The Silver Key
Encyclopedia
"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. Hoffmann Price.
The story and its sequel both feature Lovecraft's recurring character of Randolph Carter
as the protagonist.
, where his maternal ancestors lived. The character Benijah Corey from the story seems to combine the names of Emma Corey Phillips, one of Lovecraft's relatives, and Benejah Place, a farmer who lived across the street from the home where Lovecraft stayed.
Carter's search for meaning through a succession of philosophical and aesthetic approaches may have been inspired by J. K. Huysmans' A rebours
(1884), whose main character undertakes a similar progression.
rejected "The Silver Key" when Lovecraft submitted it in mid-1927. The next year, however, Wright asked to see the story again and accepted it. He later told Lovecraft that the story was "violently disliked" by readers. It is believed to have been disliked due to Lovecraft having renounced bigotry in the story, which at the time was wide spread.
symbols, which he finds and takes with him on a visit to his boyhood home in the backwoods of northeastern Massachusetts (the setting
for many of Lovecraft's stories), where he enters a mysterious cave that he used to play in. The key somehow enables him to return to his childhood as a ten-year-old boy, and his adult self disappears from his normal time. The story then relates how Randolph's relatives had noted, beginning at the age of ten, that he had somehow gained the ability to glimpse events in his future. The narrator of the story then states that he expects to meet Randolph soon, in one of his own dreams, "in a certain dream-city we both used to haunt", reigning there as a new king, where the narrator may look at Randolph's key, whose symbols he hopes will tell him the mysteries of the cosmos.
, then "The Statement of Randolph Carter
", followed by "The Unnamable
". "The Silver Key" and "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" are set at the end of this sequence.
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia
compares "The Silver Key" to Lovecraft's early story "The Tomb
", whose narrator, Jervas Dudley, also "discovers in his attic a physical key that allows him to unlock the secrets of the past."
.
"The Silver Key" is an experimental breakcore LP album
by the Xanopticon http://www.discogs.com/release/1129944
"Regarding the Silver Key" is a fictional document in the visual novel
Saya no Uta
, supposedly detailing the candidates for the titular character Saya's original world and universe.
A version of the eponymous artifact is an item in Maid RPG, there called "Enigmatic Silver Key."
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....
in 1926, considered part of his Dreamlands series. It was first published in the January 1929 issue of Weird Tales
Weird Tales
Weird Tales is an American fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine first published in March 1923. It ceased its original run in September 1954, after 279 issues, but has since been revived. The magazine was set up in Chicago by J. C. Henneberger, an ex-journalist with a taste for the macabre....
. It was followed by a sequel, "Through the Gates of the Silver Key
Through the Gates of the Silver Key
"Through the Gates of the Silver Key" is a short story co-written by H. P. Lovecraft and E. Hoffmann Price between October 1932 and April 1933. A sequel to Lovecraft's "The Silver Key", and part of a sequence of stories focusing on Randolph Carter, it was first published in the July 1934 issue of...
", co-written with E. Hoffmann Price.
The story and its sequel both feature Lovecraft's recurring character of 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....
as the protagonist.
Inspiration
"The Silver Key" is thought to have been inspired in part by Lovecraft's visit to Foster, Rhode IslandFoster, Rhode Island
Foster is a town in Providence County, Rhode Island, in the United States. The population was 4,606 at the 2010 census.- History :Foster was originally settled in the 17th century by British colonists as a farming community...
, where his maternal ancestors lived. The character Benijah Corey from the story seems to combine the names of Emma Corey Phillips, one of Lovecraft's relatives, and Benejah Place, a farmer who lived across the street from the home where Lovecraft stayed.
Carter's search for meaning through a succession of philosophical and aesthetic approaches may have been inspired by J. K. Huysmans' A rebours
À rebours
À rebours is a novel by the French writer Joris-Karl Huysmans...
(1884), whose main character undertakes a similar progression.
Reaction
Weird Tales editor Farnsworth WrightFarnsworth Wright
Farnsworth Wright was the editor of the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the magazine's heyday.He was born in California, and educated in the University of Nevada and the University of Washington....
rejected "The Silver Key" when Lovecraft submitted it in mid-1927. The next year, however, Wright asked to see the story again and accepted it. He later told Lovecraft that the story was "violently disliked" by readers. It is believed to have been disliked due to Lovecraft having renounced bigotry in the story, which at the time was wide spread.
Synopsis
Randolph Carter discovers, at the age of 30, that he has gradually "lost the key to the gate of dreams." Randolph once believed life is made up of nothing but pictures in memory, whether they be from real life or dreams, and he highly prefers his romantic nightly dreams of fantastic places and beings, as an antidote for the "prosiness of life", believing his dreams to reveal truths missing from man's waking ideas, regarding the purpose of humans and the universe, primary among these being the truth of beauty as perceived and invented by humans in times past. As he ages, though, he finds that his daily waking exposure to the more "practical", scientific ideas of man, has eventually eroded his ability to dream as he once did, and has made him regretfully subscribe more and more to the mundane beliefs of everyday, waking "real life". But still not certain which is truer, he sets out to determine whether the waking ideas of man are superior to his dreams, and in the process, he passes through several unsatisfying philosophical stances. Discouraged, he eventually withdraws from these lines of inquiry, and goes into seclusion. After a time, a hint of the fantastic enters his dreams again, though he is still unable to dream of the strange cities of his youth, leaving him wanting more. During one of these dreams, his long-dead grandfather tells him of a silver key in his attic, inscribed with mysterious arabesqueArabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements...
symbols, which he finds and takes with him on a visit to his boyhood home in the backwoods of northeastern Massachusetts (the setting
Lovecraft Country
Lovecraft Country is a term coined by Keith Herber for the New England setting, combining real and fictitious locations, used by H. P. Lovecraft in many of his weird fiction stories, and later elaborated by other writers working in the Cthulhu Mythos. The term was popularized by Chaosium, the...
for many of Lovecraft's stories), where he enters a mysterious cave that he used to play in. The key somehow enables him to return to his childhood as a ten-year-old boy, and his adult self disappears from his normal time. The story then relates how Randolph's relatives had noted, beginning at the age of ten, that he had somehow gained the ability to glimpse events in his future. The narrator of the story then states that he expects to meet Randolph soon, in one of his own dreams, "in a certain dream-city we both used to haunt", reigning there as a new king, where the narrator may look at Randolph's key, whose symbols he hopes will tell him the mysteries of the cosmos.
Connections
"The Silver Key" alludes to other Lovecraft stories that feature Randolph Carter, allowing the reader to place these stories in chronological order: first The Dream-Quest of Unknown KadathThe Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. It was completed in 1927 and was unpublished in his lifetime. It is both the longest of the stories that comprise his Dream Cycle and the longest to feature protagonist Randolph Carter, and can thus be considered a culminating...
, then "The Statement of Randolph Carter
The Statement of Randolph Carter
"The Statement of Randolph Carter" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft. Written December 1919, it was first published in The Vagrant, May 1920...
", followed by "The Unnamable
The Unnamable
The Unnamable may mean:* The Unnamable , a 1953 novel by Samuel Beckett* "The Unnamable" , by H. P. Lovecraft* The Unnamable , a 1988 movie based on the H. P. Lovecraft short story...
". "The Silver Key" and "Through the Gates of the Silver Key" are set at the end of this sequence.
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia is a reference work written by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. It covers the life and work of American horror fiction writer H. P...
compares "The Silver Key" to Lovecraft's early story "The Tomb
The Tomb (short story)
"The Tomb" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft written in June 1917 and first published in the March 1922 issue of The Vagrant. It is the first work of fiction that Lovecraft wrote as an adult.-Plot summary:...
", whose narrator, Jervas Dudley, also "discovers in his attic a physical key that allows him to unlock the secrets of the past."
In popular culture
"The Silver Key" is a song by the symphonic metal band Dark MoorDark Moor
Dark Moor is a Spanish power metal band from Madrid. Formed in 1993, they produced three full-length albums before undergoing a line-up change in which three members left the band to form their own project, Dreamaker...
.
"The Silver Key" is an experimental breakcore LP album
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
by the Xanopticon http://www.discogs.com/release/1129944
"Regarding the Silver Key" is a fictional document in the visual novel
Visual novel
A is an interactive fiction game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art, or occasionally live-action stills or video footage...
Saya no Uta
Saya no Uta
is a visual novel by Nitroplus with horror elements. The original plot is written by Gen Urobuchi.Like Nitroplus' heavily Mythos-inspired Demonbane series, Saya no Uta's plot is somewhat Lovecraftian...
, supposedly detailing the candidates for the titular character Saya's original world and universe.
A version of the eponymous artifact is an item in Maid RPG, there called "Enigmatic Silver Key."