Sunday, November 11, 2012

H.P. Lovecraft Sundays #10


Sundays are the days that a read a story from my big book, H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction, and review it here. My goal is to finish this book by the end of 2013.

Interpretation of the dream world of Lovecraft

"The White Ship"
3.5 stars

"I am Basil Elton, keeper of the North Point light that my father and grandfather kept before me."

Basil Elton, a lighthouse keeper, gets called out into the night. A great white ship has arrived, which encourages Basil to board it and go traveling to discover great lands.The ship is captained by a bearded man who follows a heavenly blue bird that guides the ship as it flies above.
 
The ship takes Basil to many different wonderous lands. They pass the Land of Zar "where dwell all the dreams and thoughts of beauty that come to men once and then are forgotten," Thalarion the City of a Thousand Wonders "wherein reside all those mysteries that man has striven in vain to fathom," Xura "the Land of Pleasures Unattained," and to the Land of Sona-Nyl where "neither time nor space, neither suffering nor death" existed, which Basil stays for many years.
 
In Sona-Nyl, Basil hears of Cathuria the Land of Hope. No man has ever seen it and Basil wants to find it. He urges the bearded man to take sail again to find this mysterious land.
 
Unfortunately, they meet themselves at the edge of the world and are about to crash. Basil closes his eyes from the imminent doom and when he opens them again, he is back at the lighthouse where time hasn't changed.
 
This was an interesting introduction to the dream world of Lovecraft. I enjoyed the different lands that the world described and I have a feeling that I'll be reading more about this land in future works. Overall, this was a good read.
 
If you would like to read "The White Ship", you can visit the H.P. Lovecraft Archives.
 
 

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