"Neither Ape Nor Insect"
Jun. 10th, 2006 09:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowSomewhere in one of H. P. Lovecraft's horror stories, he makes reference to a race of creatures which, he says, "are neither ape nor insect". It's a peculiarly evocative phrase - peculiarly, since, after all, most things are neither ape nor insect, but evocative nonetheless. (I always seem to envision a giant grasshopper-thing, partly erect, whose hindmost legs are those of a gorilla.)
That phrase came to mind because I'm currently reading Time and the Gods, a collection of the short fiction of Lord Dunsany. I've read most of the stories in the collection; in my teens, I devoured as much Dunsany as I could find, and I still have several of his works in my library. I was just rereading an old favorite, "The Injudicious Prayers of Pombo the Idolater", and was struck by a reference to "Maharrion, the god of flowers, and his high priest, who is neither bird nor cat". Somehow that last phrase isn't quite as evocative as Lovecraft's, but I have to wonder whether it wasn't the inspiration for the other. The story of Pombo was published in 1912, and Lovecraft's writing career began some years later. Since I don't remember which Lovecraft story contains the phrase, I can't be more precise than that. Lovecraft was familiar with Dunsany's work, and once attended a reading by the Irishman, so there could easily be a connection.
Just a thought.
That phrase came to mind because I'm currently reading Time and the Gods, a collection of the short fiction of Lord Dunsany. I've read most of the stories in the collection; in my teens, I devoured as much Dunsany as I could find, and I still have several of his works in my library. I was just rereading an old favorite, "The Injudicious Prayers of Pombo the Idolater", and was struck by a reference to "Maharrion, the god of flowers, and his high priest, who is neither bird nor cat". Somehow that last phrase isn't quite as evocative as Lovecraft's, but I have to wonder whether it wasn't the inspiration for the other. The story of Pombo was published in 1912, and Lovecraft's writing career began some years later. Since I don't remember which Lovecraft story contains the phrase, I can't be more precise than that. Lovecraft was familiar with Dunsany's work, and once attended a reading by the Irishman, so there could easily be a connection.
Just a thought.
