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osyrisdiamond
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« on: February 26, 2012, 01:23:19 AM » |
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Supernatural Horror in Literature PodcastI'm a bit surprised there is not already a thread about this podcast. If there is, I apologize. The only one I found was a query about having a episode on this podcast regarding the work in question and obviously unrelated to this podcast. For those not in the know, this guy (Charly Crawmer) has the great idea to reading the works referenced in the essay of the same name by our favorite writer. As someone who prefers to "read" books via audio, this is a superb way for me to hear many of the influences of H.P.L. and finally get all the references mentioned in the show to all these other apparently awesome writers. A good reader who gives a short but prudent correlation of the work to the essay and away he goes! A must, methinks, for every listener of this show and every fan of H.P.L.
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"It is good to be a cynic... better to be a contented cat... best not to exist at all. Universal suicide is the most logical thing... we reject it only because of our primitive cowardice... If we were sensible we would seek death—the same blissful blank which we enjoyed before we existed." -HPL
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Yojimbo
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« Reply #1 on: February 26, 2012, 02:55:29 PM » |
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Thanks for the tip! I'm downloading the podcast now.
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Yojimbo
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« Reply #2 on: March 01, 2012, 12:05:35 AM » |
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Listened to the entirety of "The Great God Pan" this evening and... was surprised at how dull it was. I expected more, given how great an influence of Howard Philip it was, but it was pretty standard Victorian horror. I can see why Stoker is still in print while Machen is not, for example.
"The Dunwich Horror" and "The Thing On the Doorstep" are much better versions of the same story (and "Medusa's Coil" is clearly influenced by "The Great God Pan," while also being not very good).
That said, the podcast is great, and I'm looking forward to the other stories!
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osyrisdiamond
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« Reply #3 on: March 03, 2012, 01:32:12 AM » |
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I generally agree. There seems a disconnect between HPL and Machen. The White Powder is pretty good, and I also liked The Black Seal. Still, it gives you some interesting insight into how HLP saw the world of lit.
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« Last Edit: March 05, 2012, 12:41:45 AM by osyrisdiamond »
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"It is good to be a cynic... better to be a contented cat... best not to exist at all. Universal suicide is the most logical thing... we reject it only because of our primitive cowardice... If we were sensible we would seek death—the same blissful blank which we enjoyed before we existed." -HPL
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Genus Unknown
Cultist
Committed for Life
Posts: 1186
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« Reply #4 on: March 03, 2012, 10:50:28 AM » |
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The White Power is pretty good Man, that is one unfortunate typo.  Anyway, I agree about The Great God Pan. I was really disappointed in it. "The White People" blew my freaking mind at the time, but I'm kind of scared to go back and re-read it lest it turn out to be not as good as I remember. |
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osyrisdiamond
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« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2012, 12:44:26 AM » |
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The White Power is pretty good Man, that is one unfortunate typo. Anyway, I agree about The Great God Pan. I was really disappointed in it. "The White People" blew my freaking mind at the time, but I'm kind of scared to go back and re-read it lest it turn out to be not as good as I remember. I like the prologue (and I guess the epilogue) of The White People; it is very existentially awesome while the bulk of the Green Book narrative part is rather rambling. |
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"It is good to be a cynic... better to be a contented cat... best not to exist at all. Universal suicide is the most logical thing... we reject it only because of our primitive cowardice... If we were sensible we would seek death—the same blissful blank which we enjoyed before we existed." -HPL
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DustyTome
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« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2012, 02:33:32 AM » |
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The White Power is pretty good Man, that is one unfortunate typo. Anyway, I agree about The Great God Pan. I was really disappointed in it. "The White People" blew my freaking mind at the time, but I'm kind of scared to go back and re-read it lest it turn out to be not as good as I remember. I agree with both of you. I finally read The Great God Pan and couldn't figure out what the fuss was about. |
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Genus Unknown
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Committed for Life
Posts: 1186
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« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2012, 05:53:29 PM » |
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I like the prologue (and I guess the epilogue) of The White People; it is very existentially awesome while the bulk of the Green Book narrative part is rather rambling.
See, I'm the opposite. It was the Green Book (rambling as it admittedly is) that creeped me out so, while the prologue and epilogue bored me. Arthur Machen expounding on theology in a dry, Victorian manner does not make for pleasant (even pleasantly creepy) reading. But the Green Book, with all its haunting vagueness and utterly eerie fairy imagery, really got under my skin. |
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T. Kelly Lee
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« Reply #8 on: April 17, 2012, 09:35:51 AM » |
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I generally agree. There seems a disconnect between HPL and Machen. The White Powder is pretty good, and I also liked The Black Seal. Still, it gives you some interesting insight into how HLP saw the world of lit.
The Novel of the Black Seal is one of my favorite "weird" fiction stories - but not because it's scary or, honestly, even disconcerting. I like the atmosphere it creates and I also enjoy the "research leads to doom" angle. The revelation of something dreadful is masterfully played out in this tale and, the first time you read it, you have no idea where it's going. This device has been re-used SO MANY TIMES now it seems unoriginal. |
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Miskatonic Philologus
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« Reply #9 on: April 17, 2012, 12:25:22 PM » |
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osyrisdiamond, thanks for the link. Looks very interesting!
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Ready now with those switches?
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Yojimbo
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« Reply #10 on: April 21, 2012, 02:41:42 PM » |
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I've listened to The White People and am working my way slowly through The Novel of the Black Seal.
The Green Book was interesting; I think Machen did a decent job of mimicking the diary of a teenager there, but like Genus Unknown, I found the philosophical bookends pretty tame, bordering on uninteresting. Even so, the vagueness and general lack of detail in the Green Book didn't create any terror or uncertainty in this listener, it just sounded like an unreliable narrator who doesn't know what she's talking about because she's just a kid.
I stand by my earlier assessment vis. Stoker and Machen.
I like some of the tricks the reader is employing, like using different voice actors for different roles, and the music is pretty good. I might prefer these stories if I read them rather than listened to them, as the reader's delivery is a bit monotonous and he sounds a little bored himself. Still, I appreciate the effort (which suggests he's not bored at all, even if he sounds it), and I do like exploring the stories that influenced Lovecraft.
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