Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

The Doom That Came to Sarnath by HP Lovecraft

"The Doom that Came to Sarnath" (1920) is a fantasy short story by American writer H. P. Lovecraft. It is written in a mythic/fantasy style and is associated with his Dream Cycle. It was first published in The Scot, a Scottish amateur fiction magazine, in June 1920.

Enjoy!!

PDF: http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/t...

Audiobook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swoum...

The audiobook is by GM Danielson and is an EXCELLENT narrator! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!!

I will be reading this soon.

This reminds me of (view spoiler)[“The City” in The Illustrated Man. (hide spoiler)] Also, people have praised it for its world-building, and for the most part, I agree.

Thanks!

Lovecraft used archaic language to give an idea of antiquity. The descriptions of the city were very visual and I could picture all the splendour of Sarnath before it met its doom.
It isn't good to mock, or destroy, something you don't understand.

Despite my liking Lovecraft, there are still a lot of his stories I have not read, including this one! Just downloaded a copy to my kindle so its time to start reading....

Michael wrote: "Despite my liking Lovecraft, there are still a lot of his stories I have not read, including this one! Just downloaded a copy to my kindle so its time to start reading...."

Enjoy!

Enjoy Michael!

Happy reading, Michael! It's a good one.

I just finished the story and it is a good read. It lack any real characters which kind of distances the reader from the unknown horror of the "doom" but it carries many of the common elements of Lovecraft's writing. The overly elaborate descriptions. The unnamed horror both older and greater than man. The sense of things happening in a time and place far different from our own mundane reality.

I’m assuming the club has already read Lovecraft’s masterpiece:
At The Mountains Of Madness.

If you've read A Song of Ice and Fire you can see what an influence this was.

Here's a map of the Dreamlands I like.
Dreamlands

We haven't been reading science fiction all the long as a group, Mark, but that is definitely a book worth reading.

I enjoyed Doom very much. I could definitely see the influence of Lord Dunsany, and I liked the way the story read more along the lines of fantasy/fairy tale than Lovecraft's work usually does.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Mark wrote: "I’m assuming the club has already read Lovecraft’s masterpiece:
At The Mountains Of Madness."

I do not think we have, have we Rosemarie? It doesn't sound familiar.

I don't think we have, but Patrick might know. If not, it would be a good choice for next year.

We haven’t read that one yet but I can put it up for next year.

Sounds good.

I read this today, but am definitely in the minority here. I don’t think Lovecraft’s writing is for me.

There are a lot of people who would agree with you, Trisha. I find Lovecraft strangely addictive.

Anyone like the audiobook at all?