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Reviews
H. P. Lovecraft. Das Werk by Alexander Pechmann, Leslie S. Klinger, H.P. Lovecraft, Andreas Fliedner
larkspire's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.75
mike_brough's review against another edition
4.0
Whew! It's taken me months to read. Did I enjoy the experience? Yes. And no. Some of the stories were really hard going but they all stay with you. Nothing is ever very scary - unless you sit back and think on it. Nothing in-your-face, everything in-your-mind.
The annotations were interesting but a) there weren't enough of them and b) they focused too much on explaining facts and not enough on critical discussions.
Worth a read.
The annotations were interesting but a) there weren't enough of them and b) they focused too much on explaining facts and not enough on critical discussions.
Worth a read.
wchorak's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
jtkeenan's review against another edition
4.0
Klinger does a fabulous job, as always, with his annotations and appendices, and having all of Lovecraftâs Cthulhu mythos stories in one volume is nice. Post âLovecraft Country,â though, the reading experience loses something (as the reader canât help but see the implicit racism in some of the work, something I completely missed when reading Lovecraft as a teen). And reading everything back-to-back, while you can only marvel at Lovecraftâs imagination, his actual writing can be a tough slog at times.
emmarj's review against another edition
5.0
I think I need this for my shelf. Excellent annotations.
mattheww98's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
shadowspinner's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
onceandfuturelaura's review against another edition
3.0
I canât say I like H.P. Lovecraft. His text is suffused with overt racism, sexism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, more subtle racism, blah blah blah. I can't say I like reading H.P. Lovecraft. Reading him is a slog. This book, while beautiful, was a slog. The annotations were generally interesting but there was a point where I did not need any more Euclidian geometric details. Which got the annotations. Unlike the non-Euclidian ones. Which generally make my eyes glaze over though they clearly scared the shit out of H. P.
BUT.
But H. P. Lovecraft put his thumb on something fundamental about America. About who we are. About the things that make us tremble, all the way down. About those terrors, just beyond the edge of the firelight.
I canât say this text is satisfying. Again and again, the climax of the Lovecraftian story is some revelation about how freaking terrifying the dark is rather than the triumph of Buffy [or Shadow or the Winchesters or Kirk or Spock or Buck or Arthur frelling Dent over the dark.] But I am not afraid of the dark. What terrifies me is the evil Iâm complicit in.
Anyhoo. This book has a great introduction by Alan Moore and many elucidating notes and appendixes, some of which were not about architecture. I canât say that itâs a good book. If I wasnât 16 frelling days into a nasty cold, Iâm not sure I would have finished it. It worked better with mucus than many stories Iâve read in my time. But man, Lovecraft lurks in the genesis of so much of Pax Americana. It's fascinating seeing where the shadows started.
I can say that I like having read H.P. Lovecraft.
edited to add: great interview with Neil Gaiman and his lawyer about the book available here: http://www.raintaxi.com/conversing-around-lovecraft-leslie-s-klinger-and-neil-gaiman/
BUT.
But H. P. Lovecraft put his thumb on something fundamental about America. About who we are. About the things that make us tremble, all the way down. About those terrors, just beyond the edge of the firelight.
I canât say this text is satisfying. Again and again, the climax of the Lovecraftian story is some revelation about how freaking terrifying the dark is rather than the triumph of Buffy [or Shadow or the Winchesters or Kirk or Spock or Buck or Arthur frelling Dent over the dark.] But I am not afraid of the dark. What terrifies me is the evil Iâm complicit in.
Anyhoo. This book has a great introduction by Alan Moore and many elucidating notes and appendixes, some of which were not about architecture. I canât say that itâs a good book. If I wasnât 16 frelling days into a nasty cold, Iâm not sure I would have finished it. It worked better with mucus than many stories Iâve read in my time. But man, Lovecraft lurks in the genesis of so much of Pax Americana. It's fascinating seeing where the shadows started.
I can say that I like having read H.P. Lovecraft.
edited to add: great interview with Neil Gaiman and his lawyer about the book available here: http://www.raintaxi.com/conversing-around-lovecraft-leslie-s-klinger-and-neil-gaiman/
abomine's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I was personally hoping for the footnotes to be more about the cultural and literary influences of Lovecraft and less about the real-life locations of these stories (though those were interesting too). Also, while this is a hefty collection of important Lovecraft stories, a lot of other important ones are missing from this particular collection, which you'll find in volume 2 of this annotated series, Beyond Arkham.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, and Mental illness