What are you writing?
- Thread starter luka
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luka
Well-known member
ferocious mongrel. polyglot. PHRYGIAN RELIC.
vies with artificers,eels,
-in death-struggle on cliff-top.
(sea-birds look on disconsolately.)
naked politics wrestle.
yellow sea-moss/rude nests
regurgitate sea-slug,
sea-slap, sea-surge
slurge
pull of the sea.
trade routes
polychrome.
the winds pulled us off course, our instruments failed us.
the oceans flower islands, demure earthquakes,
basalt, palms,
pirates! Blackbeards garlanded with flowers
consort with panthers, utterly feline-
TORMENTED BY VENGEFUL ARIELS,
indolent Calibans-
fragrant spice-islands
untamed jungle and
rock islands
spitting sea, arches back, spreads claws, leaps...
kowtow to the green tree,
to the Green Man within the green tree,
to the wildwood, to the leafwood, to the fox and flighty deer.
Good morning, forest.
Good morning, birds.
Good morning, deer.
Good morning, brother fox.
popinjay. orangeade. pericles. mutton.
I crossed the desert with a band of men
an army of men and horses
of Lucifer’s party.
the trees file down to the water’s edge,
make their obesquities, trail leafy branches
in the shallows, lay shadows
on the waters,
hide kingfishers and sing
with the turtledove.
vies with artificers,eels,
-in death-struggle on cliff-top.
(sea-birds look on disconsolately.)
naked politics wrestle.
yellow sea-moss/rude nests
regurgitate sea-slug,
sea-slap, sea-surge
slurge
pull of the sea.
trade routes
polychrome.
the winds pulled us off course, our instruments failed us.
the oceans flower islands, demure earthquakes,
basalt, palms,
pirates! Blackbeards garlanded with flowers
consort with panthers, utterly feline-
TORMENTED BY VENGEFUL ARIELS,
indolent Calibans-
fragrant spice-islands
untamed jungle and
rock islands
spitting sea, arches back, spreads claws, leaps...
kowtow to the green tree,
to the Green Man within the green tree,
to the wildwood, to the leafwood, to the fox and flighty deer.
Good morning, forest.
Good morning, birds.
Good morning, deer.
Good morning, brother fox.
popinjay. orangeade. pericles. mutton.
I crossed the desert with a band of men
an army of men and horses
of Lucifer’s party.
the trees file down to the water’s edge,
make their obesquities, trail leafy branches
in the shallows, lay shadows
on the waters,
hide kingfishers and sing
with the turtledove.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
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slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
Stone me....(sorry, couldn't resist)....good work, Mr Tea.
slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
On this very special day, I hereby declare William Burroughs and Tod Dockstader to be, er, married. 
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
You'll be hearing from my lawyer....
lanugo
von Verfall erzittern
Fantastic essay.
I do wonder, however, to what extent your appreciation of the Lovecraftian outlook on the uni-/multiverse presupposes a kind of suspension of disbelief? I mean, at one point in your essay you refer approvingly to Lovecraft's intergalactic mytho-materialism as a kind of precursor of the ancient astronaut hypothesis. Yet, in one of the threads here on Dissensus, you decry this very theory as utter bollocks. Wouldn't such outright dismissal of the idea of ancient extraterrestrial contact have to extend to Lovecraft's conception of the cosmos as well? Or is the latter exempt from commonsensical scrutiny because it's, after all, just Sci-Fi literature? However, if it were just that - fiction - then the grand philosophical ramifications of Lovecraft's work would be rendered void. What I'm trying to say is that, in my opinion, a serious engagement with Lovecraft, and Sci-Fi in general for that matter, means to acknowledge that reality could be a lot weirder and stranger than our current scientific paradigm would lead us to believe.
In a nutshell: How do you reconcile your sympathy with a vision of reality, wherein transdimensional alien gods exist and occult forces rule, with your strictly scientific personal world view that is, as far as I can tell, wholly dismissive of extraterrestrial, supernatural or spiritual subject matter?
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Thanks.
I think you're making the mistake of being too literal here. Lovecraft didn't actually believe that tentacled monstrosities from the nethermost gulfs of space lurk beneath the Pacific, did he? Any more than Tolkien actually believed that elves and wizards used to walk the earth or Chris Carter actually believes there's a sinister government conspiracy to hybridise humans with aliens. And as a reader or watcher of fantasy and sci-fi, you don't have to believe in them to enjoy them, either.
Lovecraft was a rigorous, die-hard materialist. There's no more evidence for the existence of the Great Old Ones than for the existance of God. I think the 'cosmic indifference' he tried to put across in his fiction corresponds, in real-world terms, to the fact that humanity could be wiped out tomorrow by the impact of a huge meteor or some catastrophic epidemic. Moreover, for Lovecraft, civilised Anglo-Saxondom could be (in fact, was in the process of being) smothered and overwhelmed by the surging tides of 'lesser' races. And the transcendent horror of his fiction comes from the fact there is no-one 'out there' or 'up there' looking out for us, no-one even to mark our passing, let alone step in and save us. I think the 'grand philosophical ramifications' of his fiction are unscathed by this verdict.
Terry Pratchett, oddly enough, is someone who has an excellent appreciation of the fact that people don't have to believe that stories are literally true for those stories to be powerful and important to them. There's a school of thought that much of modern-day religion started out as myths that both the priests who recounted them and the parishioners who listened to them knew, in their heart of hearts, were exactly that - myths - but were nonetheless seen as valuable because they helped people make sense of the world through allegory and metaphor. And that all the evils we associate these days with religious fundamentalism, from Afghanistan to Alabama, arise because many people have lost the art of allegorical understanding and instead insist on these old stories being *literally* true (hence idiocy such young-Earth creationism). I had a big argument with zhao on here a while back about 'the rational vs. the irrational' (more or less), and he seemed to imply that the 'blinkered', 'arrogant' (etc. etc. etc.) rational-scientific worldview "lacks many kinds of mystery and sense of wonder found in traditional cultures" (just found it) and then namechecks some magic realist authors, including Salman Rushdie. As if Rushdie were some illiterate, superstitious villager who lives in a world of actual ghosts and witches! The dude was the son of a lawyer and a teacher and was educated at Rugby and then Cambridge, FFS. That doesn't stop him writing fantasy-imbued fiction and my own rationalist/materialist tendencies don't stop me enjoying it.
Look at your own sentence: "How do you reconcile your sympathy with a vision of reality..." - visions, by definition, are images which have no basis in the material world. That doesn't mean they're not important or powerful.
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Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Also, reality is always weirder than our current scientific paradigm admits - which is why the scientific paradigm is constantly evolving as we learn new things about the universe. Within the last decade or so we've learnt that cosmic expansion is accelerating due to some unforseen energy field pervading all of space, that matter as modern physics understands it makes up only 4% of the universe and, closer to home, we've discovered a mutant fungus that feeds on nuclear radiation. That Lovecraftian enough for ya?
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mistersloane
heavy heavy monster sound
Extracts from a bit of spoken word I did, it was longer but got pornographic so I presume they cut it cos of that :
http://www.poltroon.org.uk/
It was shamelessly playing to the crowd. I wanted to see if I could write something that was essentially stand up. It's not actually called 'Me and Projectile Vomit' but they haven't changed the name on it. It was called 'Lionel Blair'.
http://www.poltroon.org.uk/
It was shamelessly playing to the crowd. I wanted to see if I could write something that was essentially stand up. It's not actually called 'Me and Projectile Vomit' but they haven't changed the name on it. It was called 'Lionel Blair'.
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slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
Enjoyed that, James - sounds like the audience did too.
mistersloane
heavy heavy monster sound
Thank you! It's all true as well. Which I probably shouldn't admit to.
slim jenkins
El Hombre Invisible
Great delivery.
I have bookmarked this Tea, and will be reading it shortly. We'll have to have a Lovecraft chat next time I see you. I have a bunch of occult-themed Lovecraftiana you might be interested in.