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Title: Dagon and Other Macabre Tales by H. P. Lovecraft, T. E. Klein, S. T. Joshi ISBN: 0-87054-039-4 Publisher: Arkham House Publishers Pub. Date: 01 October, 1986 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Contents of This Book
Comment: With so many different Lovecraft collections out there, it may help prospective buyers to know what's actually in this one:
[By S. T. Joshi:] A Note on the Texts; [by Robert Bloch:] Heritage of Horror [an introductory essay by a protégé of Lovecraft and the author of PSYCHO]; [short stories by Lovecraft:] In the Vault; Pickman's Model; The Rats in the Walls; The Outsider; The Colour Out of Space; The Music of Erich Zann; The Haunter of the Dark; The Picture in the House; The Call of Cthulhu; The Dunwich Horror; Cool Air; The Whisperer in Darkness; The Terrible Old Man; The Thing on the Doorstep; The Shadow Over Innsmouth; The Shadow Out of Time
This is the first in a series of four matching hardcover volumes that present nearly all of Lovecraft's prose fiction. This first volume emphasizes Lovecraft's better short stories (in fact, its original editor, August Derleth, had initially planned to title it BEST SUPERNATURAL FICTION OF H.P. LOVECRAFT). The second volume, AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS AND OTHER NOVELS, features Lovecraft's three novellas, his three short stories concerning the character Randolph Carter (who's also featured in one of the novellas), and a few other short stories. The third volume, DAGON AND OTHER MACABRE TALES, presents many lesser, or at least less popular, works of fiction, plus Lovecraft's monograph, "Supernatural Horror in Literature". The fourth, THE HORROR IN THE MUSEUM AND OTHER REVISIONS, which includes most of his ghostwritten and collaborative stories, is the weakest in this series, but some gems still lie within.
This series of volumes was originally published by Arkham House Publishers, Inc., in the 1960s, edited, as noted above, by August Derleth. Years later, after Derleth's death, the Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi prepared texts of Lovecraft's fiction that corrected errors that had plagued various print versions thereof and otherwise tried to do a better job of honoring Lovecraft's intentions. Though Joshi had hoped to edit a chronological presentation of Lovecraft's fiction, Arkham House only agreed to publish Joshi's revised texts arranged according to the old Derleth collections, so that the Derleth Estate, which owns Arkham House, could cash in on much of the royalties of the revised texts for Derleth's old editing job. So, alas, this series of matching volumes now in print as published in the '80s isn't arranged as systematically as should be: Lovecraft's work tends to be best enjoyed, understood, and consulted in the chronological order of its composition.
Joshi deserves great credit for bringing these vastly improved texts to the public. Still, some of his textual editing decisions deserve to be called into dispute. Take, for example, "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", one of the stories in THE DUNWICH HORROR AND OTHERS. The three dictionaries I consulted say that "cyclopean" and "Cyclopean" are both valid forms of the same word; yet Joshi arbitrarily changes Lovecraft's unmistakable choice of the former to the latter. Those dictionaries also indicate a general preference for not hyphenating adjectives ending with the suffix "like" - yet Joshi inexplicably changes Lovecraft's use of the words fishlike, froglike, sheeplike, barnlike, parklike, and doglike to fish-like, frog-like, sheep-like, barn-like, park-like and dog-like.
Other times, the standard rules of English are on Joshi's side, as when he corrects Lovecraft's habit of hyphenating between adverbs and adjectives (as in "thickly-settled"). But in these and other such reasonable corrections, Joshi presumes too much. Lovecraft was highly literate and well-educated, a professional editor himself, and must have had carefully thought out reasons for spelling and punctuating as he did. Joshi is inconsistent by restoring some nonstandard features of Lovecraft's writing, such as a preference for British and certain archaic spelling, on the one hand, and to "correct" other idiosyncratic features on the other.
All that aside, THE DUNWICH HORROR AND OTHERS, as with the others in this series, has fine content amd belongs on the bookshelf of every serious Lovecraft reader.
Rating: 5
Summary: These stories are not for the Lovecraft uninitiated...
Comment: This collection of work ranks as my second favorite, falling just short of "At the Mountains of Madness" also published by Arkham house. It contains most of his earlier works, and does a better job providing the reader with a glimpse of the forces which shaped his work through the years than any other collection could hope to. If you are new to Lovecraft, these works would probably not be appreciated as much as others. They are much more enjoyable when one has a better understanding of what Lovecraft is all about. I would suggest starting with the collection "The Dunwich Horror and Others" also by Arkham house. It contains most of Lovecraft's most popular work, including "The Call of Cthulhu" and "The Colour out of Space". For any fan or collecter of Lovecraft, however, this book is an absolute must have.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Lovecraft Experience
Comment: In my humble opinion, there are two ways to read Lovecraft. The first, and best, is to get your hands on an original "Wierd Tales" or other pulp. There is something about the musty smell that adds to the tale. For true conisours, read them under the covers with a flashlight, late in the evening hours.
Realizing that original pulps may be prohibitively expensive, the Arkham House Editions are the next option. These hardback treasures are as much a part of Lovecraft's legacy as the stories themselves. Lovecraft would be all but forgotten if it were not for the small circle of friends who founded Arkham House, with the sole mission of keeping his writings in print. Arkham House is the definitive Lovecraft volume.
The stories in "Dagon and Other MacAbre Tales" are classics, including "Herbert West Re-Animator," "The Doom That Came to Sarnath," "The Strange High House in the Mist," "The Cats of Ulthar ," "Dagon," "Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family ," "The Lurking Fear ," "The Transition of Juan Romero ," and his acclaimed essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature [revised] ."
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