The Music of Erich Zann

[Acooljt]

This one, as opposed to my many other topics( ), I actually understand most of it. I mean, I don't quite understand why he couldn't find this place anymore, or the significance of all the stuff that happened in the last scene, but there's no part of the actually reading I didn't understand, just the implications behind them. One thing I did pick-up, is more than likely that the old man was dead. I mean, he slept during the day, even the word "ghoulish" was used to describe him, and in the end scene, the narrator says that he felt cold. But beyond that, Lovecraft's implications are lost on me(as I said about why he can't find the place again, and pretty much the significance behind the entire last scene).

[Jesus Prime]

Because crazy shit happened. Zann had been living beside the window to some strange netherworld, and he played to keep some scary shit at bay. Of course, when he finally gave up and died, the weirdness got inside, and disappeared the place.

[Acooljt]

LOL, why does everything seem so obvious AFTER you tell me? Haha, thanks much man, that cleared up everything.

[Jesus Prime]

Dude, go buy the S.T. Joshi annotated texts. I'm telling you, they're so much easier to understand.

[Acooljt]

I prefer to read things in their original texts if at all possible because it gives the truer feeling of what the author was trying to portray. That's why I particularly like John Ciardi's translation of Dante's Divine Comedy. He tries to keep Dante's original intentions intact, and then after each Canto(chapter), he explains what Dante meant by certain things. Thus, not destroying the original text, but still letting the reader understand what Dante was talking about.

[Jesus Prime]

Joshi leaves the orignaly text, he even tracked down the original manuscript of "Shadow Out of Time" because the print version available was a piece of shit. It's just got a lot of end-notes to explain things.

[Aleister]

I recommend the Joshi editions as well.. so much useful information.

Before I read the annotated version of Zann, I did not know that the viol was neither a violin or viola.

[Acooljt]

Wow, seriouisly? I naturally thought it was a viola or a violin.

[Acooljt]

You guys are going to have to be a little more specific on which S.T. Joshi books, because he's got several.

[Aleister]

It is no book in particular.. Just look for Lovecraft books that are annotated by Joshi. There are quite a few of them. It will say on the cover.

[Jesus Prime]

It's like a cello.
And there are three, published by Penguin, that collect most of the prose works of Lovecraft together - "The Call of Cthulhu and Other Wierd Stories", "Dreams in the Witch House Other Wierd Stories", and "The Thing on the Doorstep Other Wierd Stories".