The Nameless City is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft in 1921. Lovecraft adored this story, which came to him initially in a dream. The world he creates here became the basis of many future stories. Unfortunately for Lovecraft, publishers just didn’t like it. Many publishers turned it down. If I had to guess, it’s because the story goes ON AND ON at length about scenes which could be conveyed much more concisely.
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand it’s a great lone-wolf archaeologist who is exploring the deep desert of the Middle East and finds a city far older than any ever known of. I like that exploration. I like the way Lovecraft describes the sights. I like the descent through twisty narrow tunnels that the character has to worm through. It’s very visceral. I like the crocodile-reptile race and the sense that it was once great and mighty but then collapsed.
On the other hand, this story just drags out SO LONG. There are a lot of areas which could have been consolidated so that the feeling isn’t so slow. Also, Lovecraft focuses primarily on sights when it would have been really powerful to delve into the feeling … the smells … the textures … etc.
I’m grateful that we don’t get into his racism here. And it’s just Lovecraft (his dream self, in essence) all alone during the story so there isn’t any comment on any other type of person, really.
Some people have said the main character dies in the tunnels. I don’t think so. It says at the beginning that: “I alone have seen it, and that is why no other face bears such hideous lines of fear as mine; why no other man shivers so horribly when the night-wind rattles the windows.” That really gives a sense that he lived through it and now deals with the nightmares.
Also, at the end, he’s in the tomb area. The wind is rushing past him through the open door into the bright light. Then looking into the light he sees monsters in the light who are coming toward him. The tomb door shuts tight, blocking the light (and the monsters) and leaving him in the pitch-dark tomb. So now all he has to do is climb his way back out to the surface.
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
You can read The Nameless City here –
https://hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/nc.aspx
You can watch my video review of The Nameless City here –
