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A review by scrooge3
The Fiction: Complete and Unabridged by H.P. Lovecraft
4.0
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (Beyond the Wall of Sleep, 1943) - 81-page novella. 2 stars.
According to this anthology's introduction, "Lovecraft felt that the work was merely 'practice' for novel-writing, and he made no effort to prepare it for publication...." It's easy to see that Lovecraft didn't think much of the finished product, more a draft or outline than actual story. But his estate apparently didn't care and published it posthumously. As such, it is more of a historical artifact than a real piece of literature. The Retro Hugo voters undoubtedly nominated it on the strength of Lovecraft's name rather than the story's quality.
Nevertheless, this novella is not without some measure of interest. In it, Lovecraft certainly created a myriad of strange and monstrous landscapes and creatures. The stream-of-consciousness style of the story is quite dreamlike.
But the overall effect is not very satisfying. There is no dialog save for a long monolog near the end by Nyarlanthotep, an outer god. The protagonist, Randolph Carter, moves from one event to another without any chapter or section breaks. The prose is often dense with long, descriptive sentences, yet just as often these sentences don't really convey a clear mental picture of what's going on. I imagine it could be expanded by another writer and a compelling book would emerge.
I didn't read the rest of this anthology, although I have read many of the stories elsewhere. So I give the anthology 4 stars, but the novella only gets 2 stars.
According to this anthology's introduction, "Lovecraft felt that the work was merely 'practice' for novel-writing, and he made no effort to prepare it for publication...." It's easy to see that Lovecraft didn't think much of the finished product, more a draft or outline than actual story. But his estate apparently didn't care and published it posthumously. As such, it is more of a historical artifact than a real piece of literature. The Retro Hugo voters undoubtedly nominated it on the strength of Lovecraft's name rather than the story's quality.
Nevertheless, this novella is not without some measure of interest. In it, Lovecraft certainly created a myriad of strange and monstrous landscapes and creatures. The stream-of-consciousness style of the story is quite dreamlike.
But the overall effect is not very satisfying. There is no dialog save for a long monolog near the end by Nyarlanthotep, an outer god. The protagonist, Randolph Carter, moves from one event to another without any chapter or section breaks. The prose is often dense with long, descriptive sentences, yet just as often these sentences don't really convey a clear mental picture of what's going on. I imagine it could be expanded by another writer and a compelling book would emerge.
I didn't read the rest of this anthology, although I have read many of the stories elsewhere. So I give the anthology 4 stars, but the novella only gets 2 stars.