tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573136768377847579.post4699567196973738885..comments2023-12-28T17:51:10.368-06:00Comments on Spiral Galaxy Musings: Old-School XenophobiaKaren Burnhamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16803309172414793939noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573136768377847579.post-42653212144914012272009-06-14T17:43:34.632-05:002009-06-14T17:43:34.632-05:00Nick-
Don't worry, I didn't find it conde...Nick-<br /><br />Don't worry, I didn't find it condescending! He did have a heck of a life.<br /><br />I just finished reading "Ghost Pirates." I found it much more coherent than "Borderland," and knowing that he spent so much time ship-board explains his confident use of nautical jargon. <br /><br />I suspect I'll be giving "Night Land" a try before the end of the Summer.Karen Burnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16803309172414793939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573136768377847579.post-15638702814918527712009-06-14T14:12:54.960-05:002009-06-14T14:12:54.960-05:00Sorry - my last comment on reading Hope Hodgeson&#...Sorry - my last comment on reading Hope Hodgeson's biog was not intended to be patronising, especially to Karen, and it clearly reads that way.<br />What I should have said (wish I could edit it) was that WHH was an unusual character who led an interesting life.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13447804551469060961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573136768377847579.post-24566621158400674812009-06-14T04:31:13.639-05:002009-06-14T04:31:13.639-05:00I've always loved House on the Borderland for ...I've always loved House on the Borderland for its sheer epic weirdness. Also for the sense of scale to its horror. Battles with semi-human creatures abound in WHH (there are weed-men in Boats of the Glen Carrig) - he's quite unusual in combining the kind of no-nonsense physicality associated with muscular Christianity and Edwardian physical culture with visionary strangeness. <br />He's a writer who is hugely flawed and often doesn't seem that good at writing, but has something so unusual to say that he's compelling (except the Night Land, which I find unreadable).<br />I won't try defend his treatment of female characters (either inept or misogynistic) or romance / sexuality (he clearly thought it was important, but was utterly unable to write it).<br />If you haven't read his biography on Wikipedia, it's well worth a look.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13447804551469060961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573136768377847579.post-54292806356890132092009-06-05T19:23:14.543-05:002009-06-05T19:23:14.543-05:00Well, Night Land is again, pretty much unlike anyt...Well, Night Land is again, pretty much unlike anything else out there but I have heard it criticized for its somewhat overly sentimental language. The other two novels Hodgson wrote, The Ghost Pirates and The Boats of the Glen Carrig are about horrors at sea, which is kind of a neat genre, you can see how Lovecraft would have been influenced by that.OTBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15348526720535291558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573136768377847579.post-15908427171923928802009-06-05T12:42:00.277-05:002009-06-05T12:42:00.277-05:00Thanks for reading the review! I have to admit tha...Thanks for reading the review! I have to admit that the unreliable narrator angle hadn't occurred to me, although the class-war aspect had. <br /><br />I think that the word "unique" is certainly necessary for this one. How do you feel about the rest of Hogson's oeuvre?Karen Burnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16803309172414793939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8573136768377847579.post-6279035035892901302009-06-05T10:44:10.383-05:002009-06-05T10:44:10.383-05:00If you couldn't tell from my username, I'm...If you couldn't tell from my username, I'm rather fond of this book, but I enjoyed reading your review. I think HOTB is somewhat of a flawed masterpiece...I've heard it described as an amazing horror story with a bizarre and unnecessary digression in the middle or a visionary masterpiece burdened with the elements of a horror story couched around it. For me, it is such a unique work that it rather defies description, it's hard to believe it was written 100 years ago.<br /><br />Also of minor interest is the status of the main character as an unreliable narrator. His sister doesn't seem to see the creatures, is he merely in the throes of insanity? I have also heard of an interpretation where the "pig-men" represent the peasantry which the aristocracy (the narrator) is out of touch with, i.e. ignoring their troubles, taking shots at them, seeing them as inhuman. Just a couple thoughts from my end!OTBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15348526720535291558noreply@blogger.com