| Title | : | En Los Muros de Eryx |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 844141503X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9788441415034 |
| Language | : | Spanish; Castilian |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 93 |
| Publication | : | First published October 1, 1939 |
The story, written in first-person narrative, depicts the life and death of a prospector on the planet Venus who, while working for a mining company, becomes trapped in an invisible maze.
En Los Muros de Eryx Reviews
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There's many layers of irony in this story, some only emerging in retrospect.
We all know of Lovecraft's unfortunately prejudiced worldview - even for a man of his time - but did you know that he got a lot better in his final years? He'd begun to feel shame about some of his previous opinions, and might well have grown up all the more had he had more time. But he died before he could complete this journey... and almost everybody ended up latching on what he said and thought earlier on, forgetting or ignoring later developments.
Parallels! Most likely just me reading too much into it and grasping at straws, but still!
It's a good story, anyway. Unusual for Lovecraft, what with the science fiction with almost no cosmic horrors in it, just loneliness and claustrophobia and a fair share of mutual xenophobia. Quite short, a good read for everyone. -
3.5
In the Walls of Eryx is mostly told by a narrator whose name we find out only later in the story. It takes place on Venus, in a strange building and he is after some kind of valuable crystal. Right from the beginning we see something is seriously wrong with the place the protagonist is.
There is a corpse near him which he uses as a visual landmark to try to find out the way out of this labyrinth with invisible walls.
In time you really get to feel the claustrophobia and desperation slowly creeping in. Occasional bursts of hope only make the situation worse. His oxygen, food and water supply begin to run out too and, to make everything worse, groups of lizard-men come out of the woods. He soon realizes that the labyrinth was built by these creatures 'whose craft and mentality' humans underestimated.
Some might argue that what the humans on Venus decided to do afterwards is a bit harsh. Some, not all. -
"Let us leave to Venus that which belongs only to Venus."
A chilling sci-fi tale, which despite some suspense and foreboding lands quite far afield from Lovecraft's usual fare. In fact, had I not known Lovecraft wrote it, I almost certainly couldn't have guessed. The theme really boils down to a biting critique of humanity's hubris and destructive instincts in the face of the alien or unknown, a theme that would become popular in the sci-fi of decades to come. -
In the Walls of Eryx
The Earthlings have come to Venus and have built a colony which they have called Terra nova. On Venus there is life, a diverse fauna and flora, and an intelligent race of reptilian beings whose culture is not yet highly developed, although in some aspects such as architecture it seems much more advanced.
The main interest of men in Venus is a crystal that serves as a source of energy and is exclusive to Venus, a single crystal has energy to power a city, but the settlers are having trouble starting a massive mining because these crystals are sacred for the Venusians.
The protagonist advises bringing a detachment of soldiers and annihilating the entire native species to exploit the glass mines, something unfortunately too close to reality, it is just what some imperialist powers have done throughout history with the Petroleum countries or the so-called "rare earths" and "blood minerals."
I would have liked this story more without the epilogue, without the epilogue I would have even claimed the figure of Lovecraft that as everyone knows sympathizes with the Nazi ideology and the supremacy of the Aryan race. In the penultimate part of the story the character reflects on the scale Cosmic, no race is superior to another, when faced with death it changes its xenophobic posture and manifests an anti-colonialist stance, but in the end this is ruled out as a delirium and plans for a total invasion and a Venusian Holocaust begin. -
7/10
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I didn't expect this to be Sci-Fi, but I liked the atmosphere created for Venus
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Můj neoblíbenější žánr. Za ten svůj život jsem viděla, hrála i četla obrovské množství hororů a málo který mě už dokáže nějak překvapit. Ale H.P. Lovecraft? To je pro mě zaručená husí kůže. Fantastický:)
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I've reading all of Lovecraft stories and this one stood up as one of the best ones. The setting is imaginative and the ending feels more focused on how garbage humanity is.
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Тут наглые спойлеры.
Внезапно планетарная фантастика от Говарда Филлипсовича, причем узнаваем он только в угнетении головушки идеей «боже-я-отсюда-никогда-не-выберусь» и в сопутствующем переходе мыслей от панических к спокойным и местами бредовым, т.е. частичной деградации под влиянием внешних условий. Нехватка воды и кислорода, нервное истощение, блуждание часами вдоль невидимых стен и проникающая безысходность. Пожалуй, самое по-человечески доступное и близкое, что я читала у ГФЛ. Особенно удивило пожелание мира во всем мире на пороге смерти – столь жалкая попытка замолить грешки. Никакой явной мистики в виде сеттинга (вместо кладбищ и страшных домов – Венера с тривиальными опасностями в виде венерианцев), никаких загадочных явлений (только вполне себе материальный, пускай и невидимый лабиринт), и никаких откровений во снах. И ведь получилось так же захватывающе, даже без выскакивающих из табакерки чертиков.
Лабиринт как идея, конечно, рулит. Он остается неразгадываемым и непредсказуемым. В лабиринте можно спрятать чудищ или превратить коридоры в бесконечные восьмерки, а то и вовсе свести с ума, разместив саму концепцию в чертогах разума. Но дядя Говард говорит: иногда лабиринт – это просто лабиринт, а люди жадные да глупые – так им и надо.
annikeh.net -
Enjoyable comeuppance tale (up to the very end, anyway), where the arrogant human is caught in a sophisticated trap devised by the "primitive" natives. Of course, if the fellow had carried, say, rope with him, or had ever heard of the right-hand-rule for getting out of mazes, the trap would not have worked so well. I was disappointed that it was really just a physical maze, and not something that changed in response to the crystal (making it so the opening closed for anyone holding a crystal would have been brilliant). Ah, well. Still worth reading.
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Within the Walls of Eryx takes place on Venus, the characters are members of a mining expedition, mining for crystals. The area in which they are working has some dangerous native inhabitants and some dangerous plants. It is recommended that prospecting parties contain at least two members, but locally the thought is that the locals are not that dangerous and frequently forays of only one are made.
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Sometimes, I feel like books and stories written in Lovecraft's time take some time to get into, but they are usually worth it. I enjoyed the imagination of this story, although the beginning-middle and middle dragged a bit. But it's a nice creepy tale and I'm glad I took the time to read it.
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Lovecraft #103 of 104: In the Walls of Eryx (with Kenneth Sterling)
“Staring back at these grotesque and unexpected intruders, and wondering uneasily why they did not attack me at once, I lost for the time being the will power and nervous energy to continue my search for a way out. Instead I leaned limply against the invisible wall of the passage where I stood, letting my wonder merge gradually into a chain of the wildest speculations.”
[Eryx Walls by Pablo P. Quadros]
In the Walls of Eryx is the most straight-forwardly science-fiction story that Lovecraft ever worked on, at least in the pulpy style of the 1930s. The action entirely takes place on Venus and our narrator carries a “flame pistol” to fight off the native population. It’s worth reading for fans of early sci-fi and people interested in Lovecraft.
[In the walls of Eryx by Bruno Senigalha]
Eryx is arguably the 103rd oldest extant story by American weird fiction author Howard Philips Lovecraft (1890-1937) and the only one that he collaborated on with Kenneth J. Sterling (1920-1995). I have been reading all of HPL’s fictional works in chronological order this year to see his development as a writer. Eryx comes after Lovecraft’s last original story The Haunter of the Dark and before the last story that the old gent ever worked on, The Night Ocean (revised for R.H. Barlow). According to Joshi & Schultz (2001), the young Sterling was a big fan of weird fiction and, after moving to Providence, Rhode Island, boldly went to Lovecraft’s home in March 1935 to introduce himself. Sterling was only 14 at the time and HPL was 45. The two formed a friendship, or at least a mentor/mentee relationship. In January of 1936, Sterling sent Lovecraft a draft of Eryx that was around 6,000-8,000 words. The older man proceeded to rewrite the story, increasing its length to 12,000 words. While most of the resulting provide probably belongs to HPL, he appears to have “tried to preserve as much of Sterling’s own prose, and certainly his ideas, as possible” (p. 126).
I like Eryx. The Venus setting is absurd given what we know about that particular planet, but in the mid-1930s, mankind really did not have much knowledge on the subject with “some astronomers believing it to be steamy and swampy” (p. 126) on the surface as Sterling and HPL depict here. The prose is very strong, with Lovecraft really at the top of his game at this point in his life. The invisible maze, an idea that Sterling was responsible for, is an interesting concept and the narrator’s struggles inside of it are effectively suspenseful. I also like the apparent parallels to European colonization. The human protagonist Kenton J. Stanfield is arrogant and clearly has bigotted views of the “man lizards'' that are the only sentient life forms of the planet that he is plundering. As the narrative progresses, he develops a respect for the natives. “In the scale of cosmic entity who can say which species stands higher, or more nearly approaches a space-wide organic norm—theirs or mine?” I would like to think that this reflects a softening of HPL’s own racist views as he reached the end of his life. Admittedly, Eryx has some flaws common to its brand of pulp sci-fi. The alien life-forms are a little silly and, as Chris Lackey (2012) of the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast points out in one episode, the invisible walls don’t entirely make sense.
[In the Walls of Eryx (2017) Nathan E Lilly]
Lovecraft and Sterling continued to correspond until the older writer’s death from cancer in March 1937. Sterling continued to show great promise for the rest of his life, entering Harvard University in the fall of 1936 when he was only 16. He published his first scientific paper as an undergraduate at only age 19 and went on to become an important research scientist and medical doctor. He wrote a short memoir about his friendship with Lovecraft called “Lovecraft and Science” and in 1975 wrote a longer memoir titled “Caverns Measureless to Man.” According to Joshi & Schultz (2001), he urged that Lovecraft be “remembered as a scholar and a thinker as well as an author” (p. 252).
”Carbon copy with manuscript corrections. Story written in collaboration with Kenneth Sterling in January 1936. This typescript was probably prepared by Sterling. There is a manuscript note on the cover sheet (in Sterling's hand): "First carbon copy - Blue Book / Argosy. Original typed copy - Astounding / Wonder. Second carbon copy - Weird / Amazing." First published in Weird Tales, 34, No. 4 (Oct 1939).”]
Title: In the Walls of Eryx
Author: H.P. Lovecraft & Kenneth J. Sterling
Dates: January 1926 (written), October 1939 (first published)
Genre: Fiction - Novelette*, science fiction, horror
Word count: 12,000 words
Date(s) read: 5/25/22-5/26/22
Reading journal entry #166 in 2022
Sources:
Link to the story:
https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/...
First publication citation: Weird Tales vol. 34, no. 4 (October 1939): 50–68.
Emrys, R., & Pillsworth, A.M. (2015, October 13). Successful Pulp Heroes Need to be More Genre Savvy: “In the Walls of Eryx”. TOR.COM
https://www.tor.com/2015/10/13/lovecr...
Fifer, C., & Lackey, C. (2012, June 7). Episode 114 - In the Walls of Eryx. The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast [audio blog]. Retrieved from
https://www.hppodcraft.com/list/2012/...
Joshi, S. T., & Schultz, D. E. (2001). An H.P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Greenwood Press.
Sterling, Kenneth, "In the Walls of Eryx" Howard P. Lovecraft collection. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://repository.library.brown.edu/...
Links to the images:
Eryx Walls by Pablo P. Quadros
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/yk...
In the walls of Eryx by Bruno Senigalha:
https://www.deviantart.com/brunosenig...
In the Walls of Eryx (2017) Nathan E Lilly:
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/i...
https://repository.library.brown.edu/...*The difference between a short story, novelette, novella, and a novel:
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Diff...
Vignette, prose poem, flash fiction: 53 - 1,000 words
Short Stories: 1,000 - 7,500
Novelettes: 7,500 - 17,000
Novellas: 17,000 - 40,000
Novels: 40,000 + words
Written on May 30, 2022
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Кентон Стенфілд прилітає на Венеру, де люди шукають особливі кристали, які дають надзвичайну кількість енергії. Цим же кристалам поклоняються єдині більш-менш розвинені істоти планети, які нагадують плазунів. Інколи вони нападають на людей, але зазвичай з ними легко впоратися.
Стенфілд прямує в одиночну експедицію на нагір'я, де радар показав наявність кристала. Прибувши на місце, він бачить труп іншого шукача, який знайшов цей кристал, хоче його взяти, але якась невидима перешкода заважає йому. Схоже, якась прозора споруда оточує труп і кристал. Стенфілду вдається знайти у неї вхід, він забирає собі кристал, але вирішує дослідити це чудернацьке місце.
Я вже не раз писав, що Лавкрафт під кінець життя перетворювався на наукового фантаста, і це лише чергове підтвердження. Ми вже звили читати у нього про те, що зарозуміле людство сприймає себе володарями всесвіту, але варто якомусь богу чхнути, як всі попадають на коліну. Тут замість богів - недорозвинені венеріанці. За рівнем технологічного розвитку вони безперечно поступаються землянам, але чи варто їх недооцінювати? Це їхня планета і господарі тут вони. -
Los Terrícolas han llegado a Venus y han construido una colonia a la que han llamado Terra nova. En Venus hay vida,una fauna y flora diversa,y una raza inteligente de seres reptilianos cuya cultura a aún no esta muy desarrollada,aunque en algunos aspecto como la arquitectura parece mucho mas avanzada.
El principal interés de los hombres en Venus es un cristal que sirve como fuente de energía y es exclusivo de Venus,un solo cristal tiene energía para alimentar una ciudad,pero los colonos están teniendo problemas para iniciar una explotación minera masiva porqué estos cristales son sagrados para los Venusianos.
Él protagonista aconseja traer un destacamento de soldados y aniquilar a toda la especie nativa para poder explotar las minas de cristal,algo lamentablemente demasiado cerca de la realidad, es justo lo que ha hecho E.E U.U (y otras potencias imperialistas a lo largo de la Historia) con los países Petroleros o las llamadas "tierras raras" y "minerales de sangre".
Este relato me hubiera gustado mas sin el epílogo,sin el epílogo incluso hubiera reivindicado la figura de Lovecraft que como todos saben simpatizo con la ideología nazi y la supremacía de la raza aría.En la penúltima parte del relato el personaje reflexiona sí en la escala cósmica ninguna raza es superior a otra,al enfrentarse con la muerte cambia su postura xenófobas y manifiesta una postura anticolonialista ,pero al final esto es descartado como un delirio y se comienzan planes para una invasión total y un Holocausto venusiano. -
Wordsworth Editions
London 2010.
Did not enjoy this story as it is usual when I get lost in Lovecraft s pages. This time it was not so much because there are no naked women but because I do not like science fiction of which a typical example is this story.
The layout is an autodiegetic/first person narrator with a heterodiegetic narrator at the end who finds the autodiegetic narrator s writings at the end.
The language is not so much atmospheric, this story was published in 1936., it reminds a lot of Clark Ashton Smith s stories because it is situated on Venus. Those two were pals so they influenced each other a lot.
It is interesting that aboriginal dwellers of Venus are lizardlike intelligent creatures; does a former football player from the Ilse of Wright pop up in mind?
Me and my pal, Elon Musk, are going next year to Venus, if you want to join us you need to pay 10 000 turkish liras on my account.
¡Hasta luego!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7XEf... -
Último tomo de esta colección de colaboraciones. Incluye tres cuentos.
La exhumación, relato compartido con Duane W. Rimel, es bastante lovecraftniano. Interesante.
El diario de Alonzo Typer, de autoría compartida con William Lumley, un texto que podría incluirse dentro de los mitos de Cthulhu.
En los muros de Eryx, colaboración con Kenneth Sterling, un relato espacial, sin dudas atípico en la literatura de Lovecraft. -
This story lacks a lot of the "cosmic horror" Lovecraft is famous for, instead focusing on more conventional science fiction. I was really expecting the crystal to be controlling the force fields, showing that no matter what the protagonist did he couldn't outsmart the "primitive" aliens and cold only escape by abandoning his prize and admitting defeat. The ending ultimately makes him appear just as daft, but it's not quite as clever and ironic as I expect from this kind of story.
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Докато наблюдавах отдалеч това сияние, си дадох сметка, че изпитвам съжаление към примитивните човекогущери, които сляпо обежествяваха кристалите,без ни най-малко да подозират за колосалната енергия, стаена в тях.
И ние хората сляпо гоним парите,издигайки ги на пиадестал. Гоним ги в същите прозрачни лабиринти, блъскайки се от една стена в друга, докато не умрем или загубим разсъдъка си!
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The most unusual book in Lovecraft’s works. Sci-fi elements are well implemented and the narrative is so engaging. The labyrinth and its descriptions are unpleasantly vague, but everything else is good.
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H.P. Lovecraft - En los muros de Eryx
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Ah, lindo relato que se aparta de la mitología lovecraftiana. De vanguardia para la literatura de ciencia ficción de aquel momento. Cortito y al pie. Recomendable para los seguidores del género.
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a very cool fiction
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Buenísima ambientación y descripción de los detalles pero hubiese preferido una novela y no un cuento.
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A rare future sci-fi lovecraft short, amazing and you can feel the anxieties of the main character easily. Short and perfect eerie look into encountering new beings.
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Not his best, but it is a curious story of sci-fi unique in Lovecraftian Works. Makes me think of "Avatar" movie in how exotic he describes The planet Venus.
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Great straight sci-fi from the Master.
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Another really amusing short story from Lovecraft. The idea of an invisible labirynth is really overtaking, I loved this story so much, and I was excited for the main character till the end!
