lovecraft

This subject is written on a topic in the real world and reflects factual information. This subject contains information from the "Lovecraft Circle" Myth Cycles, and while guided by HPL are not based on his work alone. "Memory" is a prose poem by American horror and science fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in 1919 and published in June 1919 in The United Co-Operative.[1]

Themes

"Memory" uses many of H. P. Lovecraft's common images and ideas, such as relics of the deep past and things "without name". Also, his fondness for vast, monolithic ruins (a favourite with many other Cthulhu and horror writers) is evident in the intricate description found in the page-long story.

Overview

This story takes place in the ancient valley of Nis, in vegetation-covered stone ruins described by Lovecraft in great detail. These crumbling blocks of monolithic stone now serve only for grey toads and snakes to nest under. Interspersed in the ruins are large trees that are home to little apes. Through the bottom of this valley runs the great, slimy red river called Than.

"Memory" involves only two characters: "the Genie that haunts the moonbeams" and "the Daemon of the Valley". The Genie inquires of the Daemon who it was that long ago placed the stones that were now the desolate ruin near the river Than. The Daemon replies that he remembers the name of the creatures "clearly," but only because their name rhymed with that of the river: they were called Man. He also remembers "dimly" that they appeared like the small apes that now leap through the ruins. The Genie flies back to his moonbeams, and the Daemon turns to regard an ape in silent contemplation.

Inspiration

The short piece owes a heavy debt to Edgar Allan Poe, particularly Poe's story "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion", which also features a dialogue between two supernatural creatures after the extinction of humanity.[2] Poe's "The Valley of Unrest" mentions "the valley Nis".[3]

Publication History

After its first appearance in The United Co-Operative--an amateur press journal jointly edited by Lovecraft, W. Paul Cook, and Winifred V. Jackson, among others--the story was reprinted many times, including in the Arkham House collections Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1943) and Dreams and Fancies (1962), and the Ballantine paperback The Doom That Came to Sarnath (1971).[4]

References

  1. ↑ The H. P. Lovecraft Archive, "Data Page for 'Memory'".
  2. ↑ Wikipedia, "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion".
  3. ↑ An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, "'Memory'", by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz (Hippocampus Press, 2004).
  4. ↑ Internet Speculative Fiction Database, "Title: Memory."