The Picture in the House

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Tinsel

I doubt that God ever will be a character since that angels describe themselves in ways like, "I am who I am", and give other odd answers when asked who they are. It would be difficult to create that character.

The "I am that I am" was Yahweh himself speaking, rather than angels. And many have written God as a character over the years; more than you might believe.

I have less trust in H.P.L than I do in what seems an abrupt conclusion. In his other stories the endings are satisfying. He must have ran out of time with the publisher.

A) Why do you have less trust in him than what seems like an abrupt conclusion. (I would argue it is an abrupt conclusion, but planned out in advance, given his working methods.)

B) In general, yes they are; though there are a few exceptions (at least to some people).

C) HPL didn't write to deadlines. He wrote his stories and then submitted them, either for acceptance or rejection. This was the way most pulps worked, unless they were series pulps, such as The Shadow, Doc Savage, The Avenger, etc., which were largely written by one person or a very small handful of people.

Moreover, this was originally published in an amateur journal, not a professional magazine. Such things were anything but sticklers for deadlines... they couldn't afford to be, as they often had trouble with printers, late submissions, no submissions (necessitating the person issuing the journal filling some pages him or herself, or skipping an issue, or putting out something which was four pages in length -- all of which happened at times), etc. And, of course, if they attempted to put pressure on anyone submitting to them, being amateurs they would go elsewhere, leaving the publisher with nothing to print.

Basically, you're completely off-beam with this approach. The documentation is there -- not only by Lovecraft, but by many, many others. Running out of time or ink or anything else simply doesn't enter into it. This was something he wrote for himself, because of an inspiration he received from the picture in Huxley's book, as well as discussions he had been having in his correspondence with friends on the subject of Puritanism and religious repression, isolation, and some of the peculiar corners of New England history.... Moreover, HPL made it known when he did first began submitting to the professional magazines, that he did not want any alterations; either they took the manuscripts as written, or sent them back. This, in fact, is a part of his letter accompanying the submission of his first stories to Weird Tales....

Originally Posted by Tinsel

...and as to why he didn't finish the story after the deadline had elapsed might be because he could care less or else that he needed to beat the next deadline, but I like the explanation with God as the most satisfactory reason for the conclusion. Remember, this guy did not kill himself like all the others.

A) Lovecraft didn't tend to write stories unless he was deeply committed to them; the "Herbert West" stories being among the very rare exceptions, and those were written for a friend who was issuing a new magazine. Even so, HPL took his own sweet time writing them, as the dates of composition show.

B) The subject of deadlines has been addressed above.

C) Which guy? HPL? Neither did Clark Ashton Smith, nor Henry S. Whitehead, nor most of the other writers of that circle. REH is, in fact, the only one who did commit suicide. The narrator? The old man? Basically, I am wondering what you are referring to. What others do you mean?

Originally Posted by Tinsel

Last of all, it is good for him that he didn't get too many published! If this God is as good as another, than Dagon and Jesus are on the same list although there was no mention of the name Jesus. It could all be the Ancient Greek gods like Zeus and the father of Zeus, and now come to think of it, there's those old alters in "The Rats in the Walls". In all cases the Gods operate in secret.

I'm afraid you've completely lost me on this one.....

[Tinsel]

Before long I'll be ready to finish off Lovecraft myself after listening to any more of this.