VNS #1 - Dagon
28 Jul 2010 00:29![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cobaltnineA discussion of the ‘scientific’ themes of Lovecraft’s early short story ‘Dagon’ is possible in two manners; first, in comparing it with previous fantastic literature from the 19th century, or by simply discussing the ‘scientific’ in contrast to the emotional style of writing which becomes apparent throughout. As some time has passed since I have spent significant amounts of time with earlier authors, I cannot consider myself familiar enough with them to make a comparative example.
‘Dagon’ is a first person tale, framed with conscious implied past and future behaviors taken, or to be taken, by the narrator. The entirety of the middle is recited as if it consisted of a dream. The dream state is suspected by the narrator, but this interpretation is dismissed. The dismissal, among other behaviors, is ‘hand-waved’ away by the narrator. There is no discussion of emotional state; the chest does not swell with fear, and sights do not evoke memory or a desire for companionship. Instead, the narrator dismisses those moments in which irrational thought could intrude - and in refusing the dream explanation, he dismisses the idea of irrational thought and insists that all which has occurred is real. Single words suffice - ‘horrified’ and the elaborate ‘nauseated fear.’ There are a few poetic reminiscences, consisting of references to Doré and Milton. These stand out as things which the narrator has to pull from memory, versus the ‘scientific’, arguably cold, reactions of detailed observation.
Detailed descriptions of objects, beings, and place become more common in later writings of Lovecraft, but in ‘Dagon’ we take away enough for the scant word-count: what can be measured (days only, as our narrator has no watch and no way of tracking his distance) is, and what cannot be is glossed over. Thus time is counted, as a way for the narrator to persuade himself that all which happened was not a hallucination, and specifics are described in detail. Much like a dream, however, his appearance in scenes is not by his own initiative, and he does not know how he gets washed up in either location; objects in the middle ground, like the beach itself, are relegated to two word descriptions.
The detached, somewhat clinical review which Lovecraft’s narrators use upon their world serves to show alienation; this can either apply to interpersonal interactions in those stories with relatively high levels of depersonalization, or, among objects, try to categorize in unchanging ways - inches will not change, the color should not - in order to rationalize the unreal. In ‘Dagon’, the only change is the rising of the new island (unnoticed by the narrator) and the sinking. Later works will discuss the horror which is the changing of things meant to be inviolate.
‘Dagon’ is a first person tale, framed with conscious implied past and future behaviors taken, or to be taken, by the narrator. The entirety of the middle is recited as if it consisted of a dream. The dream state is suspected by the narrator, but this interpretation is dismissed. The dismissal, among other behaviors, is ‘hand-waved’ away by the narrator. There is no discussion of emotional state; the chest does not swell with fear, and sights do not evoke memory or a desire for companionship. Instead, the narrator dismisses those moments in which irrational thought could intrude - and in refusing the dream explanation, he dismisses the idea of irrational thought and insists that all which has occurred is real. Single words suffice - ‘horrified’ and the elaborate ‘nauseated fear.’ There are a few poetic reminiscences, consisting of references to Doré and Milton. These stand out as things which the narrator has to pull from memory, versus the ‘scientific’, arguably cold, reactions of detailed observation.
Detailed descriptions of objects, beings, and place become more common in later writings of Lovecraft, but in ‘Dagon’ we take away enough for the scant word-count: what can be measured (days only, as our narrator has no watch and no way of tracking his distance) is, and what cannot be is glossed over. Thus time is counted, as a way for the narrator to persuade himself that all which happened was not a hallucination, and specifics are described in detail. Much like a dream, however, his appearance in scenes is not by his own initiative, and he does not know how he gets washed up in either location; objects in the middle ground, like the beach itself, are relegated to two word descriptions.
The detached, somewhat clinical review which Lovecraft’s narrators use upon their world serves to show alienation; this can either apply to interpersonal interactions in those stories with relatively high levels of depersonalization, or, among objects, try to categorize in unchanging ways - inches will not change, the color should not - in order to rationalize the unreal. In ‘Dagon’, the only change is the rising of the new island (unnoticed by the narrator) and the sinking. Later works will discuss the horror which is the changing of things meant to be inviolate.
