Product Description

Long acknowledged as a master of nightmarish visions, H. P. Lovecraft established the genuineness and dignity of his own pioneering fiction in 1931 with his quintessential work of supernatural horror, At the Mountains of Madness. The deliberately told and increasingly chilling recollection of an Antarctic expedition s uncanny discoveries and their encounter with untold menace in the ruins of a lost civilization is a milestone of macabre literature. This exclusive new edition, presents Lovecraft s masterpiece in fully restored form, and includes his acclaimed scholarly essay ''Supernatural Horror in Literature.'' This is essential reading for every devotee of classic terror.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #244029 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
One of the greatest short novels in American literature, and a key text in my own understanding of what that literature can do. --Michael Chabon

Lovecraft' s fiction is one of the cornerstones of modern --Clive Barker

About the Author
Since 1917 The Modern Library prides itself as ''The modern Library of the world's Best Books''. Its paperback series feature treasured classics, major translations of great works, and rediscoveries of keen literary and historical merit.Featuring introductions by leading writers, stunning translations, scholarly endnotes and reading group guides. Production values emphasize superior quality and readability. Competitive prices, coupled with exciting cover design make these an ideal gift to be cherished by the avid reader.

Customer Reviews

Timeless Horror Classic
This Modern Library edition boasts not only an excellent introduction by China Mieville and the fully restored 'At the Mountains of Madness' but also Lovecraft's classic essay 'Supernatural Horror in Literature' fully indexed. Both texts are edited and prepared by S T Joshi and the whole thing is rounded off with a Chronology of all Lovecraft's fiction. Wonderful.

What is all the fuss about?
Having recently read an article on Guillermo Del Toro, I was very excited about a film he was very keen to Produce and Direct based on the HP Lovecraft short story 'At the Mountains of Madness'. He went on to say it would be a massive undertaking and he would only do it on location with a large budget. So far, so very interesting.

With my new love being literature, I sort out this 'literary masterpiece' which Del Toro described as 'the best horror story I've ever read' (or words to that effect). I purchased a 2005 re-issue (the original book was published in 1931) and it contained a spoiler essay from a literary critic at the front of the book gushing on about how wonderful it is (no doubt) that I obviously avoided and dived right in to the story.

Admittedly, the first couple of chapters are very descriptive of the arctic landscape and it's almost an oldie worldly 'The Thing' with a (very) slow build up where a couple of interesting artefacts are discovered although, Lovecraft describes everything in soooo much detail you get no real 'action' and when it does build to (minor) pay offs the development is fourteen pages of finite description of the weather, buildings, the landscape, etc. with ONE LINE at the end that is supposed to be 'shocking' or fear inducing?!

Now I don't know what else was around in 1931 (a lump of coal and a satsuma for Christmas?) but it has taken me about three or four weeks to get through to the bitter and, lets be honest, completely disappointing end of the 101 pages. What was fairly amusing was I always (through habit) go to the back of any book I'm reading to see how many pages it has and (in error) I did not realise that there is another non fiction essay from Lovecraft at the back of the book so I was expecting 172 pages and the thing suddenly finished 71 pages early!

In conclusion, if Del Toro attempts this 'vast, sweeping, epic production' I will be very curious to see how he goes about it. Will he put a modern spin on it? Will Ron Perlman be in it? Or will it never see the light of day? If a studio suit is willing to bet £ 100 million plus on this thing he's a very brave man indeed.

Great edition
The story's a classic, one of Lovecraft's finest. What sets this title above the rest is its presentation; nice paper, nice binding, excellent introduction. Buy it.