The Descendant (short story)
Encyclopedia
"The Descendant" is a story fragment by American
horror fiction
writer H. P. Lovecraft
, believed to have been written in 1927
. It was first published in the journal Leaves in 1938
, after Lovecraft's death.
...in order to get background for tales involving richer antiquities than America can furnish."
and Oxford
, he has become "thin and grey and wrinkled" before his time and "seeks...not to think" through "books of the tamest and most puerile kind". He only begins to explain the fear he lives under when confronted with a copy of the Necronomicon
.
The details of the character evoke two of Lovecraft's favorite British writers: He lives in Gray's Inn
, where Arthur Machen
lived for many years, and is the "nineteenth Baron of a line whose beginnings went uncomfortably far back into the past", recalling Lord Dunsany, who was the eighteenth baron of a line founded in the 12th century.
Northam's sampling of various worldviews is similar to Randolph Carter
's quest for meaning in Lovecraft's "The Silver Key
". Northam's description as "a dreamer who found life tame and unsatisfying" also links him to Carter.
Northam is also linked to Lovecraft's "The Nameless City
," perhaps even being the main character therein: "He would travel leagues to follow up a furtive village tale of abnormal wonder, and once went into the desert of Araby to seek a Nameless City of faint report, which no man has ever beheld. There rose within him the tantalising faith that somewhere an easy gate existed, which if one found would admit him freely to those outer deeps whose echoes rattled so dimly at the back of his memory."
". He is attracted to the "breath of cosmic wind" he senses around Lord Northam.
, which Lovecraft places at Lindum in Roman Britain
. (Lovecraft mentions the same Roman unit in "The Rats in the Walls
", where it is based in the fictional town of Anchester; the Third Legion
was actually based in Damascus
.) Gabinius was "summarily expelled from his command for participation in certain rites unconnected with any known religion", rituals had learned "in a cliffside cavern where strange folk met together and made the Elder Sign
in the dark"--remnants of the people who fled an Atlantis
-like lost continent and built Stonehenge
.
Legend had it that Gabinius "built an impregnable fortress over the forbidden cave", apparently on the Yorkshire
coast. (This "ancient hereditary castle" of "reputed Roman origin" with "supposed under crypts, hewn out of the solid crag that frowns on the North Sea" is markedly similar to Exham Priory in Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls
".) Gabinius founded "a line which Pict
and Saxon
, Dane and Norman
were powerless to obliterate;" a scion of this line may have been made the first Baron of Northam in the time of Edward III.
American literature
American literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
horror fiction
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
writer H. P. Lovecraft
H. P. Lovecraft
Howard Phillips Lovecraft --often credited as H.P. Lovecraft — was an American author of horror, fantasy and science fiction, especially the subgenre known as weird fiction....
, believed to have been written in 1927
1927 in literature
The year 1927 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Random House, book publishers, is founded in New York City by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer.-New books:*James Boyd - Marching On...
. It was first published in the journal Leaves in 1938
1938 in literature
The year 1938 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The trilogy, U.S.A. by John Dos Passos, is published containing his three novels The 42nd Parallel , 1919 , and The Big Money ....
, after Lovecraft's death.
Inspiration
Lovecraft may have been referring to this attempt at a story when he wrote that he was "making a very careful study of LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
...in order to get background for tales involving richer antiquities than America can furnish."
Lord Northam
Lord Northam is a "harmlessly mad" Londoner who "who screams when the church bells ring." Once a "scholar and aesthete" who studied at HarrowHarrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
and Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
, he has become "thin and grey and wrinkled" before his time and "seeks...not to think" through "books of the tamest and most puerile kind". He only begins to explain the fear he lives under when confronted with a copy of the Necronomicon
Necronomicon
The Necronomicon is a fictional grimoire appearing in the stories by horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and his followers. It was first mentioned in Lovecraft's 1924 short story "The Hound", written in 1922, though its purported author, the "Mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, had been quoted a year earlier in...
.
The details of the character evoke two of Lovecraft's favorite British writers: He lives in Gray's Inn
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
, where Arthur Machen
Arthur Machen
Arthur Machen was a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror...
lived for many years, and is the "nineteenth Baron of a line whose beginnings went uncomfortably far back into the past", recalling Lord Dunsany, who was the eighteenth baron of a line founded in the 12th century.
Northam's sampling of various worldviews is similar to Randolph Carter
Randolph Carter
Randolph Carter is a recurring protagonist in H. P. Lovecraft'sfiction and a thinly disguised alter ego of Lovecraft himself. The first tale in which Carter appears--"The Statement of Randolph Carter" --is based on one of Lovecraft's dreams....
's quest for meaning in Lovecraft's "The Silver Key
The Silver Key
"The Silver Key" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft in 1926, considered part of his Dreamlands series. It was first published in the January 1929 issue of Weird Tales. It was followed by a sequel, "Through the Gates of the Silver Key", co-written with E...
". Northam's description as "a dreamer who found life tame and unsatisfying" also links him to Carter.
Northam is also linked to Lovecraft's "The Nameless City
The Nameless City
"The Nameless City" is a horror story written by H. P. Lovecraft in January 1921 and first published in the November 1921 issue of the amateur press journal The Wolverine...
," perhaps even being the main character therein: "He would travel leagues to follow up a furtive village tale of abnormal wonder, and once went into the desert of Araby to seek a Nameless City of faint report, which no man has ever beheld. There rose within him the tantalising faith that somewhere an easy gate existed, which if one found would admit him freely to those outer deeps whose echoes rattled so dimly at the back of his memory."
Williams
A 23-year-old "dreamer" whose "love of the bizarre" has been manifest since he was 16, when he learned about the Necronomicon from a bent old bookseller in Chandos Street. He finally buys a copy at an "absurdly slight" price from a "gnarled old Levite" whose bookshop is in "the squalid precincts of Clare MarketClare Market
Clare Market was an area of London to the west of Lincoln's Inn Fields, between the Strand and Drury Lane, with Vere Street adjoining its western side...
". He is attracted to the "breath of cosmic wind" he senses around Lord Northam.
Lunaeus Gabinius Capito
The reputed ancestor of the Northam line, he was military tribune in the Third Augustan LegionRoman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
, which Lovecraft places at Lindum in Roman Britain
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
. (Lovecraft mentions the same Roman unit in "The Rats in the Walls
The Rats in the Walls
"The Rats in the Walls" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. Written in August–September 1923, it was first published in Weird Tales, March 1924.-Plot summary:...
", where it is based in the fictional town of Anchester; the Third Legion
Legio III Gallica
Legio tertia Gallica was a Roman legion levied by Julius Caesar around 49 BC, for his civil war against the conservative republicans led by Pompey. The cognomen Gallica suggests that recruits were originally from the Gallic Roman provinces. The legion was still active in Egypt in the early 4th...
was actually based in Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
.) Gabinius was "summarily expelled from his command for participation in certain rites unconnected with any known religion", rituals had learned "in a cliffside cavern where strange folk met together and made the Elder Sign
Elder Sign
The Elder Sign is an icon in the Cthulhu Mythos, first mentioned in H. P. Lovecraft's The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, written in 1926.-Description:...
in the dark"--remnants of the people who fled an Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
-like lost continent and built Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
.
Legend had it that Gabinius "built an impregnable fortress over the forbidden cave", apparently on the Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
coast. (This "ancient hereditary castle" of "reputed Roman origin" with "supposed under crypts, hewn out of the solid crag that frowns on the North Sea" is markedly similar to Exham Priory in Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls
The Rats in the Walls
"The Rats in the Walls" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. Written in August–September 1923, it was first published in Weird Tales, March 1924.-Plot summary:...
".) Gabinius founded "a line which Pict
PICT
PICT is a graphics file format introduced on the original Apple Macintosh computer as its standard metafile format. It allows the interchange of graphics , and some limited text support, between Mac applications, and was the native graphics format of QuickDraw.The original version, PICT 1, was...
and Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
, Dane and Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
were powerless to obliterate;" a scion of this line may have been made the first Baron of Northam in the time of Edward III.