AtD - Anarchy vs Terror

[John BAILEY]

I felt the whole Arctic scene was as, if not more, reminiscent of Poe's
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket, which was a direct
influence on Lovecraft's "Mountains". Also has some hollow earth stuff
of relevance. Actually I've just realised that Jules Verne wrote a
sequel to Arthur Gordon Pym (I love it when authors write sequels to
somebody else's work) called The Sphinx of the Ice Fields - jeebus, if
that title alone doesn't sound resonant I'll get off this trolley car
right now.

Strongly recommend Victoria Nelson's The Secret Life of Puppets in this
regard - thanks Dave Monroe for donating a copy of this to me a while
back. The chapter "Symmes Hole, or the South Polar Grotto" discusses the
literature of this period which found in the icecaps an endless source
of fascination and perhaps transcendence, often hinting at hollow earth
stuff. Preceding chapter is on Lovecraft, succeeding is on Philip K.
Dick, if I remember correctment. Also a chapter on the history of the
American Fantastic. Something for everyone! Great book.

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On
Behalf Of The Great Quail
Sent: Tuesday, 5 December 2006 2:48 AM
To: The Whole Sick Crew
Subject: Re: AtD - Anarchy vs Terror

Jasper writes, 

> I thought of a Lovecraftian Great Old One or Elder God.
> 
> rich wrote:
>> I thought also tangentally of the story/movie The Thing--something in

>> somewhat human form brought up from the ice and bringing havoc and 
>> mayhem

Yes, it had a definite Lovecraftian feel -- specifically, "At the
Mountains of Madness." Which was also a huge influence on John Campbell
when he wrote "Who Goes There?", which inspired the movie "The Thing."
(Especially the Carpenter version). So, everything is connected.

Although I didn't think of King Kong when I read it, I did get a
Godzilla vibe, especially in light of "Vineland," and the general
symbolism behind the Godzilla story: nature's revenge on mankind, etc.
But for me, Lovecraft was the definite touchstone -- even the way the
chapter is narrated, as a journal, is very Lovecraftian.

Of course, I see HPL in everything. He's my second favorite dead
American writer, right after Melville....

--Quail