The Quest of Iranon
Sadly we go from the great lovecraftian
story last time, The Nameless City, to this...thing. I really don't know what
is up with this story, that essentially rehashes a lot of things from other
stories like Celaphais. I have never cared much for the characters in this
story, and I have always found it all a bit comical. I agree with Chad Feifer
over at HPPodcraft, that this story often does feel like a Footloose-style 80s
movie set in the midwest.
We do once again get some reference to
other Lovecraft stories, which will become more and more common in the stories
to come as HPL develops his myths. In this story, the main character, Iranon,
mentions Sarnath and Lomar. Lomar being the land where Polaris took place. If
you remember, Polaris was a Dreamlands story, but this story is not. So I
wanted to write about the existence of places in Lovecraft's cosmos. As I have
mentioned before, Lovecraft created worlds on other planes of existence, one of
which can be accessed through our dreams. This is the Dreamlands. What we
haven't really talked about before is that the locations in the Dreamlands are
either the products of our collective human consciousness, manifestations of
our imaginations, or they are the misplaced locations of other times. The
places in the Dreamlands can be places from our own world, existing in any
number of centuries at once. In The Nameless City, we had ancient cities and
civilizations once present on earth, but that continue to thrive in other
worlds. Lomar and the places mentioned in this story are probably the same. The
story of Polaris exists in the Dreamworld, but mirrors a people from our own
world over twenty-six thousand years ago. Perhaps this is a clue that the Quest
of Iranon take place in our own world that long ago, happening to a prehistoric
civilization of people long since forgotten by time.
Location becomes central to this story.
As the places set up not only the plot, but also the identity of the
characters. They identify themselves by places. They two main characters are
not happy where they are, and strike out for places better suited to who they
are. And the final revelation at the climax of the story, reveals how vital
location is to the life of the main character.
This story is a chore to get through,
with far too much flowery language. I really don't feel it adds much to the
growing work of Lovecraft, and might even be a step in the wrong direction. If
you still want to check it out, you can read the full text here: HPL's The Quest of Iranon
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| Illustration copyright Jeff Powers © 2013 |
The Moon-Bog
The Moon-Bog is another of Lovecraft's
weaker stories. Perhaps he was going through a rough patch here in the early
20s. It is obviously inspired by the writing of Lord Dunsany, as is much of
Lovecraft's work. In fact, the central premise can be seen in Dunsany's novel The Curse of the Wise Woman. The theme
of buying back your ancestral home in Europe, is something Lovecraft would
later develop better for The Rats in the
Walls and was something he had actually thought of doing.
The setting of the story is deep within
the marshes of Ireland, an interesting setting for a writer known for his
distaste for the Irish immigrants in New England. But perhaps because Lord
Dunsany had set his novel there, HPL felt he should too, or because this story
was written for a gathering of journalists with the writing theme of St.
Patrick's Day. Either way, the setup is very Poe-esque gothica despite its
Dunsany location.
The plot is as general as it gets. It
can be seen in countless horror stories and films. A man new the area is given
one piece of ancient legend, with instructions not to do something. Finding the
local superstition ridiculous he does it anyway and is cursed.
There are some elements of this story
that I do like. I am a huge fan of the original Wicker Man movie. To me this
film was always a showcase of what could be done with horror. It didn't have to
be fast paced and it didn't have to be set at night. Written well enough many
things can be frightening. I think of that movie when in this story the man wakes
to see the locals practicing ancient pagan rituals to appease the god of local
legends. We even get a reference to The
Tree which takes us back to ancient Greece, a rather odd thing to find in
the marshes of Ireland.
This story does have some interesting
set pieces, and a mention of some cool giant frogs. But overall it is not a
story that really leaves an impression on you.
If you want to read the whole story,
check out the full text here: HPL's The Moon-Bog
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