Hello everyone and welcome to the thirteenth week of our book club exploring H.P. Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle.
In this week’s thread we discuss the first 5 chapters of At the Mountains of Madness, written in 1931. Our reading assignment for this week is the second half of At the Mountains of Madness, from Chapter VI onwards.
A PDF of the short story is found in the collected works curated by the Arkham Archivist here. A LibriVox audio recording is available here.
Very sorry for the late submission this week. My department is hosting an algebra conference and I’m spending my evenings “networking” (read: getting drunk while ranting about the Representation Theory of algebraic groups). Unfortunately, pleasure has to be sidelined by business until Wednesday evening. I’ll post comments on the first five chapters as soon as possible but expect significant delays for this week.
On the off-chance that the set of British Lemmy Users interested in Lovecraft and Representation theory of algebraic groups isn’t a one-member set, I’m the guy with the beard in a purple mushroom shirt.
Image Credit goes to Deviantartist Zhekan.
Chapter II tells the story of the advance research party via a series of radio transmissions by the researcher Lake.
The advance party venture further inland via plane. Before long, they make the discovery of a mountain range, hitherto undiscovered and possibly rivalling the Himalayas in scope. As they investigate the mountain range further, they begin to realise that this range dwarfs the Himalayas. Furthermore, there are odd rectangular formations upon the highest peak, which bring to mind images of castles.
At one point during their scouting flights, a sudden onset of violent turbulence causes damage to one plane and grounds the others. Unable to use their planes for now, the party procedes by sled dog. Before long they come across a cave complex which gives way to a huge underground hollow area.
Here they come across a remarkable discovery which excites the listeners. In the cave complex they find more peculiar triangular striations dating back to almost a billion years ago, and fourteen specimens of life previously undiscovered. These beings have barrel-like bodies, starfish shaped toothed heads, and leathery wings. While apparently animals, it is found that they also share a lot of common features with plants. The scientists conclude that it would be difficult to properly classify them without dissection. What is clear is that these triangular striations were made by the starfish heads of the beings. Lake notices the striking similarity between these creatures and the Elder Things described in the Necronomicon.
The group has trouble transporting the specimens, as the sled dogs grow anxious and violent in the presence of them. Fearing that the dogs may damage the specimens, the party resolves to transport the bodies by foot.
The description of the flight again is very similar to that in Unknown Kadath, where Carter and his entourage of ghouls and night gaunts are suddenly borne upon a powerful wind into the entrance hall of the castle upon Kadath. I get that this is a Miskatonic funded expedition, but is the Necronomicon required reading for all students and academics?