Vacation Necronomicon School

I would like to extend a sincere and hearty thank you to everyone who participated this summer.  It has been an arduous journey in a way — packed with words, and yet more words, plus images, sounds, and madness as only Lovecraft can inspire.  We’ve experienced both serious scholarship and humor — and, though I can only speak for myself, I have learned a great deal.

Thank you for that.

As promised, I will e-mail Certificates of Participation to all official enrollees, as well as special Certificates of Cyclopean Accomplishment to all who complete the final assignment.  (Note to those who e-mail assignments: Please be sure to let me know whether I have permission to publish your project on the final project page, and what name you would like listed as author — an internet handle is fine.)

There may be future projects in store here at Vacation Necronomicon School — one never knows when the stars might align again.  I will keep you posted as to further developments.

Again, thank you.  I hope we meet again…

Class dismissed.

• Assignment: Turn in completed final project
• More information: Final Project Page

Today’s lesson requires no reading, just a willingness to remember the crafts most common amongst children at summer camp.  Just to maintain the spirit of our enterprise, I felt we needed to include one “camp classic” — and in the end it was either this or weaving a lanyard key chain, and this seemed more appropriate as a wink to the Lovecraftian mythos.

You simply need two sticks, some scraps of yarn, and the patience to make a repetitive weaving motion.  You may use craft sticks, or even reclaimed popsicle sticks, but you’ll have greater luck at achieving asymmetry if you use the fallen detritus of trees, as I have in the example pictured here.

As you weave the eye, meditate on the Elder Things themselves — both the ones easy to picture, and the ones which almost defy visual recognition.  Try to hold these images in your mind as the coarse wooden sticks scrape against your hands, as the itchy wool binds them in place and constructs the abomination before you.  Weave until you are finished and admire the results.  Maddening, isn’t it?  The eye leers at you from the junction point of the two sticks, the unholy center of it all — the place, I daresay, where our dimensions collide.

Shudder at what you have wrought.

(I think I will use mine to guard my bookshelf, which seems a fitting literary end to me.)

Today’s alternate non-craft assignment is to explain which story you would recommend to someone unfamiliar with Lovecraft’s work (other than the glimpses seen in pop culture).  Which story seems most accessible to the new reader?  Which do you think makes a good introduction, and why?  Explain in 200 words or less.

The only thing remaining is our final assignment: your own composition.  The time has come to finish and polish, for they are due tomorrow.  I will set up a separate page for those who wish to share their works with others — and will post these over the weekend as I receive them.

I truly hope each of you has enjoyed our time here as much as I have.

Class dismissed.

Note: I apologize for posting this lesson in such a tardy manner; it must be heat delirium setting in.

• Assignment: Weave an Elder God’s Eye; complete your final composition
• Alternate assignment: Explain which Lovecraft story you’d recommend first — 200 words or less
• More information: Ojo de Dios (Clear instructions with photographs)

The searing summer days we have spent together at Vacation Necronomicon School are quickly coming to a close — though there seems no end in sight to the heat itself, or the horror of forbidden knowledge.

I designed our curriculum with the procrastinator in mind — so if you’ve been dragging your feet on your final composition, now is your chance to attain completion.

Today’s reading is an essay on the current popularity of the cephalopod from H+ Magazine, and though we’ve covered most of its material already in our discussion of Cthulhu, I still felt it was a worthwhile read as it ranges widely in its analysis.  There is no official writing assignment today (beyond your final composition), though you may report your opinion on any aspect of this essay in the comments, as usual.

Class dismissed.

• Reading: Kraken Rising: How the Cephalopod Became Our Zeitgeist Mascot
• Assignment: Optional comment on essay; continue work on final project
• More information: Etsy searches for squid, tentacle, and Cthulhu

Though I now live in the fourth largest city in the United States, I’m originally from rural Missouri.  Today’s reading, “The Dunwich Horror,” has for me a recognizable sense of the Other in its decaying backwoods setting — though watching one’s hometown degenerate from a normal stoic Midwestern hamlet to the sort of place where illicit meth labs regularly explode makes Dunwich seem rather quaint in a way.

Today’s reading also includes a great deal of information about our school’s namesake: The Necronomicon.

Though Lovecraft invented The Necronomicon as a sort of recurrent literary prop, it has certainly achieved a separate notoriety outside of his mythos.  (I for one would love to see a Venn diagram mapping the overlap between people who believe The Necronomicon is “real,” and those who believe the British Royal family to be shape-shifting reptilian aliens.  But perhaps that is rather unkind of me.)  It has appeared in many non-Lovecraftian works, and is a consistent object of parody — as in this pitch perfect take on a certain religion’s classic television commercials.  The Necronomicon has come to exist in this strange territory on the periphery of pop culture where it is either treated too seriously or in the most flippant manner possible — but either way, I think it is the most recognizable element of Lovecraft’s mythos for those who have never read his stories.  Even people who have no idea who Cthulhu is have some idea of The Necronomicon, at least through some half-remembered horror movie where it served as a plot point.

Your assignment today is simply to to discuss some aspect of The Necronomicon, either in Lovecraft’s writing or in one of its other guises — in 200 words or less.  You may examine any aspect you like; there is certainly no shortage of related topics.

Class dismissed.

• Reading: “The Dunwich Horror”
• Assignment: 200 words or less on The Necronomicon; continue work on final project
• More information: The Necronomicon (YouTube)
• Extra Credit: “Army of Darkness”

It is perhaps fitting (or telling, depending on your position) that yesterday’s lesson concerned Lovecraftian sound, and today’s lesson uses a musical excerpt as our focus.

“Eldritch Musicks” by The Contrarian (otherwise known as Casey Rae-Hunter), is an homage to the works of H. P. Lovecraft, Arthur Machen, and Algernon Blackwood — and is therefore well within our purview here. The album also includes four “drones” by The Ten Thousand Things meant specifically to convey a sense of “Otherness” — and these are musically fascinating in and of themselves.

Although in my opinion the entire album is excellent, it is 1970s style “occult rock” (think Blue Öyster Cult) and not likely to appeal to all of us in equal measure.  With that in mind, I have chosen only track 5 as today’s subject: “The Cove.”

Here are the lyrics in their entirety:

The Lovecraftian themes of discovery and madness are present and accounted for, despite the stripped down lyrical format — and I think this serves as an excellent representation of Lovecraftian translation into a medium other than writing.  The song itself degenerates into a kind of madness at the end, which both shocks the listener and makes for a fitting ending to a brush with the Other.

Your assignment today is to delineate your favorite modern writer, musician, or other artist whose work includes a true sense of the Other.  Your choice doesn’t need to have a direct connection to Lovecraft or his mythos, just a real sense of Otherness in his or her work.  Make your case in 200 words or less.  (There have already been some wonderful suggestions in the comments of previous posts.)

Class dismissed.

• Listening: “The Cove” (YouTube)
• Assignment: 200 words or less describing your favorite writer or artist whose work contains Othering; continue work on final project
• More information: The Contrarian, “Eldritch Musicks”
• Extra Credit: “The Cove” (Story by Casey Rae-Hunter)

In our reading so far we’ve encountered many descriptions of disturbing sounds: “Rats” in walls, the keening of Antarctic wind, the “shrill, ghostly tittering” that the workmen cross themselves against at the end of “The Dreams in the Witch House” — not to mention the sound that deafened Gilman.  Though these elements may not stand out in the text amongst more horrific elements, they always pop out at me as a person who is keenly sensitive to sound.  In fact, my sensitivity to sound is a frequent source of amusement to those around me who don’t even notice the audible irritations that torment me so.  For instance, at this very moment I can hear the hum of the air conditioning unit on the roof and the clinking of the pull chain against the light fixture on the ceiling fan in the next room — not to mention the whir of the computer’s fan and the occasional buzz of its processor, or the quiet rumbles from the videogame my partner is playing.

In short, I am hypersensitive to sound — and I suspect that H. P. Lovecraft may have been as well.

Though today’s reading is concerned mainly with the aftermath of the things Nyarlathotep shows his audience members, I feel Lovecraft’s description of sound at the end of this short prose poem are some of his most evocative.  Your assignment today is to meditate on Lovecraft’s use of intricately detailed descriptions of sound, in 200 words or less.  Is his use of cacophony just another way to fully realize his scenes of horror?  How does his use of sound relate to the chaos of the Other?

Class dismissed.

Note: All writing assignments will be shorter this week to allow time to complete the final project.  There is also only one remaining reading of any significant length, “The Dunwich Horror.”

• Reading: “Nyarlathotep”
• Assignment: 200 words or less on Lovecraft’s description of sound; continue work on your final composition

Lovecraft wrote at a time when the pared back language and modernism of Hemingway and other American authors was becoming popular, yet he wrote in murky quasi-Victorian prose and dry technical language.  Still, Lovecraft’s unique use of language — as well as the unpronounceable burblings that comprise what we know of Elder language — is a factor in the lasting appeal of his work.

Today’s story, “The Dreams in the Witch House,” is, in my opinion, very readable while still being a good example of florid language and overly-detailed description.  There is no official writing assignment today, other than work on your final composition (which may or may not include eldritch language of your own), though you may of course post your thoughts on Lovecraft’s use of language in the comments, as always.

Class dismissed.

• Reading: “The Dreams in the Witch House”
• Assignment: Work on your final composition
• More information: Iceberg Theory (Wikipedia)

Here at Vacation Necronomicon School, we believe in observing a day of rest — or failing that, at least a day of matinee viewing.  Today we will trace the Lovecraftian patterns running throughout John Carpenter’s remarkable body of work.  Antarctic vistas, madness, and horrible knowledge mankind was never meant to possess are all in abundance in his movies.

Your assignment is to view one of the following John Carpenter films:

1. “The Thing”
2. “In the Mouth of Madness”
3. “Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns”

Using your chosen film as a starting point, discuss Lovecraft’s influence on Carpenter’s
oeuvre in 300 words or less.

Be assured that tomorrow we return to Lovecraft proper.  Class dismissed.

• Viewing:  “The Thing,” “In the Mouth of Madness,” or “Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns” (choose one)
• Assignment: 300 words or less examining Lovecraft’s influence on John Carpenter; continue work on your final composition

Please note that “Masters of Horror: Cigarette Burns” is available to stream on Netflix.

Today we read the most famous of all Lovecraftian tales: “The Call of Cthulhu.”  We debated whether or not Cthulhu should ever be cute yesterday, but today we make one of his unholy appendages real and tactile.  As you manipulate the wool, so maddeningly itchy in the summer heat, meditate on what makes Cthulhu the truly definitive Elder God.  What, exactly, is the appeal?

.

The Embrace of Cthulhu, or the Elder Scarf

Supplies:

• 1 skein bulky thick and thin yarn
• Size 10.5 DPNs
• Size 13 or 15 DPNs, depending on weight of yarn

The thick and thin texture of the yarn is crucial to this project, which is basically a giant, gnarled i-cord.  Also, this is not a very precise pattern, but rather something to be intuited as one works through it, which is and of itself a subversion of knitting as it is generally practiced.  Think non-Euclidian geometry.

The Pattern:

With trepidation and fear, cast on 2 sts with smaller needles.

Work in i-cord for a few inches, then k1, m1, k1.

Work this larger i-cord for several inches, then k1, m1, k2.

Work 4 stitch i-cord until it feels right to increase in size, then switch to larger needles.

After a time, as your madness grows, you will understand that the tentacle taking shape in your lap requires further increase, then k1, m1, k to end.

Work this 5 stitch i-cord for only a few brief inches, for as much as you will never be the same, it will be best to reverse the process soon, so at the appropriate time, chant a quick incantation from that most feared of all books, the Necronomicon, and then k2, k2tog, k1.

It’s true that each stitch brings you closer to unfathomable horror, but you must complete the journey. Work this decreasing i-cord for approximately the same distance as its comparable section at the other end, then switch to smaller needles.

After a time you begin to feel your sanity slipping away, so decrease another stitch as an unholy offering to the unfathomable terror you feel – k1, k2tog, k1.

You have seen what cannot be unseen, so work this unholy i-cord for several more inches, then k2tog, k1.

You have come full circle, though you are irretrievably changed; work i-cord until you are sure you can no longer continue, then k2tog, bind off, and weave in all ends.

Your completed tentacle remains a testament to the nameless, gibbering dread you now carry inside. It will also, if applied correctly, warm your neck in the winter.

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu fthagn!

Class dismissed.

• Reading: “The Call of Cthulhu”
• Assignment: Knit a tentacle scarf; continue work on your final composition
• Alternate assignment: Why has Cthulhu remained the most lasting element of Lovecraft’s mythos?  Theorize in 300 words or less.
• More information: Knit an i-cord (YouTube)
• Extra Credit: Trailer for “Sharktopus”