“Beyond the Wall of Sleep” by H.P. Lovecraft
“Beyond the Wall of Sleep” was, to put it lightly — a trip. I hadn’t actually read this story before. This story has everything:
Astral projection
Supernovae
Murder in the Catskills (putting the ‘kill’ in ‘Catskills’)
Mental institution
Weird medical shenanigans
Dreams that aren’t dreams
Unreliable narrator who violates HIPPA
I really wanted to title this video “[F4A] Unethical Psychiatrist VIOLATES HIPPA And Tells You Their Favorite Patient’s Dreams” but I didn’t want to get spanked by YouTube so I didn’t.
Similar to “Polaris,” we have two characters that live a life in the Dreamlands which seems more real than their waking lives in New England. In each case, their fantasy self is involved in a conflict of scale, is sane, is intelligent, and has a friend. I wonder if Lovecraft had similar dreams, and if it implies that he was very alone in his waking hours. I know he had correspondence with people via letters, but did he have anyone to bring him casserole when he was sick? Anyone he could go to a restaurant with? Anyone whose shoulder he could cry on?
“It is not permitted me to tell your waking earth-self of your real self, but we are all roamers of vast spaces and travellers in many ages. Next year I may be dwelling in the dark Egypt which you call ancient, or in the cruel empire of Tsan-Chan which is to come three thousand years hence.”
I am thinking this quote is actually a lot simpler than it seems.
The starguy is GK Persei. It’s 1,440 lightyears away. It takes 1,440 years for its light to reach earth. Maybe Lovecraft thought it was 3,000 lightyears away. The point is this. Let’s use Lovecraft’s number, 3000, for this.
The GK Persei supernova was observed in 1901. With Lovecraft’s reckoning, that means the supernova actually happened in the year 1099 BC. That was during the reign of Ramesses XI, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. GK Persei, by having a vessel on earth, is able to live at two points in time: 1099 BC and 1901. And, now that he’s also living as a star in 1901, he’s got a human vessel for 4901, the far future, in “the cruel empire of Tsan-Chan.”
Basically, a lot of doubling is going on. Very Gothic application of a scientific fact which is that things take time to travel, even light. Good going, Howie.
