Post by David Kartos on Nov 23, 2008 21:40:25 GMT
LBL review # 7-The Lair of the White Worm,Bram Stoker
(Concerning Bram Stoker) The Lair of the White Worm, dealing with a gigantic primitive entity that lurks in a vault beneath an ancient castle, utterly ruins a magnificent idea by a development almost infantile.
H.P.Lovecraft,Supernatural Horror in Literature,The Weird Tradition in the British Isles.
Most of times a writer,whose works are of a sort not quite reaching perfection will get beter through time,thanks to experience and weairng of of the novelty of it all.However,there are those who create one celebratd work and all their other works are published bearing the by-line "From the author of X!".More often then not this is simply horrid lunacy and unfair to both the writer and the readers-because theese works fall into the oblivion alongside numerous nearly forgoten but briliant works-like Alraune from Ewers,The Thing from the Lake by Ingram,Undine by Fouché,The Dark Chamber by Cline,Stories in the Dark by Pain or The Maker of Moons by Chambers to name but a few.
However then there are writers whose first gleams will never be outmatched by anything they will write thereafter.Abraham "Bram" Stoker is one of them.His Dracula has become one of the most sadly infamous and I dare use the words "whored" stories ever,being right there besides Frankenstein .While ive not read Dracula,I know of it repute but shall not judge it.The only thing I will say is that in numerous countries the works of numerous authors of the weird on the same or even higher level are compltely and uterly unheard of,compared to nigh yearly new editions of the "select few" .
Besides this,he wrote Jewell of the Seven Stars-a story which I have been itching to read for a long time-and The Invisible Giant,amongst others,a phantastical story of the highest stuffs.
Then there followed his most laconic work,The Lair of the White Worm.
The story,as Lovecraft notes,has a very promising idea-that of a huge ,antideluvial monstrous worm living down in catacombs since pre ancient times.And as he also notes,its execution is very lacking to say the least.
First of-it is this-that instead of keeping a steady suspense of mystery throughout the novel till right before the climax,the story profers to indulge us in the characters puting forwards,in full seriousness,speculations that at such state of evidnce and story development would realy have all sane people gulp and run away from you,if you would relate it to them.Not out of fear of the Thing,but of you.Downright skepticism exhibited even after profoundly weird events occur is something diferent-that is more often then not dispelled and the characters possesing such stuborness pay for it one way or the other.
However-downright absence of ANY skepticism and twentieth century thinking,im inclined to say even seventeenth century thinking,is downright mind bogling and does make you stare at the characters uterances in dis-belief-because for all of your imagination you can not ever think of you in that role forming such conclusions based on THAT.The rigidness of some of the characters is made even more sharply contrasting with their feigned academicness and/or whimsical witt.
This problem occurs in Gerald Biss´ The Door of the unreal to a decree.However it hapens MUCH later and the action and genuine horror that follow make up for it.
The story DOES have other eerie moments/situations beside the main theme, however those are profoundly overshadowed by it.
Then comes the note on the romance-another reaosn for HPL giving it a low score.Here the romance is positively even more "toshy" then in Abraham (coincidence?) Merritt´s works.Of course,it cant reach Chambers shop girl level,but it is firghtfully close.Basicly the romance is handeled both primitavely and unbelieavabely.
Third-the racism.Now,HPL might not have found too much fault with it at said time,nor contemporary readers,however I found quite a bit of fault with it.While its "the tongue of the times",I stil dont see the need for such overexagerations.In fact,its so uterly vulgar that I was GLAD when the black character died,so I wouldnt have to read it/listen to it anymore.
However,the book has many meritous sides too-the weird conduct of Cosgrove,his desire to kill,the strange kite and finaly the last,and truly great chapter where the horribility is unsurpressed.
I hope I wont deter anyone form reading it-it is a GREAT weird story,the only problems are that Stoker should have known beter.after so many years how to evade such beginers mistakes.So for my end rating I will say-6.8/11.
(Concerning Bram Stoker) The Lair of the White Worm, dealing with a gigantic primitive entity that lurks in a vault beneath an ancient castle, utterly ruins a magnificent idea by a development almost infantile.
H.P.Lovecraft,Supernatural Horror in Literature,The Weird Tradition in the British Isles.
Most of times a writer,whose works are of a sort not quite reaching perfection will get beter through time,thanks to experience and weairng of of the novelty of it all.However,there are those who create one celebratd work and all their other works are published bearing the by-line "From the author of X!".More often then not this is simply horrid lunacy and unfair to both the writer and the readers-because theese works fall into the oblivion alongside numerous nearly forgoten but briliant works-like Alraune from Ewers,The Thing from the Lake by Ingram,Undine by Fouché,The Dark Chamber by Cline,Stories in the Dark by Pain or The Maker of Moons by Chambers to name but a few.
However then there are writers whose first gleams will never be outmatched by anything they will write thereafter.Abraham "Bram" Stoker is one of them.His Dracula has become one of the most sadly infamous and I dare use the words "whored" stories ever,being right there besides Frankenstein .While ive not read Dracula,I know of it repute but shall not judge it.The only thing I will say is that in numerous countries the works of numerous authors of the weird on the same or even higher level are compltely and uterly unheard of,compared to nigh yearly new editions of the "select few" .
Besides this,he wrote Jewell of the Seven Stars-a story which I have been itching to read for a long time-and The Invisible Giant,amongst others,a phantastical story of the highest stuffs.
Then there followed his most laconic work,The Lair of the White Worm.
The story,as Lovecraft notes,has a very promising idea-that of a huge ,antideluvial monstrous worm living down in catacombs since pre ancient times.And as he also notes,its execution is very lacking to say the least.
First of-it is this-that instead of keeping a steady suspense of mystery throughout the novel till right before the climax,the story profers to indulge us in the characters puting forwards,in full seriousness,speculations that at such state of evidnce and story development would realy have all sane people gulp and run away from you,if you would relate it to them.Not out of fear of the Thing,but of you.Downright skepticism exhibited even after profoundly weird events occur is something diferent-that is more often then not dispelled and the characters possesing such stuborness pay for it one way or the other.
However-downright absence of ANY skepticism and twentieth century thinking,im inclined to say even seventeenth century thinking,is downright mind bogling and does make you stare at the characters uterances in dis-belief-because for all of your imagination you can not ever think of you in that role forming such conclusions based on THAT.The rigidness of some of the characters is made even more sharply contrasting with their feigned academicness and/or whimsical witt.
This problem occurs in Gerald Biss´ The Door of the unreal to a decree.However it hapens MUCH later and the action and genuine horror that follow make up for it.
The story DOES have other eerie moments/situations beside the main theme, however those are profoundly overshadowed by it.
Then comes the note on the romance-another reaosn for HPL giving it a low score.Here the romance is positively even more "toshy" then in Abraham (coincidence?) Merritt´s works.Of course,it cant reach Chambers shop girl level,but it is firghtfully close.Basicly the romance is handeled both primitavely and unbelieavabely.
Third-the racism.Now,HPL might not have found too much fault with it at said time,nor contemporary readers,however I found quite a bit of fault with it.While its "the tongue of the times",I stil dont see the need for such overexagerations.In fact,its so uterly vulgar that I was GLAD when the black character died,so I wouldnt have to read it/listen to it anymore.
However,the book has many meritous sides too-the weird conduct of Cosgrove,his desire to kill,the strange kite and finaly the last,and truly great chapter where the horribility is unsurpressed.
I hope I wont deter anyone form reading it-it is a GREAT weird story,the only problems are that Stoker should have known beter.after so many years how to evade such beginers mistakes.So for my end rating I will say-6.8/11.