Notes for Concept 2 PDF

8/3/2019 Notes for Concept 2 PDF

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Plot summary of the whole story: from Wiki (but after cross referencing seems fine)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_on_the_Borderland

Two good friends, Tonnison and Berreggnog, travel to the remote village of Kraighten in

rural Ireland. On the third day of their trip, they stumble upon the ruins of a strangely-shaped house bordering a large lake. They discover the mouldering journal of the Recluse,an unidentified man who recorded his last days in the house before its destruction.

The Recluse begins his journal with descriptions of how he acquired the house, along withhis daily life with his sister and his faithful dog, Pepper. He confides that he is starting thediary to keep record of the strange experiences and horrors that were occurring in andaround the house. The Recluse relates a vision in which he travels to a remote and vastarena, "the plain of silence," surrounded by mountains with representations of mythologicalbeast-gods, demons, and other "bestial horrors" on their slopes. In the center of the plainstands a house almost identical to his own, save that the house in the arena is much largerand appears to be made of a green jade-like substance. Along the way, he sees a huge,

menacing humanoid swine-thing.

After his vision of the "arena," he becomes fascinated with the pit adjacent to his house(Ireland), and begins to explore it. Shortly after this he is attacked by humanoid pig-likecreatures that he names "the swine-things" which appear to have their origin fromsomewhere in the depths of a great chasm found under the house (accessed through a piton the other side of the gardens) . The struggle with these creatures lasts for severalnights of greater and greater ferocity, yet in the end, the man kills several of the swinethings, and apparently drives them off. As he searches for the origin of the Swine-things,the man explores a pit in the gardens were the river ends and flows underground. Therehe finds a tunnel leading to a great chasm under the house. When rock slides dam thewater in the pit, trapping the man, his dog Pepper rescues him. By the time that the twomen find the journal, the obstructed water has overflowed the pit to create the lake.

The house transports him inter-dimensionally to an unknown place called 'the sea of sleep'where he briefly reunites with his lost love.

A short time later, the man notices that day and night have begun to speed up, eventuallyblurring into a never-ending dusk. As he watches, his surroundings decay and collapse todust. The dead world slowly grinds to a halt as the sun goes out after several millionmillennia. Once the world ends, the man floats through space, seeing angelic, human, anddemonic forms passing before his eyes. Later, he finds himself back in his own study onEarth, with everything apparently returned to normalcywith the one exception of Pepper,who is dead.

To make matters worse, the malicious swine-beast from his earlier journeys to the 'arena'has managed to follow him back to his own dimension. The creature infects the man's newdog with a luminous fungal disease. Although the man shoots the suffering animal, he alsocontracts the disease. The manuscript ends with the man locked (from the outside only) inhis study as the creature comes through a trap door in the basement, that opened directlyover the chasm under the house.

Tonnison and Berreggnog search for information on the man and his circumstances. Theyfind that the only knowledge of the house was that it was a place long of evil repute andhad mysteriously fallen into the chasm. They leave Kraighten and never return.

Notes for Concept 02 : The House On The Borderland, by William Hope Hodgson


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Other adaptations/ interpretations:

http://grimreviews.blogspot.com/2011/07/house-on-borderland-by-william-hope.html



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Descriptions in the text:

Mountains:


Mountains.

Vast rift.

Either side, huge scarped walls of rocklikesubstance rose sheer.

Far overhead, a thin ribbon of red, where themouth of the chasm opened, amonginaccessible peaks. Within, gloom, deep,somber, chilly silence.

Deep red glow

occupying the centre of the arena, astupendous structure built apparently ofgreen jade. Enormous size.

The arena, appeared to be a perfect circleabout 10 to twelve miles in diameter, thehouse standing int he centre.

The surface of the place, peculiar mistyappearance, that was yet not mist.

Slopes of circling mountains.

Looking up, great crags, towering so loftily,impalpable (difficult to understand; abstruse)redness, blurred appearance to everything.

Dim peaks to my right, vast shape ofblackness, giantlike.

Enormous equine head, with gigantic ears,peer steadfastly down into the arena. Eternal

watchfulness.

Black, 4 grotesque arms, The featuresshowed indistinctly, round the neck. Severallight- coloured objects. Skulls.

Further down, a circling belt, showing lessdark against the black trunk. Monstrousrepresentation of Kali, the Hindu goddess of

death.

Beast-headed thing, ancient Egyptian godSet, or Seth, the Destroyer of Souls.

Gloomy crags to left, something loomed outunder a great peak, a shape of greyness.Tremendous head; but no eyes. That part ofits face was blank.

Further off, reclining on a loft ledge, a livid

mass, irregular and ghoulish. seemed withoutform, save for an unclean, half- animal facethat looked out vilely, from somewhere aboutits middle.

Hundreds of them seemed to grow out of theshadows. Recognizable as mythologicaldeities.

Mountains were full of strange things-Beast-gods, Horrors. (look up heathen

worship.)

Tremendous structure. Huge buttresses ofthe House.

A gigantic thing, moved with a curious lope,going almost upright, quite unclothed,luminous appearance, face of a swine.

The house- Windows with bars on, door witha fastening.


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Chasm:



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Peaks:



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Rocky Slopes:



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Red Sky:



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Round Arena:



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Green Jade:



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Mist:



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Crags:



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Skulls:



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Kali - Hindu Goddess of Death:



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Egyptian God- Set or Seth- Destroyer of Souls



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Heathen

(Dictionary Definition- A person who does not belong to a widely held religion (esp. onewho is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim) as regarded by those who do.)

Beast-Gods:



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Swine Faced Monster:



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Kraighten- Rural Ireland

Other interesting images:



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Documents

Notes for Concept 2 PDF