Cthulhu's reputation

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The deity Cthulhu against the backdrop of the sunken city of R'lyeh. Painting by an unknown fan art artist

Cthulhus Ruf (English original title: Call of Cthulhu ) is one of the most famous short stories by the American horror author HP Lovecraft . The story was written in the summer of 1926, in February 1928 in the pulp magazine Weird Tales published in 1939 and in the collection of The Outsider and Others of the publishing house Arkham House added.

Although other stories from Lovecraft belong to the Cthulhu myth , this is the only one in which the extraterrestrial being appears and the first to formulate the myth.

Structure of the narrative

Several documents left by the late Francis Wayland Thurston serve as the framework for the story . He was the administrator of the estate of his late great-uncle George Gamell Angell, an emeritus professor of Semitic languages . The three central documents each form a chapter of the story:

The horror in clay ( "The Horror in Clay"): Thurston sifts through the estate of his uncle and discovers that this evidence has accumulated that the existence of a supernatural being called Cthulhu indicate. Underneath is a bas - relief that looks repulsive to Thurston and is supposed to represent Cthulhu: a huge, distantly human-like winged creature with claws on arms and legs and a head full of tentacles . It was created by a modern artist named Henry Anthony Wilcox, who for several weeks had disturbing dreams about Cthulhu and its city of R'lyeh . Professor Angell has written a treatise on Wilcox's dream visions.

Inspector Legrasse's report ("The Tale of Inspector Legrasse"): Also in Angell's estate is a report on an archeology conference at which Police Inspector John Raymond Legrasse reported how he cultivated a cruel cult in Louisiana . The followers adored Cthulhu, whom Legrasse cannot culturally assign. The inspector's report also includes the interrogation of one of the cult members, an aged sailor named Castro. He has met high-ranking members of the cult on his travels and has knowledge of his background. Another conference participant, Professor William Channing Webb, provides a report on an expedition to Greenland , during which he also came across the Cthulhu cult.

The horror from the sea ("The Madness from the Sea"): Thurston makes his own research that goes beyond the work of his uncle. An Australian newspaper article reports on a mysterious sea voyage in the Pacific , around the same time that Wilcox is plagued by dreams and created the Cthulhu bas-relief. Thurston takes the diary of the only survivor of this voyage, the Norwegian Gustaf Johansen, who has since passed away. Johansen's notes first tell of a battle between his crew and some of the cult's followers; second, the discovery of the city of R'lyeh, which emerged near the Pacific Pole of Inaccessibility ; thirdly, of Johansen's argument with Cthulhu, whom he rammed while fleeing to ship and was able to defeat it for the moment.

Chronological sequence of events

A drawing of the Cthulhu statue from the story Cthulhu's Ruf ( Call of Cthulhu ). The drawing was made by HP Lovecraft in 1934.

The complex structure of the story ensures that the reader only receives step-by-step information about the Cthulhu myth that is not in chronological order. The reader finds himself in a situation like Thurston was viewing Professor Angell's estate.

  • At some point in the course of the 19th century, the mestizo Castro met the “deathless leaders” of the Cthulhu cult in China . From them he learns that Cthulhu ruled the earth eons ago, but has been in a sleep like death for millennia. There is a worldwide cult that is waiting for Cthulhu's resurrection and whose origins are in Arabia . Even in the notorious book of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred, the Necronomicon , isolated passages refer to the existence of Cthulhu.
  • In 1860 , during an expedition to Greenland , Professor Webb, an anthropologist , came across a group of “ degenerate Eskimos ” who worship Cthulhu and who gave the professor clues about the cult.
  • In November 1907, Inspector Legrasse and several police officers entered the swamps around New Orleans, Louisiana, to rescue some settlers kidnapped by cult supporters. The cult followers are killed or captured. Among the survivors is the now ancient Castro, who tells Legrasse about the Cthulhu myth.
  • In 1908 Legrasse and Professors Webb and Angell take part in an archaeological conference in St. Louis . Legrasse and Webb discover that the cults in Greenland and Louisiana are similar despite the distance. Both the pictorial representation of Cthulhu and the strange language of the rite are identical: Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn , which translates as: The dead Cthulhu waits dreaming in his house in R'lyeh .
  • On February 28, 1925 or March 1, 1925 - depending on the date line - the city of R'lyeh, submerged in the Pacific Ocean, was lifted to the surface by a severe earthquake. Since then, the artist Wilcox from Providence has suffered from nightmares about Cthulhu, whereupon he creates an image of the being. He shows it to Angell and tells him about his dreams. The professor has a third reference to the Cthulhu myth and is doing further research.
  • On March 22nd there is a skirmish between the schooner Emma from Auckland , on which the Norwegian Johansen serves as second mate, and the heavily armed yacht Alert , whose crew consists of Cthulhu supporters, mostly " Kanaks and hybrids". The Emma is sunk, but her crew can board the Alert and kill its crew. As the most senior survivor, Johansen takes command.
Location of the submerged city of R'lyeh in the Pacific according to Johansen's coordinates.
  • On March 23rd, Johansen and his crew landed on the island that was lifted from the ground. You enter the city of R'lyeh, where the well-known laws of physics are suspended. The men unintentionally awaken Cthulhu from his eons-long, death-like sleep. Johansen's men are killed by Cthulhu or die of panic fear. Only Johansen and one of his men can rely on the alert and leave the island. Cthulhu pursues her ship, whereupon Johansen turns and rams the creature with the yacht.
  • Between March 23 and April 2, 1925, revolts and mass panics broke out around the world without the people of Cthulhu being aware of Cthulhu's brief resurrection. Wilcox's dreams intensify, he falls into delirium .
  • On April 2nd, the city of R'lyeh sinks back into the Pacific in a severe storm. Cthulhu falls asleep again. The storm made the alert unseaworthy and drifting aimlessly. Johansen's companion goes mad and dies soon after. The artist Wilcox awakens from his delirium and can no longer remember his visions.
  • On April 12th, the Alert is taken in tow by the freighter Vigilant , which itself lost its course in the previous storm.
  • Later in 1925, Johansen was questioned by the Admiralty about what was going on at sea, but remained silent and finally returned home to his wife in Oslo . There he writes a diary about his experiences in the Pacific and is soon afterwards killed by agents of the cult, two “Lascar sailors” (seafarers from the Indian region).
  • Angell made further research into the Cthulhu cult in 1925 and 1926. He collects newspaper clippings that suggest that Cthulhu's return has left traces worldwide. In the winter of 1926/27 he was murdered by a “negro sailor”, another cult agent.
  • In 1927 the Boston anthropologist Thurston took over the estate of his great-uncle Angell. After initial skepticism, Thurston examines the Cthulhu myth. After receiving information in a newspaper about the events surrounding Emma's crew , he travels to Auckland and then to Oslo, where he receives Johansen's diary from his widow. Thurston becomes aware of the extent of the cult. He foresees his death at the hands of the cult followers, which will come either in 1927 or 1928 (the year Lovecraft's story was published).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cover of the issue on collectorshowcase.fr
  2. ↑ Rein A. Zondergeld : Lexicon of fantastic literature. Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt 1983, p. 271