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Title: Quest for Cthulhu by August Derleth ISBN: 0-7867-0752-6 Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub. Date: July, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Fair effort, but definitely not Lovecraft
Comment: After the great H.P. Lovecraft died, his sometime colleague August Derleth stepped in to keep that author's work alive. Derleth founded Arkham House Press, a publishing company that reprinted the master's stories so new generations of horror/fantasy readers could discover the eldritch nightmares originally penned by Lovecraft. Instead of merely reprinting the thirteen original tales from the master, Derleth contributed his own stories to the mythos and inspired other writers to do the same. Even today, writers of the macabre consider it imperative to churn out at least one Lovecraft themed tale. Robert Bloch, Clark Ashton Smith, Charlee Jacob, Robert E. Howard, Stephen King, J. Ramsey Campbell, and many other authors have all written tales set in Lovecraft's Cthulhu milieu. This book, "Quest for Cthulhu," is August Derleth's contributions to the mythos written from the 1930s to the 1950s. For those unfamiliar with Lovecraft's Cthulhu tales, his stories concerned a whole constellation of "ancient gods," or evil deities cast into exile when another set of gods battled these creatures for control of the universe. These ancient gods are multidimensional beings capable of traveling anywhere in the universe, and some arrived on earth where they built vast cities populated by eerie beings who worshipped these evil deities. Traces of this time before man still exist in out of the way places on the planet and in ancient texts like the "Necronomicon" locked away in Miskatonic University in Massachusetts. The fun comes when some poor soul unlocks part of the secrets of this pre-Adamic age and promptly suffers a whole host of horrors for their incessant curiosity.
"Quest for Cthulhu" has two parts. The first, under the title of "The Mask of Cthulhu," contains several stand alone short stories about men who would have been better off in the long run if they had simply checked their curiosity. "The Return of Hastur" relates what happens when one ignores the directions contained in a last will and testament. "The Whippoorwills in the Hills" describes how one man falls under the evil spell of an ancient god while living in an abandoned house with disastrous consequences for the local populace. "Something in the Wood" is a very short story about an art critic who ultimately disappears without a trace after obtaining a creepy looking statue from a friend. "The Sandwin Compact" discusses the terrible fate awaiting those humans who welch on a contract with the ancient ones. "The House in the Valley" is more or less a retread of "The Whippoorwills in the Hills." "The Seal of R'lyeh" sets up the second part of the book with a story about the horrors that lie off the coast of Innsmouth, Massachusetts and the strange link between the denizens of that town and the ancient ones.
The second section of the book, a series of "statements" from various individuals comprising a novella entitled "The Trail of Cthulhu," finds Derleth exploring the attempts of Cthulhu's minions to bring their evil deity back to power on earth. Each statement builds on the previous one as we see a growing effort on the part of several men to prevent the horrible reemergence of one of the most powerful of the ancient gods.
While I appreciated reading several new tales about Lovecraft's epic mythos, I found Derleth's stories somewhat derivative of the original tales. Far too often this author reincorporates the same themes in each of his stories, making it quite difficult to get through some parts of the book. In a few places, "The Quest for Cthulhu" is downright plodding. Another annoying aspect for me was whenever Derleth had a character refer directly to one of H.P. Lovecraft's stories as proof of the presence of the evil ones. This reference appears in several places and seemed very fanboyish, as though Derleth sought credibility for his own stories by dropping Lovecraft's name. Moreover, the six stories that make up the first part of the book are absolutely arthritic to read due to Derleth's massive use of commas. I always enjoyed Lovecraft's ornate language, the endless adjectives and arcane language that author used in his writings, but some of the run-on sentences in these stories would frustrate Marcel Proust. Fortunately, "The Trail of Cthulhu" sequence flows much better than the first few stories. A final complaint here is the huge plot hole threading its way throughout nearly every tale in the book. If the minions of the ancient ones truly seek to bring back their gods and oppose every attempt by the "good guys" to prevent this eventuality, why not simply burn the library at Miskatonic University? That depository houses all of the important texts about the ancient gods along with documents donated to the library by those opposing these evil deities, so why waste time following people around? Destroying the library would virtually insure that no new opponents would arise to interfere with the nefarious plans of Innsmouth and the dreaming Cthulhu.
I liked how Derleth subtly hinted at the "real" reasons behind nuclear testing in the South Pacific, how he explored in greater depth some of the dread texts outlining the existence of the ancient gods, and the greater reliance on "anthropological proof" of the pervasive influence of the evil deities. This last point appears repeatedly throughout the stories as Derleth ties together many ancient religions under the banner of Cthulhu. Moreover, he insinuates that Christianity's Satan/God taxonomy is really a distorted representation of the titanic battle that took place in outer space between the elder gods and the ancient gods. While there are many problems with Derleth's interpretation of Lovecraft, the book isn't a total loss. Fans of the Cthulhu mythos will still find much to like with August Derleth.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Great God Cthulhu, By Way of August Derleth, Esq.
Comment: August Derleth, founder of Arkham House Publishers, kept the Lovecraft name alive when it threatened to disappear into pulp obscurity. Now, more than half a century later, Lovecraft's name is venerated the world over. Derleth (along with countless other writers) penned his own tales utilizing the Lovecraft mythos, and the two volumes here, originally "The Trail of Cthulhu" and "The Mask of Cthulhu," were first published in the '50s and '60s.
Derleth has been criticized by Lovecraft purists for drastically altering the philosophical underpinning of Lovecraft's original stories into a more balanced, even Christianized, cosmic whole. Lovecraft was a staunch atheist who saw the universe as a bleak, cold, indifferent place in which humanity had no place; his followers, however, adapted the mythos to their own needs and creative visions. Some feel this more humanized viewpoint weakens the impact of Lovecraft's mythos; I tend to that opinion, and have read very few of the Lovecraft followers.
However, August Derleth succeeds where Lovecraft often fails, writing a readable prose style. In fact, many of the stories here seem almost to be the classic Lovecraft stories re-written in readable prose. Derleth's style is almost hard-boiled, with no affectation of language, no preoccupation with an archaic style, no excessive adjectives. Yet still the stories achieve an atmosphere of cosmic dread, of fear and loathing, of awe at the vastness of space and the littleness of mankind in its void. "The Seal of R'lyeh" is a fantastic story, with a deepening (or perversion, as Lovecraft experts may see it) of the "Cthulhu mythos" and some really strong, evocative, subtle writing.
It's excellent to see these two works back in print; my moldering copies smell a hundred years old and I wouldn't part with them for anything. While I much prefer the bleak visions of Lovecraft himself, Derleth's stories are powerfully imagined, clearly told, and come highly recommended from this lifelong Lovecraft fan.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Cthulhu Mythos of August Derleth
Comment: Quest For Cthulhu is some of the the best "Lovecraft" there is, aside from HP himself. I don't believe that any other author has as good a feel for the Mythos as August Derleth, and this is some of his best work. "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah' nagl fhtagn".
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Title: Nameless Cults (Call of Cthulhu Fiction) by Robert E. Howard ISBN: 1568821301 Publisher: Chaosium Pub. Date: 01 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos by H. P. Lovecraft ISBN: 034542204X Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 14 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Encyclopedia Cthulhiana: A Guide to Lovecraftian Horror (Call of Cthulhu Fiction) by Daniel Harms ISBN: 1568821697 Publisher: Chaosium Pub. Date: November, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Shadows over Innsmouth by Stephen Jones ISBN: 0345444078 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 28 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Cthulhu 2000 by Various ISBN: 0345422031 Publisher: Del Rey Pub. Date: 25 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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