Evdeki Resim - H. P. Lovecraft

The Picture In the House

New England bölgesindeki Arkham kasabası insanlarının soy ağaçlarını inceleyen bir araştırmacı kırsal izbelerde bisikletle gezerken sağanak yağmur başlayınca yakınındaki yıkık dökük ve metruk bir eve sığınır. Etrafa göz atmasıyla evin henüz terk edilmediğini anlar ve unutulmaya bırakılmış bir geçmişin ayak seslerini duymakta gecikmez.

Sonradan kendine Batman dünyasında da yer bulacak olan hayali Arkham kasabası ve Miskatonic Valley gibi Lovecraft’ın sık kullandığı mekanlarla ilk kez bu kısa hikayede karşılaşıyoruz. Tipik bir Lovecraft öyküsü,

"The rain is not red" ifadesi alıntılanarak hikayenin ismi olsa daha çok yakışabilirdi. Ya da en azından alt başlık olarak koyardım ben olsam. Alan Moore'un Promethea çizgiromanında bir lafı vardır. Onu hatırlattı bana: "Listen Kid . You take my advice. You dont wanna go looking for folklore. And you especially dont want folklore to come looking for you.” 

İlgilenenler aşağıdaki ayrıntılı incelemeleri de okuyabilir
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Picture_in_the_House
https://lovecraftianscience.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/cannibalism-in-the-picture-in-the-house/
http://miskatonicmuseum.blogspot.com.tr/2010/09/regnum-congo-and-horror-of-theodor-de.html

NOTLAR

 “…the true epicure in the terrible, to whom a new thrill of unutterable ghastliness is the chief end and justification of existence, esteems most of all the ancient, lonely farmhouses of
backwoods New England; for there the dark elements of strength, solitude, grotesqueness, and ignorance combine to form the perfection of the hideous.”

“the small-paned windows still stare shockingly, as if blinking through a lethal stupor which wards off madness by dulling the memory of unutterable things.”

“Divorced from the enlightenment of civilisation, the strength of these Puritans turned into singular channels; and in their isolation, morbid self-repression, and struggle for life with relentless Nature, there came to them dark furtive traits from the prehistoric depths of their cold Northern heritage. By necessity practical and by philosophy stern, these folk were not beautiful in their sins.”

Resim Kaynağı: http://miskatonicmuseum.blogspot.com.tr

“…to shake off the drowsiness which helps them forget.”

“…a faint but peculiarly hateful odour.”

“air of archaism”

“…something in the whole atmosphere seemed redolent of unhallowed age, of unpleasant crudeness, and of secrets which should be forgotten.”

Pigafetta's account of the Congo region
Anzique cannibals

“…sensation of disquiet. What annoyed me was merely the persistent way in which the volume tended to fall open of itself at Plate XII, which represented in gruesome detail a butcher's shop of the cannibal Anziques.”

“…blasting that accursed house of unutterable secrets and bringing the oblivion which alone saved my mind.”