NEW ANNOTATED LOVECRAFT AT LAST!!!!
I've been trying this morning (Thursday, 9/25/14) to record another vlog shewing more of ye tome, but YouTube keeps fucking up and my recordings won't complete. Very annoying. I wanted to actually discuss, on video, some of ye annotations. The approach is similar to that of Klinger's THE NEW ANNOTATED SHERLOCK HOLMES, in that Holmes is treated as a historical figure and the short stories and novels are in fact historical recordings of actual events. This approach is also employ'd in YE NEW ANNOTATED H. P. LOVECRAFT. For the most part it works and does indeed bring out aspects of the stories that are of interest. I have found one note, however, that completely mystifies me, on page 12, for "The Statement of Randolph Carter". The long note reads, in part, "More of Carter's history is given in 'Through the Gates of the Silver Key,' written by Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price . . . However, this tale is thought to be largely the work of Price and must be regarded as an unreliable source of information." This is pure nonsense--the story as we have it is almoft entirely the writing of H. P. Lovecraft, so I don't understand this note at all. Moftly, however, the notes are extremely informative and entertaining. In one note for "The Hound," many lines from Clark Ashton Smith's poem "The Eldritch Dark" are quoted.
There has been so much online chatter concerning the World Fantasy award, Lovecraft's racism, and what a "bad" writer Lovecraft was. I'm hoping that the popularity of THE NEW ANNOTATED H. P. LOVECRAFT (& I expect ye book to be very popular indeed) will help to shift ye discussion to the excellence of Lovecraft's prose and ye originality of his imagination. Klinger has scheduled many signing and readings in various cities, and some of these will include guests such as Peter Straub, Neil Gaiman and S. T. Joshi, with whom Klinger will discuss Lovecraft and his place in Literature.
Looks a great book. I have pre-ordered it here in the UK. Let us know what you think of the annotations. I would love to read a review by your goodself. The contents look limited, but thoughtful, especially the facsimiles and the photographs. Enjoy the HPL immersion! G. :-)=
ReplyDeleteThe book is available as of now 9/27/2014 on Amazon.com. So I have my copy on order and expect to receive it by Wed. In any event, I am pretty certain of this but are you, by chance, Edith Gnome?
ReplyDeleteIf I am Edith, it will be our little secret......
ReplyDelete