The Color Out of Space. a literally report
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Artist:
A song to complement this post by the great Georgia band, Maserati. Travels headlong down the main vein of instrumental post-rocking,a slow burn to a bonfire thunder stomp. This post's song is for Groon, I said I would share some Maserati; and the subject of the post is for Anna who said that she really dug Lovecraft's writing. Read on...
HP Lovecraft crafted this condensed early horror/sci-fi tale after visiting some of Massachusetts' rural areas, most agree on Swift River Valley as the inspiration. I would argue Gardner, MA as inspiration as well, a lonely quiet place whose name is also shared by the victim family in Lovecraft's piece. Struck as so many often are by a landscape that is closely tied to old age witch trials and puritan paranoia. It can seem slightly insidious at times, and even the trees keep secrets. His result is a chilling first person account that only one ancient mad man can accurately recall in a derelict farming village. It concerns the work of a surveyor sent to the countryside to document a valley that is being planned for a new reservoir. While staying in the quiet and uneasy hamlet, he becomes curious of the unsettling feelings that seem to be stemming from a place he had passed during his initial trek of the area for surveying. He seeks out the only person in town who is willing to discuss the now taboo story, and is taken on a thrilling ride by an shut-in that everyone else argues is batting mad. And who could for all purposes, be as full-of-shit as he seems to be. But what if he is not?
HP wanted to write a sci-fi story with an alien element, being fed-up of the contemporary sci-fi work at that time. Aliens he argued were being imbued with too many human qualities and that no creative ideas were being presented about a truly alien type of conflict. Lovecraft's alien is never fully fleshed out or understood by anyone in the story and its intents are not even clear, in fact, it is not clear that the alien presence even is capable of intent. It could be that it was just not meant for this world. The Color Out of Space takes place in the 1880s, but the actual story within the story is several decades prior. Besides a few century specific nouns here and there, this could easily be updated into our current time.
If I were sufficiently compelled to, I would commit this story to memory as best I could. And with that, go scare the begeezus out of some children on a camping trip. But while funny to think about, that is not really the scene that I find myself in these days…camping with children. A great short story, I would recommend printing it from WIKIQUOTE if you are interested, it is a quick paced 9 pages. Haunting in most parts for its uncertainty and downright refusal to explain its purpose, this will stay in your memory for sometime. A small look at his writing style shows an ability to translate these northeastern vernaculars with ease:
"When I went into the hills and vales to survey for the new reservoir they told me the place was evil. They told me this in Arkham, and because that is a very old town full of witch legends I thought evil must be something which grandams had whispered to children through centuries. The name "blasted heath" seemed to me very odd and theatrical, and I wondered how it had come into the folklore of a Puritan people. Then I saw that dark westward tangle of glens and slopes for myself, and ceased to wonder at anything beside its own elder mystery. It was morning when I saw it, but shadow lurked always there. The trees grew too thickly, and their trunks were too big for any healthy New England wood. There was too much silence in the dim alleys between them, and the floor was too soft with the dank moss and mattings of infinite years of decay."
Locating MOG account...
Comments (8)
Maserati - Show Me the Season [9:24]
Breaking away from HP's uneasy mood and highlighting some of Maserati's strengths, now this one brings the relentless thunder.
Rob, awesome song. Maserati is one of those bands in the post-rock vein that just doesn't get enough credit. I have the EP they did with The Mercury Program, which is great as well, but don't think I have this. If I do, obviously haven't listened to it enough if I don't recognize it right?
Never got into Lovecraft too much, although I can recognize the influence he has had on modern culture. This story, though, sounds pretty cool.
i love both Lovecraft and Maserati, so what's not to like in this post? am in the middle of a collection of Lovecraft shorts at the moment. i hadn't thought of putting the two together, what a lovely idea.
nodding profusely to:
"Aliens he argued were being imbued with too many human qualities and that no creative ideas were being presented about a truly alien type of conflict. Lovecraft’s alien is never fully fleshed out or understood by anyone in the story and its intents are not even clear, in fact, it is not clear that the alien presence even is capable of intent."
very trippy tune -> loved it -> and it gave the right kind of feel while reading your dissertation on literature ->
creepy and chilled is the feeling I left with, and when I pulled back from my screen, I had the odd sensation that I'd been reading and experiencing your post for 2 hours -> odd...though it could have been two hours...this acid is pretty intense -> kidding, kidding, it's pretty mild lsd
chuck , is that a split EP with Mercury P? I want to hear that indeed. another good band. can't say I am well up on other Lovecraft, but this one seems to me a good jummping off point
illay, I was just econo-jamming at first combining the 2. possible that it ended up working towards complementing both of their advantages. Otherwise, something from Liars perhaps would have sufficed:
< >ahem, that was weird, I am shocked by this now...
durden, you were reading it as I was typing it which was why it took the time it did. a mild experience was good for that art exhibit last weekend. i misspelled literary man!
is a book report so different from a music post?
which other Lovecraft stories do you like/recommend?
hey Rob, that's a cool Liars song and the video fits in the vibe of this post, too. i am no Lovecraft expert by any means and The Call of Cthulhu had been the most impactful read for me, which i guess is an expected answer. but i really appreciate that i am reading At the Mountains of Madness just now, because in this story he seems to have "grown up" in a way that i have, in that he wasn't just content with being oblique about stuff but really tied them in with probable histories - e.g. rooting aliens to ancient civilizations such as would've been frozen up in Antarctica - and in this manner surely inspired a whole lot of succeeding sci-fi writers. oof, rant of the day from me.
mountains of madness, i am on it, thanks.
the Liars song was a bit tongue in cheek, they frighten me like no other