H.P. Lovecraft's "The Quest of Iranon"

This atmospheric reading of H.P. Lovecraft's 1921 Dunsanian piece, "The Quest of Iranon," was recently posted on Youtube. Though not much in terms of animation, it provides a decent musical background and images appropriate to the fantasy rich mood of this tale. This story was written during the height of HPL's infatuation and imitation of fantasist Lord Dunsany. It's also a very appropriate fit with Lovecraft's dream tales, as it maintains the same ambiguously weird mood and setting seen in the Kadath and Randolph Carter epics.

Iranon's wandering in a world that may or may not be prehistoric Earth, and the final revelation that his sought after land lies only in dreams, just adds to the layers of odd uncertainty. Additionally, it is outside the Cthulhu Mythos proper, but bears tenuous connections to HPL's "Polaris" and "The Doom that Came to Sarnath." Or at least, these places and events are referenced, perhaps in an early and less conscious attempt by Lovecraft to weave together a mythological cycle before his later Cthulhuvian tales.

"The Quest of Iranon" can be considered a more neglected story in the popular consciousness, but it maintains a distinctive feel of dreamy imagination unleashed. Its features encapsulate the self-acknowledged Dunsanian period of Lovecraft's writing very well. This video is a two parter, with the first part embedded and the second linked below. It's worth noting the user responsible for uploading these, Kuwasseg, has several similar videos of Lovecraft readings in his channel.

-Grim Blogger

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"The Quest of Iranon" Part I



"The Quest of Iranon" Part II Here