Lovecraft Retrospective: In the Walls of Eryx (1936)
Added 2023-07-14 13:15:04 +0000 UTCGeorge Lea asked me to join him and our mutual friend Rowan Fortune on an episode of George's running series of Lovecraft Retrospectives, and asked me to chose the story we'd be talking about. I had no hesitation naming the Lovecraft story I personally find most disturbing, 1936's In the Walls of Eryx. This is a lesser-known tale from Lovecraft, neglected like many of his so-called 'collaborations' and 'ghost writings'. Lovecraft wrote the story based on a basic idea (and an original draft) from Kenneth Stirling. It's also neglected, I think, because it's extremely atypical for Lovecraft. It's his only classic science-fiction, set on an alien planet, etc. I find it a very interesting, pregnant, suggestive story; it's different for Lovecraft not just formally but also in terms of the ideas and attitudes being explored. It could, with some justice, be described as an angry satire of racist colonialism! Not exactly what you expect from old Howard Phillips! It's a deeply melancholy and upsetting story about being trapped and without hope, or with spurious hope; a frighteningly pessimistic but acute and relatable metaphor for life itself. It has always given me churning guts with its overpowering sense of dread and doom. In a good way.
Spoilers galore, of course.
It was a very enjoyable conversation - it was particularly nice for me to finally get to talk voice-to-voice with my online friend and comrade Rowan, who is incredibly erudite and thoughtful but also a lot of fun - and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. We talked not just about the story in particular but also about other Lovecraft stories, about Lovecraft in general, the relationship between SF and colonialism, liberal critiques of utopianism, Doctor Who, Ernest Bloch, Frantz Fanon, Erich Fromm, and various other things.
At the moment, you have exclusive advance access to this podcast. It'll be up at George's YouTube channel soon - hopefully alongside a new reading of the story by Elliot Chapman!
