Delve Deeper

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Quoth Cthulhu: From Beyond...



The following Quoth Cthulhu continues along the Lovecraft tech theme by quoting Lovecraft's description of the resonator from the original story. Do you see any similarities between what has been filmed and what was written...

We entered the laboratory in the attic, and I observed that detestable electrical machine, glowing with a sickly, sinister violet luminosity. It was connected with a powerful chemical battery, but seemed to be receiving no current; for I recalled that in its experimental stage it had sputtered and purred when in action. In reply to my question Tillinghast mumbled that this permanent glow was not electrical in any sense that I could understand.

He now seated me near the machine, so that it was on my right, and turned a switch somewhere below the crowning cluster of glass bulbs. The usual sputtering began, turned to a whine, and terminated in a drone so soft as to suggest a return to silence. Meanwhile the luminosity increased, waned again, then assumed a pale, outrè colour or blend of colours which I could neither place nor describe. Tillinghast had been watching me, and noted my puzzled expression.

"Do you know what that is?" he whispered, "That is ultra-violet." He chuckled oddly at my surprise. "You thought ultra-violet was invisible, and so it is - but you can see that and many other invisible things now...

- From Beyond (1920)

(Thanks to H.P. Lovecraft)

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