Re: Lovecraft and non-graphic description

From: Sandy Petersen <sandyp_at_idgecko.idsoftware.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 96 18:28:09 -0500


Simon Phipp
>Many people have posted on Vadeli etc. and used the "Lovecraft"
>exmaple of how to describe things non-graphically. Well, I have
>always had my own views on Lovecraft and why he wrote like that

        Eat me, oh unfamiliar-with-HPL wiseacre. Note: Lovecraft did not always write in that fashion. Many of his stories demonstrate an almost clinical detail (for examples, see the death scene of Wilbur Whateley in "The Dunwich Horror", the Old One in "At the Mountains of Madness", Rhan-Tegoth in "The Horror from the Museum", and more). Whether you appreciate his writing style or not (many don't), it is clear from his own essays and conversations that he _chose_ not to describe at certain times.

        In addition, if the comment is meant as a general remark about non-graphic stuff being a cop-out, I recommend the interested reader to check out Arthur Machen (frex, THE GREAT GOD PAN or THE INMOST LIGHT), William Hope Hodgson (THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND, the terrific description of the land of the lost trees in the early part of BOATS OF THE GLEN CARRIG, and CARNACKI GHOST-FINDER), Algernon Blackwood (THE WENDIGO, THE WILLOWS), M. R. James (OH WHISTLE AND I'LL COME TO YOU MY LAD, etc.), and the noted British author of THE RED HOUSE [*dang* can't remember his name]. More classic examples of the art include Joseph Conrad (HEART OF DARKNESS -- just what _did_ Kurtz do out there by himself), Henry James (THE ASPERN PAPERS), and more -- TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES, WUTHERING HEIGHTS, and even modern pop-stuff like CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND.

        Anyway, I hope it's clear that while detailed description may have its place, there is also a hallowed spot left for the Unknown But Implied in both fiction and gaming.


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