1001+ Books:
#9 - At the Mountains of Madness
by: H.P. Lovecraft (1936)
At the Mountains of Madness applies the scientific mind to the awe-inspiring colossus of everything unknown to science, and is left with a reaction of horror and fascination seen primarily when the young or the stupid enter the den of a sleeping lion after it's been fed a gazelle. There are many times when the antarctic expedition who have stumbled upon the remnants of long dead, highly intelligent civilization predating humanity by millions of years are touched by the urge to turn and run without looking back. A creeping sense of dread and foreboding permeates the text, building gradually and so effectively that the climax is inevitably anti-climactic. This disappointment at the end of the book may have something also to do with the way Lovecraft writes. These nuggets of terror and revelation are sprinkled a little too sparsely over a plethora of long-winded scientific analysis and mythology, which is interesting in it's own way, but is not balanced as well as it could have been. The influence of this work is undoubtably established though, seeing shadows in everything from John Carpenter's The Thing to the criminally underrated Alien prequel (kind of) Prometheus.
Rating: B-
Rating: B-
Seems like a weird mix of genres? I'm a bit intrigued, though. Is poor as I was at science in school, I do find it pretty fascinating to write about. Any morals for current humanity?
ReplyDeleteI've slogged through a bit of Lovecraft, not much though. Intriguing mythos he created, but his writing is hard to get into. Lots of Writers have gotten inspiration from them, not the least of which is Stephen King, who I think takes what is good about Lovecraft and then turns it into something better and more enjoyable to read.
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