now reading

Lovecraft, “The Colour Out of Space.”

It was his favorite of his own stories, but I think it’s clearly not quite his best.

Which one is his best? I’d probably join many others in giving it to “At the Mountains of Madness,” except that it goes on about 60 pages too long. The opening 40 or 50 pages are brilliant.

I’ve always been fond of “The Dunwich Horror,” despite a couple of shrill moments near the end, because I think it’s very well written. Some people dismiss it as being too focused on Christian themes of good and evil rather than the pagan amoralism of the other stories, but I think that slightly overstates the case.

“The Shadow Over Innsmouth” is sometimes called the scariest. I can see the point. (And incidentally, Houellebecq is wrong that there are “zero” references in Lovecraft to the financial standing of his characters. In “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” the narrator chats with the train station employee about his need to be economical with his travel funds. But Houellebecq’s point basically stands.)

I’m not especially fond of “The Shadow Out of Time” (the last of the eight “great tales”).

As for the most underrated Lovecraft story, I think it’s “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward,” especially the Revolutionary War-Era parts. Sci fi/horror set in the 1700’s is a brilliant idea, and he pulls it off well.