The Night Land
Sep. 6th, 2012 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rain_gryphonGood Lord! I've just stumbled across an actual website devoted to W. H. Hodgson's "The Night Land". I have to agree with the assessment on the front page - it's a deeply, terribly flawed work, but there's vision and power here like I've never read in any other work of fantasy. Hodgson understood the nature of dread, and how to evoke it.
The novel itself is one of those 'dream fantasy' works that were so popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fans of Lovecraft will recognize the style. The characters are treated simply as viewpoints, and assigned motivations by the author. There are no characters to care about - the attraction is in the ideas. If you can get past that, and it's a major hurdle for modern readers (althought 'The Night Land' was only written in 1912), then you will find wonders waiting for you.
The story itself is about the last days of man, in the far, far future, on a darkened earth after the sun has burned out. The few millions who remain dwell in an enormous metal pyramid, the past largely forgotten, concerned only with survival while surrounded by an eternal night filled with humanity's past. And humanity's past brings consequences. The plains around the Redoubt are filled with Others patiently waiting. To leave the pyramid and wander among the Watchers, among the Silent Ones, to learn truly what the House of Silence and the Seven Lights signify, is to gain unwelcome knowledge that few have lived to forget. The hero, of course, must undertake such a quest.
Froma review on the website: I can't think of another novel I've ever read where the protagonist skulks and hides in abject fear, even literally crawling on hands and knees, as a normal condition of travel throughout the quest. :) That taps into primordial depths of absolute terror - the kind that pervades my being with full, thickly rich horror that freezes action and makes me incapable of rational thought.
*****
The fanart section is remarkable here. It's poorly organized, so look at the bottom of the fanart page for the scarcely visible links. It's worth the trouble!
*****
If you're wondering where you've heard of the author before, he's the one who wrote the oft-anthologized "A Voice in the Night", one of the most thoroughly disturbing, yet completely non-supernatural works of horror ever written.
The novel itself is one of those 'dream fantasy' works that were so popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Fans of Lovecraft will recognize the style. The characters are treated simply as viewpoints, and assigned motivations by the author. There are no characters to care about - the attraction is in the ideas. If you can get past that, and it's a major hurdle for modern readers (althought 'The Night Land' was only written in 1912), then you will find wonders waiting for you.
The story itself is about the last days of man, in the far, far future, on a darkened earth after the sun has burned out. The few millions who remain dwell in an enormous metal pyramid, the past largely forgotten, concerned only with survival while surrounded by an eternal night filled with humanity's past. And humanity's past brings consequences. The plains around the Redoubt are filled with Others patiently waiting. To leave the pyramid and wander among the Watchers, among the Silent Ones, to learn truly what the House of Silence and the Seven Lights signify, is to gain unwelcome knowledge that few have lived to forget. The hero, of course, must undertake such a quest.
Froma review on the website: I can't think of another novel I've ever read where the protagonist skulks and hides in abject fear, even literally crawling on hands and knees, as a normal condition of travel throughout the quest. :) That taps into primordial depths of absolute terror - the kind that pervades my being with full, thickly rich horror that freezes action and makes me incapable of rational thought.
*****
The fanart section is remarkable here. It's poorly organized, so look at the bottom of the fanart page for the scarcely visible links. It's worth the trouble!
*****
If you're wondering where you've heard of the author before, he's the one who wrote the oft-anthologized "A Voice in the Night", one of the most thoroughly disturbing, yet completely non-supernatural works of horror ever written.
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Date: 2012-09-07 03:19 am (UTC)Here (http://www.donaldcorrell.com/whh/index.html) is the site where I found "From the Tideless Sea."
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Date: 2012-09-09 02:53 am (UTC)http://www.amazon.com/The-Boats-Glen-Carrig-ebook/dp/B0083ZR3GS/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1347158593&sr=1-7&keywords=william+hope+hodgson
Gutenberg has a free copy also, in many formats: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10542
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Date: 2012-09-07 12:35 pm (UTC)I picked up on your journal entry doing a search for related subjects
thanx for the eyeballs and link - I'm gad you enjoy it.
Now, this is a bit off topic, but . . . ..
1) Your comment about it being difficult to navigate have been made before by others -
2) Obviously there is validity in it.
3) Would you consider making a few suggestions for improvement? or just letting me know what is really bad about it? Hilite the worst bits???
The site "just growed:" and I'm no expert at graphic design
All feedback gratefully received.
If you don't want to clutter up your blog you can email PINLIGHTER (AT) BTCONNECT (DOT) COM
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Date: 2012-09-09 02:56 am (UTC)