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Reader and Collector, v. 3, issue 6, January 1946
Page 24
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24. Frank Belknap Long, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, Robert Bloch, Henry Kuttner, and E. Hoffman Price, all authors of like tales, served to give Lovecraft certain ideas and names used in the Mythos. Likewise they drew upon the Mythos for their later stories.4 The background Lovecraft developed for his some sixty-odd tales and novels is a nice merging of modern scientific discoveries, the themes of the fold in time, the metamorphic, the Atlantean, and the sorcerer, as well as the recent discoveries and conjectures of archeologists, and the witch-craft and ghosts of the Gothic novel. These themes are molded into the story of a space-sweeping cosmos of Elder and Old Gods, of thousands of peopled planets, of the "Crawling Chaos," of a sequence of strange races upon the earth prior to man, who are now interned inside the earth and whom certain cults are waiting to free from their bondage, when the stars are right and they may regain their former life and lands. The struggles of these former races and of their Gods is consistently unfolded. The Elder Gods are the aids of men and have kept the evil forces in check as far as possible, but as for the future the possibility of their continued success is not too great. Zig, the ancient god of the serpents, Dagon of the sea, and Ithaqua, an air-spirit, bring back recollections of Navajo and Bible stories. Through strange lands ruled by the Gods, the hero is led by his quest of knowledge, sometimes aided by the Most Ancient One, 'Umr-at-Tawil. The Mythos resolves into a cosmology which again places man at the center of the natural forces, although in this weird form the forces are usually fighting against him. Lovecraft's ability to substitute Gods of inner and outer space for the Gods of Olympus, and, for the story of the Ten Tribes, a whole catalogue of preadamic races, leads him to write such broad philosophical doctrines as, The Man of Truth is beyond good and evil... The Man of Truth has ridden to All-Is-One. The Man of Truth has learned that Illusion is the one Reality, and that Substance is the Great Imposter.5 ________________ 5. ibid, p. 49
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24. Frank Belknap Long, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, Robert Bloch, Henry Kuttner, and E. Hoffman Price, all authors of like tales, served to give Lovecraft certain ideas and names used in the Mythos. Likewise they drew upon the Mythos for their later stories.4 The background Lovecraft developed for his some sixty-odd tales and novels is a nice merging of modern scientific discoveries, the themes of the fold in time, the metamorphic, the Atlantean, and the sorcerer, as well as the recent discoveries and conjectures of archeologists, and the witch-craft and ghosts of the Gothic novel. These themes are molded into the story of a space-sweeping cosmos of Elder and Old Gods, of thousands of peopled planets, of the "Crawling Chaos," of a sequence of strange races upon the earth prior to man, who are now interned inside the earth and whom certain cults are waiting to free from their bondage, when the stars are right and they may regain their former life and lands. The struggles of these former races and of their Gods is consistently unfolded. The Elder Gods are the aids of men and have kept the evil forces in check as far as possible, but as for the future the possibility of their continued success is not too great. Zig, the ancient god of the serpents, Dagon of the sea, and Ithaqua, an air-spirit, bring back recollections of Navajo and Bible stories. Through strange lands ruled by the Gods, the hero is led by his quest of knowledge, sometimes aided by the Most Ancient One, 'Umr-at-Tawil. The Mythos resolves into a cosmology which again places man at the center of the natural forces, although in this weird form the forces are usually fighting against him. Lovecraft's ability to substitute Gods of inner and outer space for the Gods of Olympus, and, for the story of the Ten Tribes, a whole catalogue of preadamic races, leads him to write such broad philosophical doctrines as, The Man of Truth is beyond good and evil... The Man of Truth has ridden to All-Is-One. The Man of Truth has learned that Illusion is the one Reality, and that Substance is the Great Imposter.5 ________________ 5. ibid, p. 49
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