The Temple (Lovecraft short story)
"The Temple" | |
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Horror short story | |
Publication | |
Published in | Weird Tales |
Publication date | September 1925 |
"The Temple" is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft in 1920, and first published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales #24 in September 1925.
Plot
The story is narrated as a "found manuscript" penned by Karl Heinrich, Graf von Altberg-Ehrenstein, a
In the
An uncharted oceanic current pulls the sub southward, and several members of the crew suffer the sudden onset of severe
With the U-boat's batteries running low, and their chance of rescue non-existent, the six remaining, delirious crewmen attempt a mutiny, successfully disabling the U-boat by destroying several key instruments and gauges, even as they rave on about the curse of the ivory talisman. All are murdered by the venomous Altberg. His lone companion, Lieutenant Klenze, grows increasingly unstable and paranoid. Certain of their fate, the two pass the time in their drifting vessel by sweeping the sub's powerful searchlight through the dark abyss, noting that dolphins follow them at depths and for lengths previously unheard-of. Soon after, Klenze goes completely mad, claiming that "He is calling! He is calling!" Unable to soothe his insane companion, and unwilling to join him in suicide, Altberg agrees to operate the airlock, grateful to send Klenze to an assured death in the airless, crushing pressure of the deep.
Altberg, alone at last, drifts for a couple more days before his U-boat finally lands on the ocean floor, where he is amazed to see the sunken remains of an ancient and elaborate city. Deciding that it is the ruins of
Connections
Like Dagon, The Temple is a nautical story with a World War I background. The theme of submerged cities with non-human worshipers recurs in Lovecraft's later works, most notably The Call of Cthulhu and The Shadow over Innsmouth.
A sort of sequel can be found in the form of a role-playing game The City in the Sea, where up to four characters must journey by submersible to the temple of the Mythos god Gloon (the malign force behind the events in "The Temple" whose human disguise is depicted by the ivory carving in that story) and end his threat to the human race. This game and its play mechanics may be found in .
Reception
An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia judges "The Temple" to be "marred by crude satire on the protagonist's militarist and chauvinist sentiments", and by "an excess of supernaturalism, with many bizarre occurrences that do not seem to unify into a coherent whole."[1]
Canadian animator Alain Fournier adapted the story into the animated short film The Temple in 2022.[2]
References
- ISBN 978-0974878911.
- ^ "Le Temple: Le studio d’effets visuels FOLKS reconnu dans 12 festivals autour du monde". CTVM, October 24, 2022.
Sources
- Helgason, Guðmundur. "WWI U-boats: U 29". German and Austrian U-boats of World War I - Kaiserliche Marine - Uboat.net.
- David E. Schultz, « Exploring "The Temple" », Crypt of Cthulhu, no 38, 1986, p. 26–31, [1]
External links
- The full text of The Temple at Wikisource
- A collection of public domain H. P. Lovecraft short fiction at Standard Ebooks
- The Temple title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Radio Adaptation of "The Temple" by Macabre Fantasy Radio Theater, performed live at The H. P. Lovecraft Film Festival, San Pedro, September 2013 https://macabrefantasy.com/2014/02/20/episode-2-the-temple/