Y'ha-nthlei Is Deeper Than They Know

So, there I was, sitting in the Maritime Cultural Landscapes symposium at the Society for Historical Archaeology’s 2008 conference, listening to papers on surveys of submerged prehistoric sites, based on identifying potential sites by looking at general land configurations. It makes sense. Of course it does. Lots of interesting ideas are being bandied about. Suddenly it strikes me that my decision to wear Y’ha-nthlei perfume (by the Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab), a reference to the submerged home of the Deep Ones, Lovecraft’s imaginary half-man half-fish creature cultists of Dagon and Cthulhu, was strangely appropriate. From there, my mind spiraled off on a number of related tangents. What about writing a story about submerged cultural material survey finding Y’ha-nthlei or some related site? (It didn’t help that at least one of the topics was discussing work around Rhode Island!) What about a whole maritime cultural landscapes approach to dealing with the underwater component of Lovecraft’s mythos? I think it would have potential. What struck me as being really interesting, however, was the idea to do it as a fake academic blog, with doctored GIS and sonar images showing this unexpected underwater complex, and writing as some academic investigator trying to put together the pieces of this fascinating puzzle. Imagine trying to wring oral histories out of recalcitrant Innsmouth residents and their potentially violent reactions, the experiences of the investigator on the verification dives, etc…

I think a blog would be a good way to update the ‘academic voice’ in fiction, as well. I really like that academic voice in fiction, as you might have picked up on (partly because, well, ‘m an academic, and partly because of the authority associated with it). However, I think that too many people follow the old ‘journal’ style, or the ‘letters to a collegue’ thing that’s been done a million times. That’s not really how academia works these days, and if we authors want to access that voice of authority in a modern tale, which is entirely valid, we need to do so in a medium that captures its modern spirit. I like the idea of a blog a lot, although I don’t think I have the time or resources to really do it properly. For this story, I’d at least need a good collaborator for the images. It would also be a difficult thing to sell – I’m not sure how, or if, you could market such a thing. Maybe if I approached an online publication? Or I could ‘self-publish’ it by just making the site and having a donation button/paypal link sort of deal. I do wish I had the web-page making know-how to do this!

However, the fiction potential wasn’t all that struck me (although it struck me pretty hard!) There are also legitimate academic questions to pose of Lovecraft’s work and his portrayal of this fictional maritime culture surrounding the worship of the otherworldly Gods. The conjunction of the alien and the submarine clearly reflects his views of these two environments, aquatic and cosmic, as spaces which share (or at least shared in his time) an aura of mystery. It can’t be a coincidence that R’Lyeh is a mysterious sunken city, hiding I the then-unknown depths of the pacific. This isn’t saying anything new – scholars of Lovecraft have pointed out these analogies before. But it is still interesting way to look at perceptions of the maritime world, and even those who interact with it. Again, it is no coincidence that Innsmouth was once a prosperous maritime community. But what about the idea that they are resistant to the advance of civilization – they retain their maritime orientation, and in fact intensify it, by cementing their relationship with Dago, and extend their landscape interaction into the maritime sphere as well. What kind of commentary about rural maritime life is *that*? There’s two things to look at: the maritime cultural landscape created *inside* the stories, and the one that is perceived by Lovecraft that he drew upon for that creation. These are just threads that are running through my head; I’d love to explore them further, but I thought I’d jot them down here as a start.

Now, don’t think these are the *only* thoughts that have been running through my head during these presentations! There is a lot of good work going on out there, and I have lots of other things, less Lovecraftian, going through my mind as well. But this, as I said, struck me really strongly, an I wanted to put something down on paper before I forgot. I bet I could work some kind of academic paper out it… And maybe a fake academic blog as well ;)