This afternoon I finally took the time to read Lovecraft's most famous short stories: The Call of Cthulhu. I'd been meaning to read it for a while. A few weeks ago I borrowed a collection of his stories from Austin with that intent. Playing a boardgame based on his work last Friday encouraged me even more. So when I had a little time between studying and church today I decided to use part of if to read this story.
It was a well-written enjoyable story. Not enjoyable in the sense that it was a pleasant and lighthearted afternoon frolic, but enjoyable in the way that Poe and Bradbury are enjoyable. It was sort of brooding and fascinating and pulled me in. He did well in parting from the conventional story-telling method and having it instead structured as an individual piecing together the stories of others until a horrifying big picture was formed.
One thing that particularly interested me was the concept that the geometry on R'lyeh was "wrong." Was the appearance of things merely deceiving in an optical illusion sort of way, or was it truly somehow composed of shapes and angles and curves that are not possible in this world?
I definitely intend to read more Lovecraft in bits and pieces. That's the lovely thing about short stories: you can pick one up for just twenty minutes and get all the way through. With my hectic schedule, bite-sized literature is quite a blessing.
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