The Marquis de Leech Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 I know at least a few of you out there have read this, so I figured I'd give it its own tribute thread. For those who haven't, it's public domain (published in 1912), and thus can be read online at Project Gutenberg. The Night Land is a "special" book. Possibly the greatest setting ever: Earth, after the death of the Sun. Humanity survives in a gigantic pyramid (to be fair, in 1912 they only thought the Sun had a few million years left, so Hodgson can be excused there). All around is a nightmarish landscape of perpetual darkness, populated by interdimensional horrors (think Lovecraft, but more so), who essentially lay a millennia-long siege to the pyramid. One day (if you can call it day without the sun), the pyramid receives a communication. There are fellow humans out there, somewhere, and our protagonist is just the man to launch a rescue... So far, so good. Except that for reasons only known to Hodgson, he chose to write the thing (and it is long) in cod-seventeenth century English. The style is so bad, and so overblown that even Lovecraft calls Hodgson up on it in his essay on supernatural horror, He also has an absolutely godawful love-story in there, which really has to be read to be believed. But if you can ignore the terrible writing and the terrible romance, the world is something special. Hodgson himself was killed in 1918, during WWI. I'd like to think had he lived he'd have gone back and revised the book. Alas, we'll never know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Its also available to download for free on Kindle and presumably other e-reading apps. But yes, its an interesting World, and had it been better written, the concept is one that could make a great novel. The terrifying supernatural creatures, the perpetual darkness/twilight, the heroic journey. Unfortunately the lack of dialogue, the meandering, repetitive text (abd I did make my toilet, and eat two of the tablets, and did make the water and walk for x hiurs etc.) and, as you say, the bizzare and awful love-story. I do think the love story could have worked, had it been executed better, but as with the novel as a whole it hust wasn't. I certainly agree that the premise and the World had lots of potential though. Do you think we could make this a general Hodgson thread btw? I've read The House on the Borderland too, which I thought was much better, and had some rather chilling, creepy moments in it. I'd be interested to know other opinions on it and anything else Hodgson has written. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted July 25, 2015 Author Share Posted July 25, 2015 The House on the Borderland is unquestionably better written, but will never be as close to my heart as The Night Land. House feels like it owes too much debt to the end of H.G. Wells' Time Machine, especially with the far-future scene, and (for me), the pig creature comes across as unintentionally funny. But I'm being a bit harsh: if I had to recommend anything to someone who had never read Hodgson before, it'd be that one. It is, after all, his most famous and most influential novel. Of his other novels, The Ghost Pirates is underrated. It's an effective cosmic horror story that takes full advantage of Hodgson's seafaring background. It's actually quite tightly written, and may actually be the most modern of the lot. The Boats of the Glen Carrig, the other sea-based novel, is less cosmic horror, and more weird adventure. It's almost as badly written as The Night Land in places, without the redeeming features. I haven't read any of Hodgson's short stories, unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChillyPolly Posted July 26, 2015 Share Posted July 26, 2015 Hodgson himself was killed in 1918, during WWI. I'd like to think had he lived he'd have gone back and revised the book. Alas, we'll never know. THE DREAM OF X, which did appear during Hodgson's lifetime, is a revised and abridged version of THE NIGHT LAND. It was revised and abridged by Hodgson himself. It is, however, rather heavily abridged (10% of the length), and Hodgson's motives may have primarily had to do with securing and protecting US copyright, which he could not do till the book was published in the US in some form (and they could not find a publisher for the full version). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 Incidentally, I've occasionally wondered if Tolkien was familiar with Hodgson. The description of sneaking past Minas Morgul in The Lord of the Rings shares more than a few similarities with the House of Silence in The Night Land. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HexMachina Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Incidentally, I've occasionally wondered if Tolkien was familiar with Hodgson. The description of sneaking past Minas Morgul in The Lord of the Rings shares more than a few similarities with the House of Silence in The Night Land. The Watcher at Cirith Ungol too, now you mention it. Good catch on that one. Thanks for the recommendations too. As for House on the Borderland, I thought at times the Swine things were unintentionally funny, yes, but I was also pretty creeped out by them at times too. I see what you mean about the far future scene I guess, but I still enjoyed it. When I decided to read The Night Land I did see The Dream of X and I'm beginning to wish I'd read that. One of the other irritating things about the novel is the whole build up of the "love story" to set up the narrator's dream. It probably could have worked well enough (like the diary in Borderland) if it hadn't dragged on so much Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I have a pbck volume containing the Boats of the Glen Garic, Ghost Pirates, House on the Borderland and The Night Land. I think I only read the first one (because it is the first one in the book) and while not completely bad this seemed like a considerably weaker version of Blackwood's "The Willows", or at least of a very similar theme. Not sure if I can muster the patience for the archaic writing of "The Night Land". Maybe I should try it on kindle where looking up obsolete vocab is faster and easier... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted July 27, 2015 Author Share Posted July 27, 2015 I have a pbck volume containing the Boats of the Glen Garic, Ghost Pirates, House on the Borderland and The Night Land. I think I only read the first one (because it is the first one in the book) and while not completely bad this seemed like a considerably weaker version of Blackwood's "The Willows", or at least of a very similar theme. Not sure if I can muster the patience for the archaic writing of "The Night Land". Maybe I should try it on kindle where looking up obsolete vocab is faster and easier... Boats is the weakest of the four, and (since it's less horror and more adventure) is a bit of an odd one out. Try House (or Pirates*) instead. *They're not actually pirates, BTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChillyPolly Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I enjoyed GLEN CARRIG. I enjoyed all 4 of his novels, and much of his short fiction too, though I may be a the point in my reading where I am starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel. I think I liked GLEN CARRIG better than GHOST PIRATES overall, but it is episodic, with some parts being better than others. I was not wild about the CARNACKI stories. They are well-written enough, but I was never wild about the occult detective genre. I prefer his weird sea adventures, including but not limited to those stories set in his own weird version of the Sargasso Sea (he has several Sargasso Sea stories, besides the novel GLEN CARRIG). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChillyPolly Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 I have a pbck volume containing the Boats of the Glen Garic, Ghost Pirates, House on the Borderland and The Night Land. I think I only read the first one (because it is the first one in the book) and while not completely bad this seemed like a considerably weaker version of Blackwood's "The Willows", or at least of a very similar theme. You must be referring only to the first episode of GLEN CARRIG. Even so, I would not say it has much in common with Blackwood's "The Willows", except that both involve boat(s) on a river and creepy trees. I particularly liked that episode though -- more than "The Willows", which I did not really "get", and whose chills failed to chill me. But I don't feel they are directly comparable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marquis de Leech Posted July 28, 2015 Author Share Posted July 28, 2015 I enjoyed GLEN CARRIG. I enjoyed all 4 of his novels, and much of his short fiction too, though I may be a the point in my reading where I am starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel. I think I liked GLEN CARRIG better than GHOST PIRATES overall, but it is episodic, with some parts being better than others. Interesting. Would you subscribe to the common view that House is the best? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChillyPolly Posted July 28, 2015 Share Posted July 28, 2015 Interesting. Would you subscribe to the common view that House is the best? Not strongly, no. I don't strongly disagree either. I just liked all 4 and didn't find them hugely comparable. HOUSE is fairly grim and moody, and I think Hodgson does grim fairly well. I'm just not always in the mood for that in such concentrated doses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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