Life and Death
vonj...@hotmail.com
LIFE AND DEATH
by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
(The original MS., found in a private collection in Albany, NY, consists
of two handwritten pages. In the upper-left-hand corner is an
annotation in Lovecraft's hand -- "October 22, 1919". It's probably
illegal for me to post it, but I thought you'd want to see it.)
One night, as I lay in my bed, the Daemon appeared before me and
stretched out his hand, saying, "Come!" I rose, and was bourne into a
vortex of unimaginable chaos, over the winds from the heart of Ultima
Thule, past lakes of frozen fire and the columns and pilasters of half-
seen temples ruined ere man was old. And the Daemon whispered in my ear,
saying, "O mortal, what is that which is more hideous of all, life or
death?"
The question was not strange to me, for I had often pondered it
during my readings of little-known and ancient books, so I replied,
"Truly, I know not, but from what I have seen of life, it is infinitely
preferable to death."
"I will shew you," the daemon replied, and the visions whirled
before me. I saw the lands of olden earth, nothing but rock and flame
churning and boiling under a crimson sky. I beheld the charnel-houses of
the earth opened before me, and the tossing and turning of the unholy
cadavers within them. Then, as the storied Moses, I parted the waters of
the ocean and went to the deep, seeing the fat sea-worms burrowing through
the ooze, and the sunken cities with church-bells still rung by the
sunless tides. And I spoke to the Daemon, saying, "This is indeed proof
of my supposition."
"Look on," the Daemon replied. And I beheld a primordial jungle,
over which great thunderstorms clashed and monstrous reptiles snarled and
tore into each other. And I saw the lianas and creepers wax green and
hideous, smothering the ruins of forgotten cities and tombs of mighty
kings of yore. Beyond came a unnameable, bestial thing wearing the
untanned skins of sabre-toothed tigers and mastodons, smashing out the
brains of his fellows as he howled and laughed. Then I was flying over
the centers of culture and learning, and found them festering with the
miscenegation and decay which had overtaken my once-bold people.
I turned to the daemon and said, "I admit my error, O daemon,
for clearly lfie is more hideous than death."
And the daemon nodded.
-----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==-----
http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading
Sylvain Moisan
On Wed, 01 Apr 1998 17:48:03 -0600, in alt.horror.cthulhu vonj...@hotmail.com
schrieb:
> LIFE AND DEATH
>
by Daniel Harms, April Fool's Day 1998.
==============================================================
Sylvain Moisan, ing. stag. | E-mail: smo...@phy.ulaval.ca
COPL, Universite Laval | Phone: 418-656-2131 x6261
Ste-Foy, Quebec | Fax: 418-656-2623
Canada, G1K 7P4 |
============= http://tropin.phy.ulaval.ca/smoisan ============
JBassior
Nice little vignette. Did Lovecraft really write it? And if so, why hasn't it
been anthologized before?
StoOdin101
>Nice little vignette. Did Lovecraft really write it? And if so, why hasn't
>it<
>been anthologized before?<
It was an April Fool joke. However, there was, apparently, a story or prose
poem or SOMETHING with the title "life and death", based around the same
premise as the vignette printed here, that WAS written by Lovecraft, but has
disappeared. Hence the jester's preface about the discovery of the story in an
Albany NY collection of papers, etc.
Incidentally, it didnt fool me (sorry, Dan); the Lovecraft style is very
difficult to emulate, though many have tried. When I was a kid in hiskul I
filled many a page with my wannabe Lovecraftianisms; I have since opted for a
much less opulent style in my occasional stories. (My MUSIC, however, is
complex to the point of overload.)
NECRONOMICON, all-instrumental electronic music inspired by H.P.Lovecraft, now
available on c-60 cassette. E-mail StoOd...@aol.com for details.
vonj...@hotmail.com
In article <199804130418...@ladder01.news.aol.com>,
stood...@aol.com (StoOdin101) wrote:
>
> >Nice little vignette. Did Lovecraft really write it? And if so, why hasn't
> >it<
> >been anthologized before?<
> It was an April Fool joke. However, there was, apparently, a story or prose
> poem or SOMETHING with the title "life and death", based around the same
> premise as the vignette printed here, that WAS written by Lovecraft, but has
> disappeared. Hence the jester's preface about the discovery of the story in
an
> Albany NY collection of papers, etc.
Yep, it was my little joke. It'll probably come back to haunt me
later -- but it was fun.
> Incidentally, it didnt fool me (sorry, Dan); the Lovecraft style is very
> difficult to emulate, though many have tried. When I was a kid in hiskul I
> filled many a page with my wannabe Lovecraftianisms; I have since opted for
a
> much less opulent style in my occasional stories. (My MUSIC, however, is
> complex to the point of overload.)
Well, that was a waste of half an hour. ;-)
Yrs.,
Daniel