by Travis
Whereas SoG is dedicated to the pursuit of great literature through the window of Harry Potter, and whereas October is a month for the celebration of the imagination and scary stories, and whereas H.P. Lovecraft’s stories have been a primary influence on many of today’s horror story writers, the Blogengamot is officially christening October 2007, “H.P. Lovecraft Month.”
What this means is that we’re going to take a month-long break from Harry Potter-only analysis to delve into the work of another writer. Lovecraft’s short stories are available online, and SoG will be focusing on one story per week for the 5 weeks of October. We’re hoping that you’ll read the story as well and jump in on the conversation. Here is the schedule:
- Week One: The Call of Cthulhu
- Week Two: The Shadow Over Innsmouth
- Week Three: The Rats in the Walls
- Week Four: Pickman’s Model
- Week Five: The Shunned House
I’ll re-post each of them at the start of their week, and we’ll spend the week discussing them. The Blogengamot will be posting in a running, conversational group-blog style for the month of October. Our goals will be the following:
- Discover the work of H.P. Lovecraft (most of the Blogengamot is unfamiliar with Lovecraft, so it’s quite the learning experience for all writers and readers of SoG)
- Analyze themes, influences, and lasting effects of Lovecraft’s stories
- Analyze effectiveness as a horror story
- Find parallels between Lovecraft and Harry Potter (thematic, symbolic, etc.)
The rest of this week will continue as normal – a pubcast tomorrow, and posts by Dave and Johnny Thursday and Friday. I’ll do another pubcast on Saturday or Sunday to introduce the H.P. Lovecraft project we’re doing here, with some biographical information on Lovecraft himself, and then it will begin Sunday, September 30. I hope you’ll all join the discussion!
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This is going to be a lot of fun.
Roll on October!
Matthew
Just read The Rats in the Walls. I’d read it a long time ago, and forgotten most of it. But the one word brought it all back.
Must confess that that word (which I won’t name lest it give the whole show away) did send chills down my back.
Travis, you might want to post a notice warning people Lovecraft wrote in the early part of the 20th century, when racial slurs were not regarded as unacceptable.
Good point, Reyhan.
I just read The Call of Cthulhu for the first time and while I loved the language and I’m looking forward to the discussion, the racial slurs were surprising and many!
But then again I’m reading some Enid Blyton to the kids and have to quickly rephrase some unhelpful adjectives as I go!
Omigosh. People are still reading Enid Blyton! I used to love the Adventure series. Could never understand their fascination with “tinned food” though. Maybe it was a post-war thing.
I’m reading Arthur Ransome to my 6 year old. And thinking of trying him with the original version of The Jungle Book.
Four writers, all very widely read. All writing juvenile fiction, but read and enjoyed by adults. But of very differnt stature. Blyton’s work is not “classic”, Kipling’s definitely is. Arthur Ransome? Rowling?
We should try to hammer out a definition of what is a “classic” one of these days.
Just read The Shunned House. Again, the use of the one mundane word which strikes you with horror because of its implications.
And always with the italics.
Fantastic idea!! I am looking forward to joining the discussion.