce-cooked crust.
Certain things, we had agreed, were not for people to know and discuss lightly--and I would not speak of them now but for the need of heading off that Starkweather-Moore Expedition, and others, at any cost. It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth's dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be let alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests.
At the Mountains of Madness is all about setting and atmosphere. Our narrator does not dwell on conversation or action. This is not a thriller, not a page-turner. It's all about the wind moaning through mountain flutes and horrible smells rising from dark pits.
Let's address the Cthulhu in the room: How can an entire polar expedition team be so well-versed in paranormal lore and mythology? Passing through some darkened ruins with a flashlight, the narrator and his sidekick Danforth are able to decipher alien hieroglyphics, providing rich descriptions of the chronology of the Elder Ones' time on Earth before mankind began. We have difficulty determining whether or not the Mayans were predicting the end of the world; here a geologist and a graduate assistant wander a few hours in some corridors and discern which murals represent the height of the civilization and which the decline while understanding the historical message of each. It's a stretch, as more than a few Goodreads reviewers here point out.
But consider this: The title is "At the Mountains of Madness." The narrator, rattling off all this information about wars between Elder Ones, Cthulhu cultures, and Abominable Snowmen, suffers from madness. His graduate assistant, Danforth, is insane; why should we trust the narrator is the voice of calm and reason? Face it, our narrator is not anchored in the real world. He insists everyone knows the lore he is referring to, lore substantiated on alien walls:
Dyer and Pabodie have read Necronomicon and seen Clark Ashton Smith's nightmare paintings based on text, and will understand when I speak of Elder Things supposed to have created all earth-life as jest or mistake.
Really? Dyer and Pabodie are well-versed in paranormal lore? Pabodie, by the way, is the engineer who designed the drill used by the polar exploration team. He may have a side-hobby poring over the Necronomicon, but I seriously wonder. Then the narrator, reading corridor signs, drops this one:
Another race--a land race of beings shaped like octopi and probably corresponding to the fabulous pre-human spawn of Cthulhu--soon began filtering down from cosmic infinity and precipitated a monstrous war which for a time drove the Old Ones wholly back to the sea--a colossal blow in view of the increasing land settlements.
I would love to see the mural that clearly conveys this information--but I don't think it exists. I think the narrator is insane. Since the expedition, he has delved into this lore and is now using it to brace his argument. Did something happen in those polar mountains? Of course--people and dogs died exploring these mountains. Is the narrator reliable? I don't think so.
Without the belief the narrator is unreliable, Lovecraft is a horrid writer rather than a horror writer. Nothing about this story is believable if we accept the narrator's story as unbiased fact. If, rather, we take this story as the ravings of someone driven to madness--and accept something extraordinary occurred to the narrator to drive him there--then the story makes a lot more sense and is more unsettling.
Certain things, we had agreed, were not for people to know and discuss lightly--and I would not speak of them now but for the need of heading off that Starkweather-Moore Expedition, and others, at any cost. It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth's dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be let alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests.
At the Mountains of Madness is all about setting and atmosphere. Our narrator does not dwell on conversation or action. This is not a thriller, not a page-turner. It's all about the wind moaning through mountain flutes and horrible smells rising from dark pits.
Let's address the Cthulhu in the room: How can an entire polar expedition team be so well-versed in paranormal lore and mythology? Passing through some darkened ruins with a flashlight, the narrator and his sidekick Danforth are able to decipher alien hieroglyphics, providing rich descriptions of the chronology of the Elder Ones' time on Earth before mankind began. We have difficulty determining whether or not the Mayans were predicting the end of the world; here a geologist and a graduate assistant wander a few hours in some corridors and discern which murals represent the height of the civilization and which the decline while understanding the historical message of each. It's a stretch, as more than a few Goodreads reviewers here point out.
But consider this: The title is "At the Mountains of Madness." The narrator, rattling off all this information about wars between Elder Ones, Cthulhu cultures, and Abominable Snowmen, suffers from madness. His graduate assistant, Danforth, is insane; why should we trust the narrator is the voice of calm and reason? Face it, our narrator is not anchored in the real world. He insists everyone knows the lore he is referring to, lore substantiated on alien walls:
Dyer and Pabodie have read Necronomicon and seen Clark Ashton Smith's nightmare paintings based on text, and will understand when I speak of Elder Things supposed to have created all earth-life as jest or mistake.
Really? Dyer and Pabodie are well-versed in paranormal lore? Pabodie, by the way, is the engineer who designed the drill used by the polar exploration team. He may have a side-hobby poring over the Necronomicon, but I seriously wonder. Then the narrator, reading corridor signs, drops this one:
Another race--a land race of beings shaped like octopi and probably corresponding to the fabulous pre-human spawn of Cthulhu--soon began filtering down from cosmic infinity and precipitated a monstrous war which for a time drove the Old Ones wholly back to the sea--a colossal blow in view of the increasing land settlements.
I would love to see the mural that clearly conveys this information--but I don't think it exists. I think the narrator is insane. Since the expedition, he has delved into this lore and is now using it to brace his argument. Did something happen in those polar mountains? Of course--people and dogs died exploring these mountains. Is the narrator reliable? I don't think so.
Without the belief the narrator is unreliable, Lovecraft is a horrid writer rather than a horror writer. Nothing about this story is believable if we accept the narrator's story as unbiased fact. If, rather, we take this story as the ravings of someone driven to madness--and accept something extraordinary occurred to the narrator to drive him there--then the story makes a lot more sense and is more unsettling.
I decided to read this book after reading and enjoying "The cal of Cthulhu" by the same author.
••••
This story is told by Dr.William Dyer, who tells the details of his expedition to the Antarctic continent, and the ancient ruins he and his group discovered there, and the horrible and dangerous things they encountered there, in hope to prevent another expedition from happening.
••••
The story is interesting but was hard to read mostly because of scientific terms and amount of details in the made it a bit boring.
I found myself confused throughout the book and unable to understand some things.. not to mention that it was a bit hard to imagine the "creatures" they found there.
But overall the book was not bad, and I liked the albino penguins :)
••••
This story is told by Dr.William Dyer, who tells the details of his expedition to the Antarctic continent, and the ancient ruins he and his group discovered there, and the horrible and dangerous things they encountered there, in hope to prevent another expedition from happening.
••••
The story is interesting but was hard to read mostly because of scientific terms and amount of details in the made it a bit boring.
I found myself confused throughout the book and unable to understand some things.. not to mention that it was a bit hard to imagine the "creatures" they found there.
But overall the book was not bad, and I liked the albino penguins :)
Tenía muchas ganas de comenzar a leer a este autor, sobre todo por lo que había escuchado de su terror cósmico y las criaturas dentro de su imaginario. Pero pasó que mientras iba leyendo el libro era sobre todo descripciones de montañas y realmente lo monstruoso que estaba esperando era un porcentaje mucho menor.
El libro sigue a una expedición de científicos que sale horriblemente mal, descubren túneles creados por los Antiguos (seres anteriores a los humanos) y creo que se concentraron mucho más en la descripción de tales ruinas y de las montañas que de lo que realmente me estaba interesando: las curiosas muertes, lo ocurrido en su base, las criaturas encontradas, etc.
No sé si era yo que me estaba distrayendo mucho en el momento de la lectura, pero se me hacía difícil conectar un poco con lo que estaba pasando, aunque tengo que decir que las descripciones me encantaron y me gustó muchísimo la localización de la obra: la Antártica. Siento que todo quedaba mucho más tenebroso y ayudaba a la ambientación. Sin embargo, que el protagonista y quien cuenta la historia haya sido un científico hizo que, obviamente, se concentrara en describir mucho el ambiente y las cuevas y montañas, cuando mi atención estaba en la acción que a veces quedaba en segundo plano.
El libro sigue a una expedición de científicos que sale horriblemente mal, descubren túneles creados por los Antiguos (seres anteriores a los humanos) y creo que se concentraron mucho más en la descripción de tales ruinas y de las montañas que de lo que realmente me estaba interesando: las curiosas muertes, lo ocurrido en su base, las criaturas encontradas, etc.
No sé si era yo que me estaba distrayendo mucho en el momento de la lectura, pero se me hacía difícil conectar un poco con lo que estaba pasando, aunque tengo que decir que las descripciones me encantaron y me gustó muchísimo la localización de la obra: la Antártica. Siento que todo quedaba mucho más tenebroso y ayudaba a la ambientación. Sin embargo, que el protagonista y quien cuenta la historia haya sido un científico hizo que, obviamente, se concentrara en describir mucho el ambiente y las cuevas y montañas, cuando mi atención estaba en la acción que a veces quedaba en segundo plano.
dark
tense