Horror and fantasy before the Great War unleashed its own
horror
Lovecraft was a voracious reader and one author that clearly
had an influence on young Lovecraft was the works of
William Hope Hodgson whose
books all date to before WWI.
Hodgson
had a fascinating and varied career as a sailor, bodybuilder, personal coach,
poet, author, and military member.
In
fact, he died in WWI in April 1918 at Ypres.
Had he lived, who knows what other books he would have written. As it is, he was a great influence to readers and writers.
These works were always scarce, hard to find and not sought
out much by the average reader.
I first
read The
Boats of the Glen Carrig, and
House on the Borderland when Ballentine
published the
Adult Fantasy Series, bringing back into print important and rare
books of influence in the genres of Science Fiction, fantasy, and horror at an
affordable price.
I read
The Night Land somewhat later. Long before
Project Gutenberg, these editions were the only way an average person could read these
scarce tomes.
In fact, if you follow
the link, there is a list of published works that are a primer of horror and
fantasy.
Now with the internet and
on-line book finders such as Amazon.com, it is possible to turn up had to find
books.
I posted this blog entry to interest new readers to Hodgson
or Lovecraft and to provide a rudimentary introduction to some of Hodgson’s
works. I am by no means a Lovecraft or
Hodgson scholar and the advanced reader won’t find much here that he/she hasn’t
already found out about this fascinating author. Really this has been a trip down memory lane for me and if
nothing else, the blog reader will find a few links of interest and some free
downloadable books. You just can’t beat
free these days.
H. P Lovecraft had a bit to say about Hodgson’s The Boats of the Glen Carrig
in his essay
Supernatural Horror in Literature (1927):
"In The Boats of the Glen
Carrig (1907) we are shown a variety of malign marvels and accursed unknown
lands as encountered by the survivors of a sunken ship. The brooding menace in
the earlier parts of the book is impossible to surpass, though a letdown in the
direction of ordinary romance and adventure occurs toward the end. An inaccurate
and pseudo-romantic attempt to reproduce eighteenth-century prose detracts from
the general effect, but the really profound nautical erudition everywhere
displayed is a compensating factor."
The Night Land (1912) is a much longer and more ambitious book,
that seems to presage Lovecraft’s Dreamlands.
Lovecraft absorbed much in his reading and little escaped his eye,
filing away information like a computer for later inquiry or incorporation.
The House on the Borderland (1908) is
perhaps the best known of Hodgson’s works to the modern reader, and one can see
elements in
Dreams in the Witch House.
China
Miéville traces the origin of "the tentacle" as an object of
horror in H. P. Lovcraft in the book,
The Boats of the Glen Carrig, about ships
trapped Devil’s Triangle of the Sargasso Sea in
his 2009 essay,
The Tentacles.
Lovecraft’s early milieu is one that needs study to
understand how genres of fantasy & horror evolved and then much later fused
with elements of science fiction and reading the books that Lovecraft read can
help our understanding of that time.
The influences on the Cthulhu Mythos is varied and deserves study and our attention.
Interest in Hodgson’s works are now at an all time high and editions are
more plentiful and easier to find.
However, you need not go out of pocket because Project Gutenberg has
these
Hodgson novels available for free
download:
As well as two other novels
Additional links of interest
Undoubtedly I have missed some obvious links and
observations, but this little bit should be enough to entice and send an
inquiring mind off into the aether of the internet for more information and
stories. Happy hunting and happy
reading.
CoastConFan
Christistie’s had a prop sale this past Thursday, 29
November 2012 that would make a prop collector pass out. 
