Customer Reviews

The House on the Borderland

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Combine H. P. Lovecraft, Julio Cortazar (his story "House Taken Over" may have been inspired by this book) and the siege mentality of "Straw Dogs," and you have "The House on Borderland." Written before World War I, this book ranks right up there with Poe's only novel, "The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym" as one of the seminal contributions to the genre of science-fiction (before there was such a term) and horror. The narrative of an elderly widower -- told in the form of a manuscript found in the ruins of the house -- is compelling. The "action" tends to sag a bit in the middle of the novel as the narrator's mind/spirit embarks on a nightmarish "out of body" journey where he floats as a passive "witness" to an unexplained dimension of time and space, where the house also exists, and he seemingly observes the death of the solar system. However, the narrator's recounting of his mounting dread and helplessness as the story builds to its frightening climax is remarkable. You're left with many questions, none of them satisfactorily explained. But that's the mystery of the house and the manuscript -- some things just have ragged edges. I'm amazed no one has seen fit to adapt this to film.

7/29/2007: THIN PLACES. [Since I can't write another review of the same book under Amazon rules, I'll add to this one.] A few days ago, I read that there is a concept in Celtic mythology (now incorporated into Celtic Christianity) known as "thin places." These are reputed to be places in Ireland (and other parts of the British Isles) where two worlds conjoin, almost like a portal from this world to another, allowing us to be in the presence of the divine -- in Christian culture, the presence Holy Spirit, even Jesus Himself. When I read about this, I immediately thought: "The House on the Borderland!" I don't know if Hodgson actually was thinking of the concept of "thin places" (the House is in a remote, unpopulated area of Ireland, near a river (a "classic" thin place)) and positing one that would be a dimensional doorway between our world and a super- or supra-natural world of hostile and infernal beings. Certainly the title, and the entire concept of the House existing at a dimensional crossroads, suggest that such a conceit may have been on his mind. If so, I'm even more impressed with the imagination that produced this timeless novel. In any event, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt on this point.

This novel derives most of its genuinely creepy effect from all of the unanswered questions that will flow through your brain for days after you read it...who built that damn house? What exactly is it made out of? How is the "Recluse" able to have visions of the far future just by residing in the mansion? Does somebody (or some thing) WANT the protagonist to have these visions? If so, why? What is the significance of the violent, besieging swine-men and how can they exist in the "real world" of the 1900s and billions of years in the future (when the Earth is a frozen and dead sphere in a darkened solar system) at the same time? Who (or what?) created the swine-men? What do the gigantic statues of the ancient and evil mythological gods of Earth legend (Set, Kali, etc.) glimpsed in the "amphitheatre" have to do with the story? Hodgson (to his credit and to incredible effect) never gives the reader obvious answers to these questions in this skillfully crafted tale of terror that makes full use of mankind's fear of the unknown. To be sure, Hodgson knew all of the answers, but he wanted us to have fun (for the rest of our lives, no doubt) trying to figure out exactly what he was getting at. Hodgson was an author of startling originality, and "House..." is far more frightening than any other work penned by any of his contemporaries (Stoker, Wells, James, and numerous others) and it's easy to see why Lovecraft admired him so much...so why don't more horror and sci-fi fans know who he is? I'm clueless, so somebody please fill me in. Lovecraft fans will no doubt notice that Hodgson's "Universal Sun" (as seen in the terrifying visions of the Recluse, as it sends forth "messengers" into the void after all of creation has been destroyed) is the obvious prototype of HPL's Azathoth. This novel left me eagerly looking forward to reading more Hodgson books ("Nightland", "Boats of the Glen Carrig", others). It's a damn shame that he was killed in the First World War, because he would have certainly cranked out more ground-breaking horror classics.

Is William Hope Hodgson's "The House on the Borderland" the creepiest, eeriest story ever written? It is sometimes described that way, although I cannot confirm it because I have yet to read every creepy or eerie story ever written. I have read a fair amount of H.P. Lovecraft, some Robert E. Howard, and many modern mass-market horror novels. Hodgson probably ranks somewhere in between those two regions. Written in the early part of the 20th century, this author's novel is an attempt to blend together horror, science fiction, and fantasy. Unfortunately, Hodgson later died in WWI, forever silencing a splendid talent. Without a doubt, Hodgson influenced later horror and fantasy authors with this jaunt through the spectral reaches of space and time.

The story begins when two men make a fishing expedition into the hinterlands of Ireland. Near a tiny hamlet called Kraighten, the two encounter some of the strange local people who speak an unknown language. Further strangeness ensues when they realize that much of this area does not appear on any map. The two men explore the surrounding area, stumbling over an old garden near a yawning abyss. Then they discover the ruins of a large house on an outcropping of rock. While exploring these remains, one of the men discovers a damaged manuscript in the wreckage. Taking the book with them, the two travelers head back to camp, but not before experiencing some serious reservations about the area. A bubbling lake nearby scares them, as does unsettling sounds coming from somewhere in the vicinity. After hightailing it back to camp, they begin to read this mysterious journal. What follows constitutes the bulk of Hodgson's book, a deeply disturbing tale about an anonymous man who lived in the house and who experienced a series of events unexplainable by any rational means of discourse.

Some years before, this man lived in the house with his loyal dog and his spinster sister. He was a loner, more interested in spending his time reading books or rambling around his large gardens than throwing parties or hanging out with the local population. One night while lounging in his study, the man undergoes a strange out of body experience. He is transported to another dimension, where he finds an exact replica of his own house on a vast plain surrounded by enormous statues of deities, scary creatures who look like pigs, and a luminous mist of unknown origin. While this might be enough to scare any sane person out of his or her wits, our man continues to stay in the house after his astral experience.

More eeriness ensues: the nasty pig creatures crawl out of the abyss forming near the house and attempt to invade the premises. Closely following this horror is an inexplicable episode, which makes up most of the book, where the owner of the house experiences a breakdown of the very fabric of space and time. Hodgson writes about these events in minute detail, outlining every aspect of this fabulous trip beyond the limits of sensory perception. "The House on the Borderland" ends with no fixed answers about the creepy manuscript. Moreover, the author makes sure to have the manuscript trail off in the middle of a horrible event, leaving the reader guessing as to the conclusions of this strange tale.

It is not difficult to see how this story influenced several big names in the horror business. Lovecraft definitely borrowed some of the themes here to create his Cthulhu mythos. The detached method of having the horrors told to us through a strange manuscript also finds expression in several other supernatural tales written well after Hodgson's book. In this respect, "House on the Borderland" is a groundbreaking work worthy of continued reprinting. Any fan of Lovecraft, Blackwood, or any of the other godfathers of horror needs to read this book if for no other reason than to get a glimpse into where their favorite authors cribbed ideas from. This tale is not as scary as certain better known horror stories, but it does occasionally deliver some effective shocks to even the most jaded horror aficionado.

One of the book's failings was the author's attempt to depict the breakdown of time. This section reminded me of H.G. Wells. Moreover, this part of the story seemed to run on forever. I wanted the story to get back to the scariness of otherworldly beings and supernatural horrors.

Hodgson's book is a necessary read. Do not go in expecting straight horror, but acknowledge that you are about to read a great mix of several genres. Without William Hope Hodgson, who knows where the horror novel would be today.

The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson

Review by Nickolas Cook

There are classics of the genre and then there are CLASSICS of the genre. "The House on the Borderland" is a CLASSIC.

Hodgson uses the plot device of a found tale, as two weekend campers find a crumbling manuscript in the ruins of an ancient house in the woods. Creepy enough already, but when the campers begin to read the lost story of a recluse and his sister it gets even more foreboding.

Lovecraft cited this as one of the best horror novels ever written, and it's easy to see why the man who made his name writing 'cosmic horror' would find it such a compelling read. Hodgson is the father of Lovecraft's fears.

Hodgson has actually written two separate novels in "The House on the Borderland". The first is by far the most frightening of the two pieces, as swine-like intelligent creatures siege the house and the protagonist must battle them for his life. There is a dream sequence at the beginning that sets up that the house is really more than a simple domicile, is, in fact, a sort of extra-dimensional time and space nexus, something that becomes even more apparent in the second half of the book. Through this dream sequence our protagonist finds that there is a monstrous collection of gods that watch the house and its inhabitants from a vast blank desert field.

After his battle with the swine creatures our protagonist descends into the belly of the earth, through a cave in his backyard (which we find later is actually connected to the cellar of the house as well). What he finds there is just as cosmic in its revelations, but he goes no further and barely escapes with his life.

Then comes the second part of the book. And this is where it becomes true 'cosmic horror' as the protagonist is given a glimpse of what the far-far future holds for the universe. As he sleeps, he is thrown headlong into the future and must watch as his own body rots away behind him. He sees the death of the sun, and eventually the death of the earth, and the other planets in the Solar System. Finally, he must face that monstrous collection of gods once again and stay sane.

By book's end we are left with the impression that the world is an unstable collection of facile life and dust, under the control of some faceless entities that give not a wit for mankind's fate.

That's true 'cosmic horror' at its best.

Hodgson's other works were hit and miss with readers, and none ever reached the pinnacle of "The House on the Borderland". This is a truly inspiring work, made all the more so as it was written long before Lovecraft, Machen, or Lord Dunsany tried their hands at 'cosmic horror'.

This review does come with one caveat: The grammar and style is a bit outdated, and may be a barrier for those unwilling to traverse an age or two of craft.

--Nickolas Cook.

a man in a house starts to be bothered by some strange beings. he must protect his house, and his sister (who sort of goes in and out of the story). he decides to investigate, and finds that there is more to his house than meets the eye. excellent book. great descriptions, especially of the cosmos and the weird landscape. Hodgson have a way of describing how horrible it is to be utterly helpless while your surrondings are or are changing to something really great, weird and horrible. this is more a story about contact with something outerworldly, than a haunted house story. hodgson's masterpiece.

The first time I checked out the graphic novel adaptation of William Hope Hodgson's THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND, I was repulsed by what happened to the only female character. I checked it out again because I was reading the original and wanted to compare the two.

Parts of this graphic novel are definitely taken from the original. However, what repulsed me in Messrs. Corben and Revelstroke's version isn't. I really wish that they hadn't combined the two female characters in the novel into one woman and then given her such sadistic treatment.

That said, the framing sequence here is much more horrifying than in the book. I think it's quite the best part of the comic -- and that Mr. Hodgson's nameless recluse might prefer this fate.

If you hate women, you will love what happens to Mary.

Other reviewers have given the gist of the story quite well, so I won't recount it here. Let me just say that there is a reason why this story has been so influential to its readers after nearly 100 years, and continues to amaze and shock. It's because it may be true. I say this because the visions described in this book are more than just scary, they are based upon the real descriptions of other planes of consciousness given by real mystic adepts who have penetrated into the unseen creation through the facility of mystic transport. Even modern-day occurrences of the co-mingling of different planes of existence have been documented in places like Findhorn, Scotland (RE: "The Findhorn Garden"). Indian Mystics from time immemorial have told of "sunnas" - vast regions of emptyness and isolation where monumental icons and symbols from Universal Mind manifest as objects and tableaus. They are the "out-lands" of the astral cosmos, like a sand-spit that collects the wreckage of ships and other flotsam and jetsom from the "stream of consciousness" of Eternity. It's an uncomfortable vision of what's beyond this life on Earth that we know. But reality is far stranger than any fiction. This brilliant narrative may just be a glimpse of the true nature of space-time - and how small is a man, indeed, who is confined to the physical body alone. The dated style is authentic for its era, and those who find it objectionable probably won't like this review either. A lot of thought went into this novel, breaching subject matter that is utterly bizarre and alien to most. Those few travelers who fly on the wings of consciousness will smile knowingly at this. I suggest you also read the entire collection of books by Carlos Casteneda, who gives a glimpse of near-earth astral phenomena. A WONDERful and spellbinding book in any sense, I highly recommend it.

As someone who really likes turn-of-the-century horror writers like Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood, this book sounded like something right up my alley. Like a number of other reviewers, I thought the beginning chapters dealing with the pit and its creatures were terrific (in the true sense of the word), but the author lost me somewhat in the very long cosmological journeys through space-time that make up the middle of the book. It almost seemed like two novels--one that I really wanted to read, and one that I had to wade through to get back to the one I wanted to be reading. Unfortunately, the latter interfered with the experience of the former.

I'd still recommend it as a quirky and interesting--if ultimately a little disappointing--read for people who like the gothic fiction of this period. Some of it reminded me of H. G. Wells at his best, and I would definitely give other stories by this author a try.

I award this book 5 stars, not because it is one of the best books ever, but because it is one of the best of its kind. I first read it many years ago, in another edition, and it scared me so much I have never been able to forget it. This book is haunting and troubling. I agree with the reviewer that it is better not to reveal too much of the story; the story must be read and information given bit by bit to make this story effective. But I did have a slightly different interpretation. When I originally read it, I couldn't decide if it was all "real" or if the writer was suffering from a psychotic break. I guess it doesn't matter in terms of a good story. At any rate, anyone who enjoys a really good scarey book should read this one!

When I first read this novel I thought that the author had been heavily influenced by H.P. Lovecraft. Then I looked up the original date of publication (1908), which is several decades before Lovecraft published. I wouldn't hesitate to call this one of the best otherworldly and weird books ever written. It is not graphic blood and guts splatter- Edwardian gentlemen did not write such [stuff]. This is better, besides the psychological terror that builds, you have cosmically mind boggling themes of infinate time and space- and the world beyond this world, of which ours is but a pale inferior shadow.
I often wonder just who William Hope Hodgeson was. He was plainly a man of action, that much is clear from his battle with the pig demons, but he was also something more. I wonder what forgotten corner of the Empire he picked up his knowlege of things cosmic and beyond the veil....