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Lädt ... Die Höhle des Kraken (1932)von A. Merritt
Lädt ...
Melde dich bei LibraryThing an um herauszufinden, ob du dieses Buch mögen würdest. Keine aktuelle Diskussion zu diesem Buch. C'est l'histoire d'un homme, contemporain de l'auteur, qui se retrouve dans la peau d'un antique chef de tribu (réincarné ? hypnotisé ?) et qui doit faire face à une créature provenant d'ailleurs au fond d'une vallée perdue. Considéré un écrivain précurseur de Lovecraft, moins horrible que lui dans ce livre-ci donc plus plausible (enfin, façon de parler) et donc plus effrayant (il m'est arrivé d'éclater de rire en lisant certains livres de Lovecraft, tellement c'était énorme), j'ai beaucoup aimé. Zeige 5 von 5 keine Rezensionen | Rezension hinzufügen
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Dwellers in the Mirage is a fantasy novel by A. Merritt. It was first published in book form in 1932 by Horace Liveright. The novel was originally serialized in six parts in the magazine Argosy beginning with the January 23, 1932 issue.The novel concerns American Leif Langdon who accidentally discovers a warm valley in Alaska and suddenly is ripped from the 20th century and plunged into the ancient world of The Mirage. Two races inhabit the valley, the Little People and a branch of an ancient Mongolian race and they worship the evil Kraken named Khalk'ru which they summon from another dimension to offer human sacrifice. But his entrance into this awesome land awakened the slumbering Dwayanu, who in this strange incarnation was also Leif. Thus, two-men-in-one battle with the beautiful witch-woman Lur and the ethereal beauty Evalie for the glory of The Mirage.Abraham Merritt (1884-1943), is one of the forgotten masters of weird fiction. His work ranges from horror (Burn Witch Burn) to epic fantasy (The Ship of Ishtar). His writing could be described as a blend of dark fantasy and the 19th century tale of adventure in the style of H. Rider Haggard, with a dash of the Conan Doyle of the Professor Challenger stories. Merritt's stories typically revolve around conventional pulp magazine themes: lost civilizations, hideous monsters, etc. His heroes are gallant Irishmen or Scandinavians, his villains treacherous Germans or Russians and his heroines often virginal, mysterious and scantily clad. What sets Merritt apart from the typical pulp author, however, is his lush, florid prose style and his exhaustive, at times exhausting, penchant for adjective-laden detail. Abraham Grace Merritt was inducted in The Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 1999, its fourth class of two deceased and two living writers. [Elib] Keine Bibliotheksbeschreibungen gefunden. |
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Google Books — Lädt ... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944Klassifikation der Library of Congress [LCC] (USA)BewertungDurchschnitt:
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Leif, who has Nordic heritage, and Jim are travelling in a remote area of Alaska where they are meant to be looking for gold, at some time after WWI (where they served together after meeting at University). After they hear mysterious drums, Leif eventually unburdens to Jim and tells him of his experiences when he was working as an engineer in the Gobi Desert. He got on very well with the Mongolian tribes and found that his natural gift for languages enabled him to communicate with them easily (and refreshingly there is not the kind of description of such people that would have been found in the work of contemporaries of Merritt's such as H P Lovecraft). When his team moved north they came into contact with a strange tribe who usually kept themselves to themselves, but who showed an instant proprietary interest in Leif and taught him their language. They then showed up in force and Leif told his employer and colleagues to let them take him as he realised there would be a bloodbath otherwise - and to instantly depart south to the area of the friendly tribes leaving him to extricate himself.
The experiences which followed have haunted Leif since and now he senses that he is about to be drawn into the ambit of the Lovecraftesque being which is worshipped by the mysterious tribe. I won't say more about the plot other than it in some ways draws on the romantic tradition of the lost peoples living in their own mini paradise - Shangri La and the like - which were popular in fiction of the late Victorian period, popularised by writers such as H. Rider Haggard. On the whole, the various ethnic characters and women are treated with respect although Leif's romantic interest Evalie is a bit of a non character.
I found this a bit slow in the middle but it did pick up and on the whole is an entertaining adventure romp with a bit of philosophy regarding whether reincarnation exists or an ancestral memory. It wasn't a keeper, but was a workmanlike read and I am giving it a 3-star rating. ( )