AtD - Anarchy vs Terror

[gp]

I haven't had a chance to dig through the list, but after getting
through the Iceland Spar section, I am inclined to say that the
parallel between anarchy and terror is not as prevalent as we may have
originally thought.  Does anyone else get the feeling that the
anarchists and the people who surround them are meant to be, simply,
US, and that we've been chasing a bit of a red herring here?  That the
link to terror is simply a sort of peripheral observation as opposed
to the main point?

On 12/4/06, John BAILEY <JBAILEY at theage.com.au> wrote:
> 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
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