Classics Without All the Class discussion

Found a free copy online. Hope it's ok to post this.
http://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/At_th...
Open in safari and it will give you the option to download in a reader.

I read the electronic text at:

http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/f...

Lots of other interesting information on H.P. Lovecraft at this site too. Enjoy!

I just read this the other day. I'm interested in what others thought about it.

Badger wrote: "I downloaded a "complete" Lovecraft for $0.99 last night ... where have I been that I didn't even know who this was? Time to get my nose out of Melville and Dostoevsky, and grind my teeth over some..."

Exactly! It's the season to be scared out of our wits!

I'm in! I'm in! I'm in! I have been wanting to read this book. It's been on my trl for a very long time. Can't wait and will start it right now. :) Nothing like October to get me going on this one.

I'm finding it difficult to get into this book. Is it just me or are others struggling?

Sam- I started reading the book this morning and am currently midway into chapter two. It's not so boring that I'm struggling with it, but I can't say I'm all that riveted, either. I haven't gotten very far yet so I'm holding judgment.

I do wish there was less scientific jargon. It's not that I don't understand it, or don't see the necessity of it (considering the protagonist is a geologist and the purpose of the expedition is a scientific one, it's more than feasible and adds a genuineness to the story that I can respect, if not entirely appreciate), but I'm eerily reminded of high school days spent staring at my Earth Science teacher with glazed eyes as she droned on and on about rocks.

I'm really looking forward to when events start picking up, though. Bring on the horror.

yes, I understand what you're saying. The story is written in a dry, scientific way because, like you said, the narrator is a scientist who had been on a scientific expedition. And also, I think, to lend credibility and authenticity to the incredible and unbelievable tale he has to share. This is not the over the top, hysterical tale of your every day "Joe" with maybe a screw loose, who thinks he sees the boogie man, but rather a tale told by a rational, educated man of science.

Sandra wrote: This is not the over the top, hysterical tale of your every day "Joe" with maybe a screw loose, who thinks he sees the boogie man, but rather a tale told by a rational, educated man of science.


Thanks so much for putting it that way. I mean, I knew he was a scientist, obviously, but for some reason I just hadn't realized all that implied. That's...huge. I'm definitely feeling more eager to read the book now that that was put into perspective. I'm looking forward to seeing how such a logical 'man of science' could be persuaded into believing that the preternatural exists.

Thanks for the insight! I admit that I don't often analyze books the way I should, which is why I chose to join an online reading group in the first place. I'm glad I did, despite my initial reservations about 'not being insightful/well-read enough' and possibly embarrassing myself in any discussions I take part in. :p

I don't know if that's "really" the reason, that's just my take on it :p. I'm not all that great at analyzing books either and often feel exactly like you when I join in conversations!

I think we all feel like that - at least from time to time - but I think Sandra's is a good theory. Obviously whatever he saw on his expedition did not gel with his scientific nature and he seems to have decided, in the interest of maintaining his sanity, to suppress it rather than try to wrap his head around it - until now.

Love that angle Sandra. Reminds me a lot of Dune so far. Using science in the narrative to make something unreal, seem so real. I really loved his reference to Poe early on too. Kind of a tip of the hat to the master of horror maybe?!

I haven't read this story before. I've read other stories that have been inspired by At the Mountains of Madness, so I was very familiar with the style of his story. I am use to the slow moving arctic nightmare.

The other authors have a lot more going on in their stories making it very creepy.

Lovecraft's story reminded me of Poe's only novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket and Douglas Mawson's exploration in Antarctica. I read somewhere that Lovecraft was inspired by the Arthur Gordon Pym story. I can really tell however Poe's book reads more like his short stories and poetry. There is just an unique Poe style.

As for it reminding me of Douglas Mawson's exploration, that's because his adventure became a freezing cold nightmare with loss all around him.

I hate to say but I don't like this one. It's so dry. It's not frightening or entertaining. I'm about 2/3 through and I'm done. Glad I tried it but not for me.

I hate to say but I don't like this one. It's so dry. It's not frightening or entertaining. I'm about 2/3 through and I'm done. Glad I tried it but not for me.

It wasn't the scariest thing I ever read and (view spoiler)[the description of the ancient city and murals seemed endlessly repetative (hide spoiler)] but I found I liked ol HP and plan on reading some more of his short stories this month.

I tried. I just couldn't get into this one.

Very much enjoying it so far. The only Lovecraft I've read before was The Shadow over Innsmouth. Mountain of Madness starts slower but is much creepier.

For a novella, I found it quite a slog. And, at parts, I was skip-reading paragraphs where the descriptions just seemed to never end. And I'm glad the Kindle has a built in dictionary because I used it more than in any other book I can remember. (Did people of that generation have bigger vocabularies, I wonder?) I think I admire the scope of the world Lovecraft created rather than the story he wrote around it. Any suggestions as to any of his other works I should try? (I also got a Complete Works, and want to give him another go.)

Okay, I admit it, I got my hands on a book I've been dying to read for a while now and set this novella aside while I finished it. But I've returned to it with a lot more zeal than I had initially.

It's...interesting. I think the sheer amount of repetitive descriptions and information, not to mention the mind-numbing scientific jargon, kills the suspense somewhat. More than once I found my anticipation for plot advancement shot by large paragraphs of drier-than-Sahara text that I have to force myself not to skim over.

I really do appreciate the authenticity of the story/narrative, and respect the mind-boggling amount of research that Lovecraft must have put into this to make the story so enriched and plausible, but I do wish his editor had told him that sometimes 'less equals more.'

Despite that, I have every intention of finishing the novella. While it's rather dry, I'm quite partial to the way it's written and am utterly charmed by the picturesqueness and intensity of the narrator's storytelling. You know an author is doing something right when you have to remind yourself that what you're reading is essentially science-fiction and not actually real.

On a side note, any one else disappointed that "Necronomicon" isn't a real book?

Well, LOL, I got this huge tome from my local library in which all Lovecrafts bizarre tales and short stories are combined and its title is "Necronomicon"!

That is so cool! I'll definitely check my local library to see if they have it. I've gotta admit, all those mentions of ancient civilizations, extraterrestrials, Leng, etc, is making me super curious. I also need to really look into the whole chthulu-something (sp?) mythos thing because I've seen it referenced to in various places yet was never curious enough to remember to look it up. I'm smacking my head now that I know it's a Lovecraft creation!

What I really love about this novella, is that the narrator struggles so precisely to maintain "observation mode" - getting the facts, observing precisely and recording accordingly ... and yet, there are moments of humanity when his heart gets the better of his scientific brain, and he can't resist resorting to language that is moral, value-driven, and loaded with religious imagery. For a scientist, this seems like an egregious breach.

I get such a kick out of it - it's like this "egregious breach" is so subtle, that the more and more I see it occurring, in this kind of flood river of detail, the more powerful this breach becomes for me - he can't, as a scientist, really break game face and stop being a scientist; but when the human being breaks out ... it's almost as if that is the true horror story, for him.

In a weird way, it's like an Ingmar Bergman film vs. Aliens: "Smiles of a Summer Mountain Night of Madness, Darkly"

I wasn't going to read this one and then I came across Lovecraft at the library while I was reading shelves. I'm a book page and I thought I knew every author in the fiction section. I raced home with my book and started reading. It's not like other scientific jargon infused stories in that it seems to be full of illogical conclusions by the narrator. Where as in a book like Moby Dick I took the science part as enlightening and relished it. I'm half way through this book and part laughing at it and part taking it in. It looks like a weak rendition of a well written classic. Not a fan of Lovecraft so far, but I'll give it another chance. This copy I checked out has other stories of his in it.

A few years ago I read Outerbridge Reach, and in the final chapters, when the isolation and icebergs of Antarctica begin to drive the yachtsman mad, there is a very subtle breakdown of mental connection, and the hallucinations begin. It was a powerful book for me, and I couldn't help connecting it to AtMoM, somewhat. I realize, given its connection to other stories on Elder Ones and Chthulu culture, that Lovecraft didn't intend it that way - he described an actual discovery of an alien culture - but given that it is Antarctica, and that people tend not to do well in isolation, I couldn't help imagining everything that happened as a result of psychological breakdown and hallucination.

Still, I realize it's a hallucination to imagine that to be the case; but it made Madness a very, very interesting story for me. [Talk about bringing something to the table that wasn't even on the menu! Apologies.]

I loved it! Reading this I realize it's not the same opinion as everyone, and I actually put off reading Lovecraft for a while after being interested initially because someone whose book recommendations I took very seriously didn't like his stuff. While I did think he was quite repetitive, the repetitive descriptions didn't bother me but I could only hear it sounded like the Necronomicon or Poe so many times. And I greatly appreciated the scientific narrator. I'm in a science field and I could completely get behind the thrill of discovery and ideas of changing your field forever. I was on the edge of my seat a couple of times as well, honestly.

When (view spoiler)[he and Danforth are exploring the city and he recites the precise history of this species from wall carvings and critiques their art (hide spoiler)] I was laughing at how unlikely it all was. But it didn't break the tension for me. You could see this novella's influence on pop culture in horror films like The Thing and the Alien franchise, particularly Prometheus. I'm glad it was picked!

I really liked the book although I think I have wanted to read it for so long that I expected more of it than was fair to expect. I wish it had been a little more spine-tingling but there is nothing about it that I didn't enjoy. I agree - also light-heartedly - with Ellie's spoiler - (view spoiler)[one day and a few flashlights was hardly enough time to read the history of this godforsaken place (hide spoiler)] - but it didn't detract from the story.

I finished the story today and it was no good for me. I also, looked up Lovecraft on Wiki and found a bigger horror story. His life was marked with the taint of anguish and destitution. I am reading a lot of other stuff right now, so I'm putting his book with the other stories included back on the library shelf till next time I feel a Goth mood coming on.

Just finished! Whew! I had to re-read a lot to get what he was saying.

I agree with the spoilers, I found that bit to be a bit ridiculous. Would have been more realistic if they'd had a much bigger supply of film and had more hours to look through all of the murals and to photograph them all, then kind of piece all of that together long after they'd returned from the expedition. Still, though, I appreciate that Lovecraft didn't make the story even LONGER and more detailed by adding all of that more realistic info!

Was it just me, or every time they ventured into a new hallway or room, did you want to yell at them (like I yell at the TV screen during scary movies) "Don't do it! Don't go through that door!" And yet they always do...