Polaris (1918), Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1919)

Polaris (1918) You could say, Polaris is in some ways an important story in the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft. While it doesn't revolve around Cthulhu mythology, it does contain elements that dripped downwards to his best-known creations.

An unnamed narrator of the tale is obsessed with Polaris, the Pole Star, as its glow reminds him of his vivid dreams he sees every night. In these dreams, he is responsible for manning a watchtower overseeing a great city threatened by an invasion of barbarians. An important element of the story, but not which he uses her the first time, is the narrator's inability to discern which is real, the dream or his waking hours.

With each dream, the fantastical world becomes more real to him. The more time the narrator spends in the marble laden streets and the people occupying it, the more real it all becomes to him and the more he wants to find his place and meaning among the populace. It doesn't take him long to find out that the city, Olathoë, is constantly under a threat of an attack of barbaric warrior race Inutos.

As he is, in this dream state, a weakling and unable to do battle, the warriors of the city send him to the watchtower to signal them if the enemy manages to reach the walls. He is sent there because his eyes are the keenest of them all, despite he spends his days perusing ancient Pnakotic manuscripts. This name found its way to many of his works, often described as a source of hidden, forgotten and evil knowledge.

Manning the tower alone, the narrator sees the Polars shining towards him, taunting and leering at him. Its presence makes him drowsy, lulling him into sleep and when he finally lifts his head, he is looking out from his home window, believing to be in another dream, thus screaming and pleading to the people of the dream city waken him to fulfil his task of reporting of the advancing enemy.

While Polaris does read out more like a fantasy story, it still has elements in it, Lovecraft was fond of. Not only are there names that found their way to his other works, the element of questioning the state of reality was often present in his works. But even if nothing would have dripped down to Lovecraft's other works, it still would be a good story on its own. So as such, it is well worth a read.

Beyond the Wall of Sleep (1919) In this another story revolving around the possibility of dreams being gateways to another reality, a doctor relates a case he had when he was just an intern in a mental asylum.

A patient called Joe Slater is brought to the hospital because of his violent outburst during which he killed a man. He was a  man, who had always been feared at his home in the Catskill mountains, as he was known to have fits of speaking odd things that made no sense and scared the people. But as he wasn't violent, he was left to his own devices until the murder.

The narrator states, that Joe Slater was in every other way a typical, inbred member of the populace living in the mountains. He was of low intelligence, stated in a fashion fitting for Lovecraft's own racial believes, and uneducated man, who had no way of knowing of the strange matters he spoke of during his fits. The fashion Lovecraft compares the intelligence of Joe Slater of Native Americans is a genuinely odd blemish on the story. He already had made it abundantly clear, that the man was slowwitted, but still apparently had a need to underline it more by comparing it to alledged intelligence of a specific population segment.

As he has always had certain beliefs of the nature of dreams, the narrator has a device he had manufactured during his school years. This device is a sort of a radio that should be able to tune in to the frequencies of the subjects' dreams. He finally manages to capture the true essence of the matter, when it is revealed, that Joe is occupied by a shining, unearthly being during his dreams and his degenerated body is not enough to handle it.

The final encounter leads to the death of Joe and when the intern narrates the tale of the head doctor, it isn't believed. Instead, he is given a half year off with full pay and that is the last of the matter.

Beyond the Wall of Sleep is a decent story. Not among the best Lovecraft wrote, but interesting nonetheless. It has makings for a much grander story than it is, but now it is more like a nice little idea.

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A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1917) The writing style of H.P. Lovecraft is often cited as antiquated. His works often use a tad archaic form of writing he was very fond of but unlike his more serious works, A Reminiscence of Dr Samuel Johnson is his attempt at poke fun of his style. It is, as a whole, a rambling recount of a 200-years old Littlewit and how he spent he met the titular Dr Johnson and their interactions in a literary club Johnson found.

Now, this story could probably be funnier, or at least better, if you know the real historical personalities the tale revolves around. Maybe there is some deeper insight into it that requires you to know more of them. But I can't really say this story worked for me.

Sweet Ermengarde (1917) In this romantic melodrama parody, Ethyl Ermengarde is in the turmoil of having two men fighting over her hand. one of them is evil Squire Hardman, who owns the mortgage of her home and the other is handsome Jack manly.

The evil suitor wants to marry Ermengarde because he knows there is gold in the homestead. At first, he kidnaps her to force her to marry but then realizes he doesn't need to marry her as he can just evict the family. The good suitor then goes to town to make money to save the house. After twists and turns, it is Ermengarde who saves the day.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this story is, besides it being a rare attempt at comedy by Lovecraft, that it apparently is the only piece of his that can't be dated precisely. The collection I have dated it to 1917, but other sources suggest between 1919 to 1921.