I'd heard some bad things about Derleth's posthumous collaborations with Lovecraft, how he had a tendency to over-categorise the Mythos and apply a simplistic Christian morality on creatures whose very power to chill stemmed from the fact that they were utterly beyond human notions of good or evil. Despite that, I found this quite an effective and well written work, and Derleth's vision, if not entirely in keeping with Lovecraft's own, was not wholly incompatible either. There's a lot of good, if derivative, stuff in here and a nice sense of sustained menace running throughout the piece. Derleth might not have got Lovecraft entirely, but he understood enough about what made him an effective horror writer as regards the basics of tone, imagery, characterisation, and plot not to drop the ball. Only the last act really lets the piece down, leaving the reader on a distinctly that's it? moment. A pity considering all the good work leading up to it. 9780881844085 This thing, 97% of which was not written by Lovecraft, but by August Derleth instead (screw you, misleading cover of my edition!), actually had a really engrossing first half, but then unfortunately got bogged down along the way by too many unnecessary, even repetitive details, and a general tendency toward long-windedness. Derleth’s writing style wasn’t as much to my taste as Lovecraft’s either. That said, it was quite similar in tone to Lovecraft’s stories, and overall it wasn’t really as bad as I was fearing it would be. The ending did feel pretty rushed, though. So, definitely a mixed bag, and not really recommended, unless you’re in the mood for what’s essentially some fairly high quality Lovecraft fan fiction. 9780881844085 This book starts out well enough but runs too long through dull exposition to a formulaic finish. An experienced reader will suspect early on that this book wasn't written by Lovecraft but his publisher August Derleth. Maybe the first give-away is the uncharacteristically heavy use of period and regional dialects, or maybe it is the 1945 copyright for August Derleth in the front matter. Whatever tipped me off, I then used the all-knowing Wiki to read up on the book and sure enough, less than 2.5% of the writing was Lovecraft's, comprising probably no more than sketches for a story. The other 97.5% came from the pen of the far-less-marketable Derleth. And it shows. The book begins well enough with the standard issue haunted Massachusetts town with its dark past, shadowy residents, and just returned prodigal scion of an occult dynasty. At some point the author trots out a comprehensive list of every single Big Name creature in the Cthulhu mythos, and the reader suddenly feels that rather than reading a Lovecraft story with its eerie economy, they're taking in the written equivalent of Destroy All Monsters, WrestleMania, or a commercial for the M.U.S.C.L.E. collector toys. The narrative then gets bogged down in tedious exposition about the systematic nature of the Cthulhu mythos and of the relation of the various Elder Gods and Great Old Ones to the elements and to the forces of good and evil. Apparently Derleth's Lovecraft project was to systematize the original fragments, and in so doing, to suck out most of the juice. Iah! Yog-Sothoth! Nyarlathotep! Azathoth!! F'nag'n R'lyh Bl'ah Bl'ah Bl'ah! 9780881844085 -Desde un par de ideas del primero brota una obra del segundo.-
Género. Narrativa fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. Entre Arkham y Dunwich hay una gran zona de colinas boscosas que a comienzos de siglo XIX pertenecieron a Alijah Billington y que siempre ha generado rumores e inquietud entre los habitantes de la zona. En marzo de 1921 se hace público que Ambrose Dewart, descendiente de Alijah, va a comenzar los trabajos de rehabilitación y restauración de la casona Billington. Cuando los trabajos terminan, los rumores vuelven a comenzar en la zona, aunque Ambrose es totalmente ajeno a ellos y únicamente trata de mantener en orden el patrimonio familiar y seguir las extrañas instrucciones que su antepasado dejó por escrito. Escrita por Derleth ocho años después de la muerte de Lovecraft basándose en unos pequeños fragmentos de este último.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/... 9780881844085 Overall, I enjoyed this more than my three-star rating would suggest, although not as much as my recent Lovecraft read The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. However, this is written in three sections from different points of view, and the final, shortest one from the suddenly-introduced professor's assistant is abrupt and have a pretty abrupt ending. A lot of slow build up and then not much. 9780881844085
Ambrose Dewart is the heir to the fortunes of his illustrious forebears. Having sampled the wide world and its pleasures, it's now time to retire to the ancestral estate deep in the rolling hills of Massachusetts. At once he sets to work refurbishing the dark rooms, clearing the cobwebs and brightening the foreboding atmosphere. That's when he stumbles upon an old document handed down from a great-grandfather of sinister reputation. On it reads the ominous injunction:
Never invite him that lurks at the threshold!
But this caution does not suppress Dewart's inquisitive spirit...not even when fantastic, ethereal powers are near at hand, striving to resume their earthly dominion... The Lurker at the Threshold
Most of the reviews that have been posted so far seem to be from Lovecraft purists who object to Derleth's creation of a novella from a 1200-word sketch by HPL. We should maybe bear in mind the debt that Lovecraftians owe to Derleth. He founded Arkham House specifically to keep HPL's memory alive and to bring his work to a larger audience than the readers of Weird Tales Magazine.
So, let's try to approach Lurker from another angle. Of course Derleth is different. But he's good too. The character that holds much of the narrative together is Quamis. Derleth does a sound job of tracing his malignant influence. Derleth also makes good use of Lovecraft's literary apparatus - his cosmology, his imaginary New England landscape, the sights, sounds and even the smells of the Lovecraft landscape (gambrel roofs ... dereliction and decay ... you know all that stuff). If you don't like Derleth's treatment, you don't have to read the book. As for me, I am at present re-reading it for about the tenth time. I like it! 9780881844085 There's nothing very bad about this book, other than it feels extremely familiar. I already felt like I'd read it before. Wiki states ST Joshi said of this novel's 50,000 words, only 1,200 were actually written by Lovecraft. This is probably why I didn't find it a very gripping or original read. Many ideas and even characters feel regurgitated from previous stories. I even feel that some previous lines of Lovecraft's have been paraphrased here.
So I guess my problem lies more in that Lovecraft's name is attached to this book as a co-author. It would have made more sense to have this as a fan novel written by Derleth. I guess having Lovecraft's name on it keeps the ripping off of previous ideas in ok territory? I do not feel like this had any of Lovecraft's voice to it. Frankly, I was bored reading this. This novel tends to ramble and I felt that many pages could have been cut from it.
This was the type of book I pick up, can only read 5 pages at a time before I start rereading the same paragraphs over and my mind wanders. I'm not usually that way if I am interested. Only the last 50 pages kept my attention for any length of time.
So I'd only recommend reading this if you're a HUGE Lovecraft fan or student/aspiring scholar in pulp literature. 9780881844085 Старий будинок у лісі біля Аркхема, який належить роду Біллінґтонів, переходить у спадок до Емброуза Дьюрта, який живе в Англії. Його предок за дивних обставин покинув цю місцевість у Массачусетсі і оселився за океаном, але залишив химерні інструкції: не продавати ділянку; не турбувати жаб і дрімлюг; не відчиняти двері і не впускати того, що причаїлося на порозі. Дьюарт приїздить до будинку, щоб відреставрувати його. Там він знаходить давні документи і книги, які належали одному з Біллінґтонів. Та до того, як йому вдається скласти прочитане докупи, він відчуває непоясненні зміни в собі самому.
На прохання Дьюарта до нього терміново приїздить його родич Стівен Бейтс. Однак, зустрічаючи Бейтса, Дьюарт уже не здається таким схвильованим, як у своєму листі із запрошенням. Протягом свого перебування у будинку Бейтс помічає, що частіше виглядає неприязним і приховує, що його дратує приїзд Бейтса. Однак він теж починає досліджувати давні записи, як його просив Дьюарт.
Бейтс майже знаходить відгадку цієї чудасії і звертається за допомогою до доктора Сенеки Лепема. Той радить йому якнайшвидше тікати з міста. Потім доктор Лепем разом зі своїм помічником Вінфілдом Філіпсом вивчають передані записи, а також звертаються до окультних текстів, які зберігаються в бібліотеці Міскатонікського університету. Воно доходять невтішного висновку: У тіло Дьюарта вселився давній дух, який намагається привести Іззовні лихих богів, які знищать все людство, крім своїх поплічників.
Лавкрафта, кажуть, тут лише два з невеликим відсотки. Все інше - це творіння Дерлета. Як на мене, це один з найґрунтовніше опрацьованих творів, які він дописував. Проте мене засмучує, що він аж аналізує міфи Ктулху. Про те, як найковці намагалися осмислити і боротися з надприродним, ми читали в таких творах, як Барва з позамежжя світу і особливо Жахіття Данвіча, але Дерлет перетворює космічне майже на прозаїчне. 9780881844085 Review: 3,5
Esta es una historia muy lovecraftiana, donde [SPOILER ALTERT] Cthulhu y varios Ancianos hacen nuevamente aparición.
En este caso, Ambrisio Billington, sucesor de una larga generación de Billingtons, decide mudarse a una casa que pertenecía a su tatarabuelo, ubicada en los Bosques de Billington; de los cuales se dicen que se escuchan ruidos y voces misteriosas. Sumado a eso, a lo largo de varias décadas, se han sucedido varias desapariciones seguidas de muerte de algunos lugareños.
Esto lleva a Ambrosio a iniciar una investigación sobre los sucesos y la relación que tiene con su familia; y descubre ritos secretos a deidades muy antiguas.
No hay más que aportar, ya que toda la historia gira en torno a esos eventos.
La novela es interesante pero por partes se hace bastante pesada, por eso la puntuación 9780881844085 si tuviera que elegir una novela corta con la cual introducir a un lector al mundo Lovecraftniano y además convencerlo de que este rico imaginario y su terror cósmico no moría junto con el autor de Providence sino que era dignamente continuado, esta sería mi recomendación. Lo dije prematuramente cuando aún estaba a unos capítulos de terminar y por fortuna se mantuvo hasta el final, podría ser la mejor historia Lovecraftniana que haya leído hasta ahora. Es atrapante desde el inicio y te deja bien claro el mensaje que su fundador quería transmitir con su mitología en historias como El Diario de Alonzo Typer y Dagón o incluso poemas como Memoria.
La novela es sobradamente rica en cantidad de referencias a lugares y nombres que dadas las limitaciones de su historia no cabe posibilidad de profundizar aquí pero que cuentan con sus propios relatos tales como: Dunwich, Sarnath, R'lyeh , Universidad de Miskatonic, Cthulhu ( y su problemática vigilia); Azathoc, Innsmouth etc . En tan poca extensión , August Derleth, con apenas dos fragmentos inconclusos dejados por Lovecraft como base, logra ofrecer una historia de decadencia en la locura y un miedo difícil de definir apropiadamente hacia los terrores del universo y sus ancianos pobladores para los cuales somos una mera herramienta facilitadora de su hegemonía. Siendo ésta una dinámica rastreable hasta los más primitivos inicios de la humanidad. Desde los puritanos de Massasuchets hasta los adoradores precolombinos de Quetzalcóatl; desde el moderno siglo XX hasta los tiempos de Pablo I de Rusia (y muchísimo más atrás). Muy recomendada.
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Summary The Lurker at the Threshold
