Arkham

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The Crowninshield-Bentley House in Salem, Massachusetts , model for Lovecraft's Crownsinshield estate on the outskirts of Arkham

Arkham is a fictional city in an HP Lovecraft- devised area in Massachusetts , also known as Lovecraft Country . The model is the city of Salem . The city ​​introduced in the short story The Image in the House then appears in numerous stories by the author that revolve around the Cthulhu myth . Friends and followers of Lovecraft, especially August Derleth , have continued and expanded the myth of the city of Arkham in their stories. Arkham is also a scenario for some role-playing games and several board games such as Arkham Horror .

Echoing the dark mood and themes of madness in Lovecraft's work, “Arkham” (for Arkham Asylum ) is an important location in Gotham City in the Batman universe. In addition, the book publisher Arkham House , which specializes in fantastic and horror literature, was named after the fictional city.

location

Arkham road map (after a sketch by HP Lovecraft)

Arkham is said to be between Newburyport in the north and Boston in the south. The older core of the city is said to have originally been built on the southern bank of the Miskatonic River, which slows its course here at a river bend.

The campus of the fictional Miskatonic University on the south side is to form the center of the city, to which numerous Georgian churches and the lively business district on the south bank of the river are to be connected. To the east of the university quarter, the French Hill district with its winding streets was settled, which is said to have been predominantly inhabited by Franco Canadians in the past . The western border of the city is said to have been formed by the undeveloped Henkershügel with the Henkersbach of the same name , which, however, has now been structurally developed and integrated into the cityscape.

Later the city is said to have expanded to the north bank of the river. This is where newer villa quarters emerged in fiction. The train station was located directly on the north bank, with Independence Square a little northeast of it .

Geology and climate

Arkham is said to be on a bend in the river on the lower reaches of the Miskatonic River, which crosses an extensive hill country to the west, to meet here on a flatter bog and heathland and then flows a few miles further east of Arkham between Innsmouth and Kingsport into the Atlantic . The subsoil therefore consists largely of the alluvial land of the Miskatonic.

Due to the course of the river and the surrounding moorland and heathland , the climate is humid and oppressive, especially in the summer months.

Neighboring places

In addition to the real neighboring towns of Ipswich and Rowley, Lovecraft is relocating other fictional places in the Arkham area:

  • Innsmouth, a port city in the northeast
  • Kingsport , a fishing town in the southeast
  • Dunwich, a derelict village several hours' drive west of Arkham behind Dean's Corners on the upper reaches of the Miskatonic.

history

Arkham is said to have been founded at the end of the 17th century by freethinkers who sought to free themselves from the narrowness of the puritanical mindset. The growth is said to have been accelerated by the settlement of numerous persecuted people who sought refuge in the city. Immigration is said to have peaked around 1692, triggered by the Salem witch trials . However, this immigration is also believed to have brought dodgy people into the city, such as women accused of witchcraft, Goody Fowler and Keziah Mason.

In the summer of 1882, a meteorite is said to have struck the courtyard of Nahum Gardner in the hilly heathland west of Arkham. Professors at Miskatonic University are said to have not been able to determine the true nature of the meteorite more precisely because the fluorescent substance dissolved prematurely. In the following years, both the Gardner family and their animals succumbed to an unknown disease in this fiction. What remains is a devastated and burned area, which from then on was avoided by the locals and is said to have been called the Cursed Heath .

Any further attempt to develop the hilly heathland west of the city through the settlement of Franco Canadians , Italians and Poles is said to have been unsuccessful. Unfortunately, no efforts are said to have been made so far to put this largely untouched area under nature protection or to designate it as a national park . On the other hand, Lovecraft provided that it was planned to flood the area of ​​the Accursed Heath by building a reservoir for the drinking water supply.

In the summer of 1905, the fictional city is said to have been hit by a typhus epidemic, which claimed many victims among the population.

The development of Boston into the most important city in the region is said to have slowed Arkham's further development. Today the economy is said to be largely down, and the city's cultural life can hardly be described as lively. The main employer of the city is said to be the Miskatonic University with its affiliated institutions. Although the city center of Arkham is described as a picturesque and winding old town with numerous historical buildings, there seem to be hardly any attempts to maintain the historical structure appropriately. The residents are said to be extremely superstitious and appear rather grumpy and dismissive towards strangers, which is also said not to be very beneficial for tourism .

Public facilities

education

Arkham is described as the seat of Miskatonic University , which is to offer courses in ancient and modern languages, English, French, history, archeology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, medicine, zoology, anthropology and medieval metaphysics , but also economics and engineering.

The Miskatonic University is said to be best known for its library, which is to house an extensive, extensive collection of manuscripts. You should u. a. include a copy of the infamous fictional Necronomicon and the controversial and equally fictional Phelan manuscript. Therefore, it should always be an important point of attraction for occult and metaphysical research.

Hospitals

  • St. Mary's Hospital , west of the university campus
  • Arkham Sanitarium , a mental institution and literary model of the later of the Batman - Comics and stories known Arkham Asylum

Culture

The Arkham Historical Society should research the history of the city, but should no longer maintain its own publication organ.

Economy and Infrastructure

traffic

Arkham has few inner city public transportation systems in the descriptions. The volume of traffic should also be low overall.

Arkham train station is said to be on the north side of the Miskatonic. The B&M railway line is to connect the city to the south with Boston and to the north via Rowley with Newburyport . In addition, a bus to Newburyport is to run twice a day, the route of which is to run along the coast through the derelict fictional port town of Innsmouth.

With the neighboring Innsmouth, the city is said to have a seaport, which is described as being in decline. It used to be important in the East India trade .

media

The city is said to have two local newspapers, the Arkham Advertiser and the weekly Saturday Review with extensive job advertisements.

The Arkham Advertiser will also operate a local radio station, which u. a. Regularly report on the scientific research results and expeditions of the Miskatonic University . The program will be broadcast over the broadcasting facility on Kingsport Head .

Established businesses

Arkham House , founded in 1939 by the writers August Derleth and Donald Wandrei, was symbolically located in Arkham, although it is actually based in New York .

Famous citizens

Lovecraft also invented some famous Arkham residents:

  • The dean of the medical faculty Dr. Allan Halsey , who is said to have died himself through his selfless efforts to fight the typhus epidemic of 1905.
  • The poet Edward Pickman Derby , publications a. a .: "Azathoth and other horrors"
  • Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee , Professor of Politics and Economics at Miscatonic University, who made headlines for his sudden memory loss that lasted for years.

The setting in the following stories

Lovecraft's Tales

  • The Picture in the House (1920); In this short story Arkham is mentioned for the first time and then developed further in further narratives
  • Herbert West - the resuscitator (Herbert West - Reanimator) (1921/22); here the medical faculty and the existence of the Miskatonic University are mentioned for the first time.
  • The Unnamable (1923)
  • The Festival (1925); mentions the existence of the rare book Necronomicon in the library of Miskatonic University
  • The Color Out of Space (The Color Out of Space) (1927); mentions the planned construction of a reservoir.
  • The Dunwich Horror (1928)
  • The Whisperer in Darkness (1930); mentions the existence of the rare book Necronomicon in the library of Miskatonic University
  • Mountains of Madness (At the Mountains of Madness) (1931); mentions the broadcast of a Miskatonic University expedition on the Arkham Advertiser local station.
  • The Shadow Over Innsmouth (1931); mentions the "Arkham Historical Society" for the first time
  • The Dreams in the Witch House (1932); takes place in the winding streets of the French Hill district
  • Through the Gates of the Silver Key (1932/33)
  • The Thing on the Doorstep (1933); first mentions the Arkham Sanitarium mental institution
  • The Shadow out of Time (1934/35)

Other authors

  • August Derleth : Beyond the Threshold
  • August Derleth: The Shadow in the Attic
  • August Derleth: The Lurker at the Threshold ; extends the area west of Arkham to the Billington Forest with the mansion of the same name behind Dean's Corners.
  • Jonathan L. Howard: Johannes Cabal (3) - The Institute for Fear and Terror
  • Markus K. Korb / Tobias Bachmann: The Arkham Sanatorium
  • Other authors are: Robert Bloch , Joseph Payne Brennen, John Brunner, Tina L. Jens, Brian Lumley , Robert M. Price, Michael Shea, Clark Ashton Smith , C. Hall Thompson, F. Paul Wilson. (Listed here only by name, as most of her stories have not yet been translated into German!)
  • Wolfgang Hohlbein : In his witcher novels

Other media

Movies

Games

credentials

  1. Other Lovecraft Country templates can be found scattered throughout Essex County, Massachusetts . See: http://www.hplovecraft.com/creation/sites/mass.asp .
  2. A detailed sketch of Lovecraft's map of Arkham can be found at: http://cthulhufiles.com/arkham.htm
  3. The name Arkham seems to have originated from a corruption of the Latin "arcanum" (= secret, hidden) and the English word for "oak", while the final syllable "ham" comes from the Old English word for "home" (= Home) goes back; which indicates a "hidden settlement" that was apparently built on oak planks in the marshy bank area of ​​the Miskatonic.
  4. A virtual form of the Arkham Advertiser can be found in German at: http://www.arkham-advertiser.de/
  5. Jump up ↑ The older character game review . From spieletest.at. Retrieved February 4, 2014.

literature

  • Patrick J. Grieser: Arkham - A travel guide . Reichelsheim, Basilisk 2006.
  • Markus K. Korb / Tobias Bachmann: The Arkham Sanatorium , Oct. 2007, ISBN 978-3-936742-78-7
  • HP Lovecraft: Azathoth . Frankfurt, Suhrkamp 1989.
  • HP Lovecraft: The thing on the threshold , Suhrkamp 1976
  • HP Lovecraft: The cats of Ulthar , Suhrkamp 1980
  • HP Lovecraft: City without a Name , Suhrkamp 1981
  • HP Lovecraft / August Derleth: The Dark Brotherhood , Suhrkamp 1987
  • HP Lovecraft / August Derleth: Das Tor des Verderbens , Suhrkamp 1994