Post by David Kartos on Nov 23, 2008 21:43:32 GMT
LBL Review # 3-A strange Manuscript found in a copper cylinder-De Mille 1888
Not too many tales have been labeled as a satirical romance,and yet have such general signs of the Weird and adventureous,that it is truly puzeling. The only reason I can give is that the manuscripts definition in the tale itself, handed by the skeptic Melek was from some strange reason considered an official categorisation.The first five,six chapters cannot leave one at doubt about that.
˝A strange manuscript found in a copper cylinder˝ is the story of a manuscript found in a copper cylindr,writen on papyrus.The manuscrupt relates how Adam More became shipwreckt and alone on the Pole and,escaping a hord of strangely kind canibals,falls through a cataract and ends in a tropical land, hemmed in by mountains,where he locates a curious people-loving darkness, death and slaying their even slightly wounded comrades.A place where the poorest are the highest esteemed and the rulers are considered the lowliest and pettiest.This could be considered satirical enough,however the way Mille plays it makes us truly believe what he is saying-believing it credible in the realm of the fantastic and not the humorous.Relations to buddhism and asketism only strengtens this belief.
Also,Moore finds a woman of a diferent sort here,Alma,who becomes his love.However ,he learns that theese people,theese kind and self sacrificisng people are cannibals as well and that they plan to give him and Alma ˝the blessing of death˝ at the begining of the light season,when they will all crawl back to their caves.He finds an ally only in Layelah,the daughter of the Kohen Gedol,the ˝lowest˝ in the land,having the greatest wealth and power, who is a man much like us.His daughter falls in love with Moore and wants to fly away with him on one of the local phantastic creatures-pterodactyles of a strange sort,surviving in this isolated warm climate for untolled ages.
The story ends with the fleeing Alma and Moore being captured and brought back and because of the lies the Kohen Gedol´s daughter told,they are to be ˝honoured˝ with the greatest blesings of the local people-the Kosekin- by deprivation of liberty,wealth and confinement with the most haggard and vile paupers and hags,separate of each other.However on the eve of the sacrifice,Moore manages to kill the Chief Pauper and Alma the Chief Hag and take over as rulers of the land-and,for the great joy of the people-taking a great amount of riches,palaces and light and demoting everyone and also decide to ship all the paupers to the island from which they themselves tried to escape for them all to starve to death there asketicly.The final note the manuscript gives is how they will escape after a litle time of rest.
This narativ is at times interupted by discusions on the contents by the men finding the copper cylinder and the manuscript.Most of them,especialy the learnd professor tend to believe it after some scientific discusion and proofs,but the only one to not acknowledge it as anything else then an out of the way way to publish a sensationalist novel-a poor explanation at that-is the jovial,and unlikale skeptic Melek.It are his words that give the text its clasification.I ask why,however,considering how serious this tale is made-including some well researched discusions on prehistoric lizards known today almost infamously,but referenced in the text as a novelty.
All in all,this is a wonderfull imaginative story,whose only fault is probably the somewhat soap operatic Chapter 20,so my rating is 7.4/10.Certainly for everyone.HPL knew why he had this in his library.
Not too many tales have been labeled as a satirical romance,and yet have such general signs of the Weird and adventureous,that it is truly puzeling. The only reason I can give is that the manuscripts definition in the tale itself, handed by the skeptic Melek was from some strange reason considered an official categorisation.The first five,six chapters cannot leave one at doubt about that.
˝A strange manuscript found in a copper cylinder˝ is the story of a manuscript found in a copper cylindr,writen on papyrus.The manuscrupt relates how Adam More became shipwreckt and alone on the Pole and,escaping a hord of strangely kind canibals,falls through a cataract and ends in a tropical land, hemmed in by mountains,where he locates a curious people-loving darkness, death and slaying their even slightly wounded comrades.A place where the poorest are the highest esteemed and the rulers are considered the lowliest and pettiest.This could be considered satirical enough,however the way Mille plays it makes us truly believe what he is saying-believing it credible in the realm of the fantastic and not the humorous.Relations to buddhism and asketism only strengtens this belief.
Also,Moore finds a woman of a diferent sort here,Alma,who becomes his love.However ,he learns that theese people,theese kind and self sacrificisng people are cannibals as well and that they plan to give him and Alma ˝the blessing of death˝ at the begining of the light season,when they will all crawl back to their caves.He finds an ally only in Layelah,the daughter of the Kohen Gedol,the ˝lowest˝ in the land,having the greatest wealth and power, who is a man much like us.His daughter falls in love with Moore and wants to fly away with him on one of the local phantastic creatures-pterodactyles of a strange sort,surviving in this isolated warm climate for untolled ages.
The story ends with the fleeing Alma and Moore being captured and brought back and because of the lies the Kohen Gedol´s daughter told,they are to be ˝honoured˝ with the greatest blesings of the local people-the Kosekin- by deprivation of liberty,wealth and confinement with the most haggard and vile paupers and hags,separate of each other.However on the eve of the sacrifice,Moore manages to kill the Chief Pauper and Alma the Chief Hag and take over as rulers of the land-and,for the great joy of the people-taking a great amount of riches,palaces and light and demoting everyone and also decide to ship all the paupers to the island from which they themselves tried to escape for them all to starve to death there asketicly.The final note the manuscript gives is how they will escape after a litle time of rest.
This narativ is at times interupted by discusions on the contents by the men finding the copper cylinder and the manuscript.Most of them,especialy the learnd professor tend to believe it after some scientific discusion and proofs,but the only one to not acknowledge it as anything else then an out of the way way to publish a sensationalist novel-a poor explanation at that-is the jovial,and unlikale skeptic Melek.It are his words that give the text its clasification.I ask why,however,considering how serious this tale is made-including some well researched discusions on prehistoric lizards known today almost infamously,but referenced in the text as a novelty.
All in all,this is a wonderfull imaginative story,whose only fault is probably the somewhat soap operatic Chapter 20,so my rating is 7.4/10.Certainly for everyone.HPL knew why he had this in his library.