Dagon

H.P. Lovecraft — 2019

"Dagon" is a short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in July 1917 and is one of the first stories that Lovecraft wrote as an adult. It was first published in the November 1919 edition of The Vagrant. Dagon was later published in Weird Tales. It is considered by many to be one of Lovecraft's most forward-looking stories. The story is the testament of a tortured, morphine-addicted man who relates an incident that occurred during his service as an officer during World War I. In the unnamed narrator's account, his cargo ship is captured by an Imperial German sea-raider in "one of the most open and least frequented parts of the broad Pacific". He escapes on a lifeboat and drifts aimlessly, south of the equator, until he eventually finds himself stranded on "a slimy expanse of hellish black mire which extended about [him] in monotonous undulations as far as [he] could see.... The region was putrid with the carcasses of decaying fish and less describable things which [he] saw protruding from the nasty mud of the unending plain." He theorizes that this area was formerly a portion of the ocean floor thrown to the surface by volcanic activity, "exposing regions which for innumerable millions of years had lain hidden under unfathomable watery depths. Famous works of the author Howard Phillips Lovecraft: At the Mountains of Madness, The Dreams in the Witch House, The Horror at Red Hook, The Shadow Out of Time, The Shadows over Innsmouth, The Alchemist, Reanimator, Ex Oblivione, Azathoth, The Call of Cthulhu, The Cats of Ulthar, The Outsider, The Picture in the House, The Shunned House, The Terrible Old Man, The Tomb, Dagon, What the Moon Brings.

Reviews

Geoffrey Froggatt@geofroggatt

Nov 29, 2023

The writing was solid and it was easy to envision the adventure that the protagonist experiences. The story is about a man who gets lost at sea and awakens in a strange world, he then proceeds to explore his surroundings. What he experiences follows him even when he returns home. This story is very much a product of its time. There’s not much to say other than that I enjoyed this short story, but I do find it funny how these stories are sometimes told. The protagonists always say something to the effect of, “I must not speak of it!” then they proceed to speak of it.

Jonnie Dolan@softmossdog

Oct 30, 2023

Classic Lovecraft. Everything inspired by Lovecraft is better than actual Lovecraft. It was fine, kinda spooky, just very typical Lovecraft

jenn kause@kote

Aug 11, 2022

“I dream of a day when they may rise above the billows to drag down in their reeking talons the remnants of puny, war-exhausted mankind—of a day when the land shall sink, and the dark ocean floor shall ascend amidst universal pandemonium. The end is near.”

Nota@notarein

Jun 21, 2022

It is pretty simple, and one of the first stories written by Lovecraft. It's hard to make out how the "Dagon" looks or is. The odd situation the protagonist finds themselves in gave me some sort of joy and wonder. I want to see how the author improves from this story.

Ilse@ilse

Apr 12, 2022

Unfortunately, this story didn't really do it for me. The atmosphere H.P. Lovecraft creates in the few short pages that this story covers was wonderful, but it felt like nothing really significant happened. Maybe one to revisit in the future, but for now not a story I'd recommend by this author

Scott Wilks@nullnova

Dec 23, 2021

Rating All 19 Lovecraft Stories Within the Necronomicon (Audible Audio Book) ~ Part 1 - Dagon. A gripping and haunting short story from Lovecraft about a man, being swept up on an otherworldly shore with nothing but black rotten earth as far as the eye can see. Lovecraft flexes his descriptive prowess to make an unimaginable world into a living nightmare. Definitely, one of the books to read if you want to get you or a friend into the Lovecraftian universe.