Andrew Hurley. Penguin brought it out in paper ($16.95) in 1999. There’s a furious fight raging over at Amazon.com about whether the new translations suck or not.
I assume that most people read Borges in the New Directions editions back in the 1950s and 60s and 70s, and they just hate the new kid on the block…this happened to me with the new Thomas Mann “Death in Venice” translation that came out a few years ago: I got apoplectic over the new version of “Blood of the Volsungs,” which seemed to me to be inferior to the one I read in college and was USED to.
Ike, thanks. If the Hurley’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for moi.
Have you found time to read Dr. Brodie’s Report yet? My guess is it’s Borges’ answer to The Strange Case of Charles Dexter Ward. ??
Some guy – At the Mountains of Madness is just about the only horror story that ever gave me real chills, and at one point, a sense of vertigo. (Weird, that.)
And I like your Username. Conversations in my future: “Where’d you learn that?” “Oh, just some guy.”
Yeah, the whole point was to come up with the single most generic username possible. Incidentally, I have exactly zeroc connection to the similarly generic Just Another Guy.
Just to keep this (sort of) on topic, I’ll point out that Vertigo (DC Comics’ “serious” imprint) has recently produced an extra-spiffy graphic novel version of The House ont the Borderlands. I can’t for the life of me remember who the actual writer and artist are, but it’s a really nice interpretation of the original.
I’ve read a whole buncha his stuff. He’s the berries.
I love the Jorkens stories, and “The Three Sailors’ Gambit” may be the best spooky chess story ever written (and how’s THAT for a miniscule subgenre?).
Right now I’m reading THE CHARWOMAN’S SHADOW, which someone was raving about in one of the “What Fantasy Novels Should I Give My Kids?” threads. Excellent.
If you can find a copy of S.T. Joshi’s lit-crit classic THE WEIRD TALE (University of Texas Press, 1990), snap it up. He goes over Lovecraft, Dunsany, Machen, Blackwood, Bierce, and M.R. James.
I am now officially obsessed with finding that book. Thanks.
And to hijack my hijack… I’ve converted the Gods of Pegana for use with my long-running Dungeons and Dragons campaign. I now have a group of guys who can debate the virtues of worshipping Yoharneth-Lahai or Skarl, and who dread the day that Mana-Yood-Sushai awakes.
My suggestion would be to not read any of it. It’s a gateway into the messiest form of occultism: Cabalism.
Cabalists generally have dandruff and sneeze a lot from all the dust and they all got started with either LaVey or Lovecraft. ugh. Too much monochromatic black and patchouli and eyeliner. Even Wiccans own brooms (blessed be kids), but them Lovecraft types are allergic to cleaning house, I swear.
Seriously the most interesting HP related reading is the stuff ABOUT the guy and his life. He was pretty mysterious, and from most accounts one of the worst name droppers of the turn of the century. Claimed to know every big cultist of his day and not one knew him. I think his dad was a Freemason (Egyptian, not Irish) and thats why he was so whacko.
If you want a little international opinion, I read HPL in French, being my mother tongue, and the classification according to French critics of the best of HPL is something as follow :
the Dream-quest serie
The outsider
The colour from out of time
The call of Cthulhu
In addition, if you read French, Les cahiers de l’Herne published in the late 60s, early 70s a special issue on Lovecraft. It is out of print as far as I know and a bit pricy ($ 90 +) but very interesting regarding Lovecraft’s writing.
Oh, also, Lovecraft seems improved by its French translator (the adjectivitis is not as irksome as in the original.
“The House on the Borderlands” can be found online at this site, along with much other nifty stuff. No Lovecraft, though, for some reason. “The Shadow over Innsmouth” always freaked me out (beware the fish-frogs…), as did “The Dunwich Horror.” “Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath” always sat weird with me, too; as there are no direct quotes in the entire story. Gives it an odd feel, I always thought.