Spoiler
Firstly, I had never read this story before, even during the height of my HPL obsession (2004-2008)
I've actually still never "read" it, as on this occassion I listened to it via audio-narration on YouTube.
Why did I do that, do you ask? Because I have always found this particular tale quite laboriously written, and though I've made several attempts to read it, I have never succeeded. I think it's because the protagonist is not really HPL's own -- he is Harry Houdini, a man I am singularly not interested in -- which makes it harder to relate to.
I have always found, in my own mind, a certain kinship with Lovecraft's nameless protagonists, which is perhaps why I have always enjoyed his work so much, but I really don't care at all about Harry Houdini, especially not his travelogue, which is essentially what this is.
However, despite my lack of ability to connect with the protagonist, or actually read the text for myself, there are aspects of the story I really like:
1. I like the concept of a secret, hidden tomb network beneath the Giza Pyramid complex, containing experimental re-animated mummies, and an actual Sphinx being that they worship. Pretty cool, and would make a great RPG module, if you're into that sort of thing. Or for the plot of yet another reboot of The Mummy franchise.
2. I also like the way in which Harry describes the "layers" of Egyptian culture:
a) The "European" Egypt that disgusts him due to its over-familiarity.
b) The "Saracenic" Egypt that appeals to his Orientalist fantasies.
c) The "Bedouin" (i.e. the real) Egypt that disgusts him due to it being full of actual, real-life dirty foreigners.
d) The "Pharaonic" Egypt that simultaneously enchants and repulses him due to their religious rites and concepts of death and the afterlife, as well as its incredible antiquity, which as we know from the previous story (The Nameless City) always freaks out HPL.
I also like the overuse of adjectives as you described in your own thoughts, Snowy, and I think they're well employed here in certain places to describe Harry's nightmare fantasies concerning the mystery and darkness of ancient Egypt.
However, there's a few things I really don't like:
1. I don't like the very long set-up.
2. I don't like the detailed, long-winded description of the Pyramid complex and surrounding area. That was so dull.
3. I don't like how freaking surreal the story becomes after Harry is seemingly lowered down into the earth via the rope; all the weird visions and feelings he experiences -- everything from the impossibly deep descent, the entire length of impossibly long rope falling onto him, feeling like he's been pecked by an Ibis, the constant falling in and out of consciousness -- totally killed the story for me, and leads me to conclude that the whole thing he experiences after he's been tied up and blindfolded and laid on the ground ACTUALLY IS just a dream, as he so concludes at the end of the account.
Perhaps the Arabs slipped something into his drink after the fake boxing match on top of the pyramid (I actually really liked the idea of a boxing match on top of the pyramid -- this would make a great scene in a movie) and this drug, combined with his own knowledge of Egyptology and apparently highly colourful imagination, serves to wreak havoc on his mind. This is my theory, because it's just too surreal to suggest otherwise. If it hadn't been for that weird "passing out three times" section in the middle, I actually think this could have been a really creepy story about a man who, on a tour of Egypt, uncovers a secret underground lair of undead horrors beneath the Giza plateau (which would have been awesome).
Unfortunately, due the bizarre visions, Harry becomes the most unreliable of unreliable narrators and we just cannot trust this story as anything other than the recollection of a really bad hallucenogenic trip.
In his other stories, HPL often makes reference to Egyptian things. We've seen this already in The Nameless City, The Outsider and if we manage to keep this book club going long enough we may see it again, but this is the one and only story where HPL actually writes a wholly Egyptian tale of cosmic horror. And I think it's a sadly wasted opportunity. There's a cool concept buried within this tale (about as far down as Harry thinks he descends beneath the earth) but it's covered up by too many other factors which sadly obscure it from sight.
Some further observations:
1. Did you notice that Queen Nitokris is mentioned several times in this tale? She's also mentioned in The Outsider -- in fact, the protagonist from The Outsider is probably among the army of the dead that Harry witnesses toward the end ("I know that light is not for me, save that of the moon over the rock tombs of Neb, nor any gaiety save the unnamed feasts of Nitokris beneath the Great Pyramid")
2. I see a strong resemblance to The Nameless City in places, as well as other tales we've covered so far. A man travelling deep, deep underground -- far deeper than he thought possible -- discoveres a (possible) hidden world of horror beneath. Harry Houdini even quotes a line of poetry from Thomas Moore, something that the protagonist of The Nameless City did as well!
I have to say, there is a quote that made me chuckle:
I've actually still never "read" it, as on this occassion I listened to it via audio-narration on YouTube.
Why did I do that, do you ask? Because I have always found this particular tale quite laboriously written, and though I've made several attempts to read it, I have never succeeded. I think it's because the protagonist is not really HPL's own -- he is Harry Houdini, a man I am singularly not interested in -- which makes it harder to relate to.
I have always found, in my own mind, a certain kinship with Lovecraft's nameless protagonists, which is perhaps why I have always enjoyed his work so much, but I really don't care at all about Harry Houdini, especially not his travelogue, which is essentially what this is.
However, despite my lack of ability to connect with the protagonist, or actually read the text for myself, there are aspects of the story I really like:
1. I like the concept of a secret, hidden tomb network beneath the Giza Pyramid complex, containing experimental re-animated mummies, and an actual Sphinx being that they worship. Pretty cool, and would make a great RPG module, if you're into that sort of thing. Or for the plot of yet another reboot of The Mummy franchise.
2. I also like the way in which Harry describes the "layers" of Egyptian culture:
a) The "European" Egypt that disgusts him due to its over-familiarity.
b) The "Saracenic" Egypt that appeals to his Orientalist fantasies.
c) The "Bedouin" (i.e. the real) Egypt that disgusts him due to it being full of actual, real-life dirty foreigners.
d) The "Pharaonic" Egypt that simultaneously enchants and repulses him due to their religious rites and concepts of death and the afterlife, as well as its incredible antiquity, which as we know from the previous story (The Nameless City) always freaks out HPL.
I also like the overuse of adjectives as you described in your own thoughts, Snowy, and I think they're well employed here in certain places to describe Harry's nightmare fantasies concerning the mystery and darkness of ancient Egypt.
However, there's a few things I really don't like:
1. I don't like the very long set-up.
2. I don't like the detailed, long-winded description of the Pyramid complex and surrounding area. That was so dull.
3. I don't like how freaking surreal the story becomes after Harry is seemingly lowered down into the earth via the rope; all the weird visions and feelings he experiences -- everything from the impossibly deep descent, the entire length of impossibly long rope falling onto him, feeling like he's been pecked by an Ibis, the constant falling in and out of consciousness -- totally killed the story for me, and leads me to conclude that the whole thing he experiences after he's been tied up and blindfolded and laid on the ground ACTUALLY IS just a dream, as he so concludes at the end of the account.
Perhaps the Arabs slipped something into his drink after the fake boxing match on top of the pyramid (I actually really liked the idea of a boxing match on top of the pyramid -- this would make a great scene in a movie) and this drug, combined with his own knowledge of Egyptology and apparently highly colourful imagination, serves to wreak havoc on his mind. This is my theory, because it's just too surreal to suggest otherwise. If it hadn't been for that weird "passing out three times" section in the middle, I actually think this could have been a really creepy story about a man who, on a tour of Egypt, uncovers a secret underground lair of undead horrors beneath the Giza plateau (which would have been awesome).
Unfortunately, due the bizarre visions, Harry becomes the most unreliable of unreliable narrators and we just cannot trust this story as anything other than the recollection of a really bad hallucenogenic trip.
In his other stories, HPL often makes reference to Egyptian things. We've seen this already in The Nameless City, The Outsider and if we manage to keep this book club going long enough we may see it again, but this is the one and only story where HPL actually writes a wholly Egyptian tale of cosmic horror. And I think it's a sadly wasted opportunity. There's a cool concept buried within this tale (about as far down as Harry thinks he descends beneath the earth) but it's covered up by too many other factors which sadly obscure it from sight.
Some further observations:
1. Did you notice that Queen Nitokris is mentioned several times in this tale? She's also mentioned in The Outsider -- in fact, the protagonist from The Outsider is probably among the army of the dead that Harry witnesses toward the end ("I know that light is not for me, save that of the moon over the rock tombs of Neb, nor any gaiety save the unnamed feasts of Nitokris beneath the Great Pyramid")
2. I see a strong resemblance to The Nameless City in places, as well as other tales we've covered so far. A man travelling deep, deep underground -- far deeper than he thought possible -- discoveres a (possible) hidden world of horror beneath. Harry Houdini even quotes a line of poetry from Thomas Moore, something that the protagonist of The Nameless City did as well!
I have to say, there is a quote that made me chuckle:
I am not sure what Lovecraft was suggesting with this fragment, but the wording made me chuckle as I imagined statues of Pharaohs positioned in such a way that it was as if they were having sex with baboons. ¬___¬I would give much, in view of my experience and of certain Bedouin whisperings discredited or unknown in Cairo, to know what has developed in connexion with a certain well in a transverse gallery where statues of the Pharaoh were found in curious juxtaposition to the statues of baboons.
