Wednesday, October 5th, 2011 - The Outsider

The Outsider by HP Lovecraft

Published April 1926

Illustration by Elliot Rodriguez

Category: Macabre

And here we have the most reprinted, most celebrated story in Lovecraft's canon. When ever I tried to introduce HPL to someone I often passed this story along; it is the simplest and best example of his macabre style and is ultimately the story that crosses into "classic literature"; this story could be taught as part of a high school, October lit lesson. Lovecraft called it the closest thing he ever wrote to Poe's work and that's undeniable.

Our protagonist, again, does not tell us his name - though he may not have a name. His origins are a mystery even to him - he has simply always lived in the dark, inescapable castle that is our setting. With only barely visible writings and silent rats for company, he decides to make a harrowing journey out of the castle to freedom.

I like this story, and in the past I might have said it was one of my favorites but this past reading my eyes rolled a bit at the "silliness" of his style. The overly descriptive prose and the italicized ending lines that let us know what is happening now is truly, truly horrific... It's all a bit much. But it's quality and chilling climax is still very effective. As you read it try to imagine how it could be made into a film; a challenge, wouldn't you say?

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I read The Outsider in a collection of American Gothic tales, fittingly called American Gothic Tales, edited by Joyce Carol Oates. It contains an excellent survey of classical American short stories that sit within the broad category of "gothic" - grim tales of the grotesque and mysterious. Oates, herself a master of the gothic, includes a single story from greats such as Poe, Faulkner, Hawthorne, and modern writers like Stephen King and John Crowley.

Saturday, October 1st 2011 - The Music of Erich Zann

The Music of Erich Zann by H.P. Lovecraft

Published March 1922

Illustration by Nelson R. Morris

Category: Macabre

The first thing our narrator tells us is that he can no longer find the street on which he once lived while in college. It has a name but he is unable, after tireless research and inquiries, to find the street or the house he stayed in. Through half-remembered details he tells us of his time there, living across the hall from an elderly, mute musician by the name of Erich Zann.

Lovecraft very often will deny us names and locations. A narrator will not tell us his name (it's always a man) and he will sometimes find himself in a town or neighborhood that he does not name. This serves to do at least two things to the reader. One, we are not distracted with the facts and details that are after all not nearly as important as the movement of the story. We cannot stop for a moment and say "Ah ha! I have been to Providence and there is no Angell Street!" And two it establishes a sense of mystery and anonymity that sets the story in our minds - we fill in the details, and set it in the house we stayed in Maine, summer, 1984.

Erich Zann plays his viol - a sort of viola or cello - deep into the night, making music that is strange and haunting. Our narrator befriends the old man who seems paranoid and filled with a mysterious dread. It seems that, outside the window of Erich Zann's humble apartment, there is something. Something that frightens the old man and fascinates our young narrator. Something that listens to the music, that perhaps needs the music.

One of my favorite parts of this story and many of Lovecraft's stories are the details left out, the beast behind the curtain, or the maker of the odd footsteps outside a door - things we never see. I love details, don't get me wrong, but for these weird tales I love that which is left unseen even more.

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I read this story through the Anthology of Weird Fiction iPhone App - a simple little collection of what most be close to 100 stories by Lovecraft, Machen, Blackwood and others. I believe I paid $1 for it but it is very possible to find these same stories, and tons more, for free through Stanza (more on that app later in the month!) http://itun.es/iBm7Vg