“There came to that room wild streams of violet midnight glittering with dust of gold; vortices of dust and fire, swirling out of the ultimate spaces and heavy with perfumes from beyond the worlds.”
(Azathoth, pg.214)
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“Azathoth”
The intro lets us know that this was just a “fragment of a projected novel.” It sounded as though Lovecraft had plans and so forth, but for whatever reason never ended up doing it. Instead we got a slew more short stories. Which is fine. I wonder what a full novel would have been like, since this is yet another – or would have been another – tale of a man doing some dream traveling, seeking something more and beautiful than the world he lives in currently. I suppose to get any kind of idea I’d have to read Vathek by William Beckford, something Lovecraft read about and mentioned when discussing this piece.
Funny side note, though, I’d just finished watching Blade Runner 2049, and as I began reading, this initial part very much reminded me of the world we see in the movie:
“When age fell upon the world, and wonder went out of the minds of men; when grey cities reared to smoky skies tall towers grim and ugly, in whose shadow none might dream of the sun or of spring’s flowering meads; when learning stripped earth of her mantle of beauty […]”
Indeed, for a moment we step out of dark fantasy and horror (well, almost), and into science fiction. As for humans, we’re always mucking up the planet to these extremes, aren’t we?
“The story features two men, St. John and the narrator, who have a fascination for grave digging and robbing, an occupation that came about due to their deep and seemingly unending ennui. Who knew? But one night they dig up someone and take from the skeletal corpse a jade amulet which proves to be their downfall.
In the intro, Joshi writes, “As an exercise in grisliness, it would be difficult to surpass.” Considering what past stories have contained thus far, he’s not wrong. Lovecraft goes into great detail about how much these two gentlemen enjoy what they do, how they’ve made it into a kind of art, and how they’ve chosen a secret place to stash their treasures and make a kind of shrine to their deeds. In short, these two are kind of fucked up since this is what they’re into just to keep from being bored.
I liked this one because it was so different. The baying of the hound is a constant reminder of the impending doom the two men face. In fact, I think this could make for an interesting short film. It would have the kind of characters and content I don’t think people would expect, and short films are excellent for that sort of thing. Our narrator also does something that I’ve wondered if past narrators might do at the end of their tales (and I think at least one of them has), though this time the moment felt more graphic than others, as was the death of St. John. Most folks who die in Lovecraft stories (so far) typically just disappear or are borne away by something supernatural. While the supernatural was involved here, it got very mean about how it decided to kill its victims, which made for an interesting turnabout compared to what I’ve experienced so far.
Moral of the story? If you’re bored, don’t turn to grave robbing as a hobby.
Featured image © Nicole Taft
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