H.P. Lovecraft Sundays #16

Sunday is here again and it's time for me to review the next short story of Lovecraft's collection:

"Celephaïs"

3 stars



Celephais by Jason Thompson

"In a dream Kuranes saw the city in the valley, and the seacoast beyond, and the snowy peak overlooking the sea, and the gaily painted galleys that sail out of the harbour toward distant regions where the sea meets the sky."

The story begins with Kuranes in a dream overlooking a grand city. This man prefers to be in the dream world because in real life his writings are not appreciated and he is not respected. In his dreams, he is able to visit a wonderful land and he is highly honored by the people in this land.

The whole story centers on the descriptions of this dream world. It is very vivid and detailed. There is not much of a plot. We only know that Kuranes prefers to be asleep and even starts to take drugs so he could remain asleep. Towards the end though, we come to learn that his actual body has been washed up by waves, which brings up the question of his real body is dead. If so, is he stuck in this dream world forever?

It was interesting to read this world that keeps appearing in Lovecraft's writings. I liked how I was able to picture the world with all of the descriptions in the writing. I only wish that it had more of a plot to make the story more interesting.

If you would like to read this short story, then you can visit here.