AEG: Is AEG Lovecraftian?

Kieran Mullen · 03 Nov 2008, 17:59 · from 2008-November.txt.gz

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From: kieran at nhn.ou.edu (Kieran Mullen)
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2008 11:59:38 -0600
Subject: (urth) AEG:  Is AEG Lovecraftian?
Message-ID: <C38F5B26-0C0E-426F-92A0-149D7C05EF28 at nhn.ou.edu>

(I have sent this in several times and I never saw it on the list or  
on the webserver.   I am resending it.  I apologize if it appears more  
than once.)

  A very good friend of mine who has written books on horror films and  
fiction recent finished "An Evil Guest."   It was quite a slog for him  
- he found Cassie to be an unappealing protagonist and the pastiche of  
genres annoyed him.   However, his biggest complaint was that the book  
is billed as Lovecraftian horror and it simply isn't.

  That needs a bit of explanation.   For a work to be Lovecraftian I  
don't think it is simply sufficient to stick in Hastur and Cthulu and  
call it that. Lovecraft (IMO) came up with a truly original  
ontological horror premise for his fiction:  the universe is dominated  
by inhuman forces which we don't have a hope of understanding or  
defeating.  At best we can only hope that they ignore us.   (We can't  
even pray that they do - there is no God, only atoms and a void).    
Humanity is a minor irrelevance in a dark and hungry universe.  Any  
attempt to try to change that will only draw the attention of forces  
that will destroy the inquirer.

   AEG dabbles in many pulp genres without really investing in any  
single one:  the rising theatrical star, the hard-boiled detective,  
the South Sea adventure, and (in this view), Lovecraftian horror.   On  
the other hand, it may actually have a more horrifying subtext than I  
understand, if the reality-warping effects of Cassies "elevation" are  
meant to show that reality is not what we know it to be.  I am not  
sure how the last fifty pages of the novel demand a re-interpretation  
of the first parts.   Otherwise, it seems that the Lovecrfaft elements  
at the end are tacked on, and not essential to the earlier parts of  
the novel.

   So what do you think?   Is AEG just  a romp through different  
genres or is it really meant to be a horror novel?

Kieran Mullen

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