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Lovecraft: Disturbing the Universe
Book by Burleson, Donald R.
- GenresLovecraftian
170 pages, Hardcover
First published October 23, 1990
1 person is currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Donald R. Burleson
61 books10 followersAmerican ufologist.
Burleson is a UFO field investigator, research consultant, and New Mexico State Director for the Mutual UFO Network ( MUFON )
Burleson is a UFO field investigator, research consultant, and New Mexico State Director for the Mutual UFO Network ( MUFON )
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 1, 2010
When you pick up a book by a college professor about H.P. Lovecraft, you might expect an analysis of his stories, his cross-referencing of other authors' works, his philosophical views, not to mention some of his ookier ideas on race.
Donald Burleson does none of this. Instead, he spends 160 pages babbling non-sense like an undergrad trying to finish a 1000 word paper on a book he didn't read. A typical example:
"The striking thing, immediately, about the title 'The Statement of Randolph Carter' is the particular manner in which it describes the text. Since the story, in form, is a statement -- Randolph Carter's legal statement to the questioning authorities, perhaps even under oath -- the title refers very closely to the text itself, not so much like a label that merely reads 'Milk' on a bottle of milk, but more like a label on such a bottle that goes so far as to say, 'This Bottle of Milk.' The story 'The Statement of Randolph Carter' is the statement of Randolph Carter, as its title pointedly proclaims."
Burleson goes on like that for three pages, before finally deciding that maybe the title means that Randolph Carter is the statement.
Gott in Himmel!
Dude, Lovecraft wrote a story in the form of a statement to the police, and titled it for what it is. There's really nothing more to it.
Every chapter is like that. The one for "The Colour out of Space" contains a lengthy meditation on the Indo-European root of the word "colour". "The Cats of Ulthar" -- well, "Ulthar" is kinda like "ultra," and "alter" and thus "alternate" and "altercate."
I can understand an undergraduate spewing this non-sense, since they by and large spend their days drunk or stoned, but Burleson is paid for this sort of navel-gazing "analysis."
(NOTE: I have an English degree. I stuck to medieval and Renaissance literature and creative writing as much as I could to avoid this stuff.)
Donald Burleson does none of this. Instead, he spends 160 pages babbling non-sense like an undergrad trying to finish a 1000 word paper on a book he didn't read. A typical example:
"The striking thing, immediately, about the title 'The Statement of Randolph Carter' is the particular manner in which it describes the text. Since the story, in form, is a statement -- Randolph Carter's legal statement to the questioning authorities, perhaps even under oath -- the title refers very closely to the text itself, not so much like a label that merely reads 'Milk' on a bottle of milk, but more like a label on such a bottle that goes so far as to say, 'This Bottle of Milk.' The story 'The Statement of Randolph Carter' is the statement of Randolph Carter, as its title pointedly proclaims."
Burleson goes on like that for three pages, before finally deciding that maybe the title means that Randolph Carter is the statement.
Gott in Himmel!
Dude, Lovecraft wrote a story in the form of a statement to the police, and titled it for what it is. There's really nothing more to it.
Every chapter is like that. The one for "The Colour out of Space" contains a lengthy meditation on the Indo-European root of the word "colour". "The Cats of Ulthar" -- well, "Ulthar" is kinda like "ultra," and "alter" and thus "alternate" and "altercate."
I can understand an undergraduate spewing this non-sense, since they by and large spend their days drunk or stoned, but Burleson is paid for this sort of navel-gazing "analysis."
(NOTE: I have an English degree. I stuck to medieval and Renaissance literature and creative writing as much as I could to avoid this stuff.)
November 14, 2010
Decostruire Lovecraft... con qualche virtuosismo di troppo. In ogni caso decisamente stimolante.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews