Strange Eons: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Content added Content deleted
VisualWikitext
(I'm glad to see my work has been preserved. I wish the same were true of my account.)
No edit summary
 
(9 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{work}}
{{work}}
'''''Strange Eons''''' is a novel by [[Robert Bloch]] published in 1978. It is a homage to [[H.P. Lovecraft]]'s work and consists largely of references to it. These references are loosely tied together but never given a unifying explanation.
{{Workstub}}

'''Strange Eons''' is a novel by [[Robert Bloch]]. It consists largely of references to [[H.P. Lovecraft|Lovecraft]] novels and short stories, which it neither expands on nor explains very much (for example, we are still left wondering what those odd things were that killed Harley Warren, and Bloch -- rather than telling us -- has one of his characters die in a similar fashion and doesn't explain that).
Albert Keith, who has a collection of various objects including a shrunken head, sees a large painting of a dog-like creature holding a dead man and just has to buy it. His friend Simon Waverly arrives at his house and realizes the painting is the same as the one from "Pickman's Model". As unfolding events become increasingly strange and disturbing, Keith discovers that Lovecraft's fiction may really be something more.


{{tropelist}}
{{tropelist}}
*[[Added Alliterative Appeal]]: Bloch seems to like using this sort of phrase, such as "mountainous mass of masonry" and "frantic furry forms".
*[[Anyone Can Die]]: There are multiple protagonists throughout the book, and almost all of them die, as well as many other characters.
*[[Anyone Can Die]]: The viewpoint characters of the first two chapters -- Albert Keith and his ex-wife Kay -- both die, as well as many others.
*[[The Bad Guy Wins]]: Mark becomes Cthulhu at the end and destroys everything.
*[[The Bad Guy Wins]]: Mark becomes Cthulhu at the end and destroys everything.
*[[Death By Childbirth]]: Kay Keith dies this way after giving birth to Mark Dixon. Supposedly justified in that Mark's father is Cthulhu, but he appears to be shaped exactly like a normal human until Nyarlathotep shines the crystal on him.
*[[Death by Childbirth]]: Kay Keith is said to have died this way during the [[Time Skip]] after giving birth to Mark Dixon. This is supposedly because Mark's father is Cthulhu, but he appears to be exactly like a normal human until Nyarlathotep shines the crystal on him.
*[[Decoy Protagonist]]: Keith seems like he's the protagonist in the first chapter, but at the end of it he dies. The second chapter is from Kay's point of view, but the third and last switches to Mark and reveals that she is also dead.
*[[Dying Dream]]: Mark thinks he's having one of these when he's taken away by the fish people, but it's real.
*[[Dying Dream]]: Subverted. Mark thinks he's having one of these when he's taken away by the fish people, but it's real.
⚫
*[[Hollywood Silencer]]: The gun used to blow off the top of Fred Elstree's head is totally silent.
*[[Emotion Eater]]: According to {{spoiler|the fake}} Orin Sanderson, the Great Old Ones created humans to feed on their emotions, especially fear.
*[[Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad]]: Mark.
⚫
*[[Hollywood Silencer]]: The revolver Jody shoots Fred Elstree with is totally silent.
⚫
*[[Informed Attribute]]: Kay Keith, the second protagonist, thinks to herself that she's not "the fainting sort" after we see her faint for the first time. She then goes on to do it several more times.
*[[Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad]]: Mark is the result of Kay being made the "bride" of Cthulhu.
⚫
*[[Literary Allusion Title]]: The title is part of a couplet from the Necronomicon, found in "The Nameless City" and "The Call of Cthulhu": "That is not dead which can eternal lie / And with strange aeons even death may die". One of the last lines in the book is "Death died", though it's never stated what this means.
⚫
*[[Informed Attribute]]: After shooting Jody and finding herself lying on the floor, Kay is surprised because she's "not the fainting kind". She then goes on to faint several more times.
⚫
*[[Literary Allusion Title]]: The title is part of a couplet from the Necronomicon, found in "The Nameless City" and "[[The Call of Cthulhu]]": "That is not dead which can eternal lie / And with strange aeons even death may die". One of the last lines in the book is "Death died", though it's not stated what this means.
*[[Nuclear Option]]: Cthulhu is successfully nuked, but Mark becomes his replacement.
*[[Nuclear Option]]: Cthulhu is successfully nuked, but Mark becomes his replacement.
*[[Time Skip]]: Mark is introduced in the last chapter after one of these, since he doesn't exist yet before that.
*[[You Dirty Rat]]: The rats Kay finds in the underground passageway seem to be up to no good, but she runs away and shuts the door before they can do anything to her.


{{reflist}}
{{Needs More Tropes}}

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Horror Literature]]
[[Category:Literature]]
[[Category:Robert Bloch]]
[[Category:Pages Original to All The Tropes]]

Latest revision as of 22:15, 30 March 2023

Strange Eons is a novel by Robert Bloch published in 1978. It is a homage to H.P. Lovecraft's work and consists largely of references to it. These references are loosely tied together but never given a unifying explanation.

Albert Keith, who has a collection of various objects including a shrunken head, sees a large painting of a dog-like creature holding a dead man and just has to buy it. His friend Simon Waverly arrives at his house and realizes the painting is the same as the one from "Pickman's Model". As unfolding events become increasingly strange and disturbing, Keith discovers that Lovecraft's fiction may really be something more.

Tropes used in Strange Eons include:
  • Added Alliterative Appeal: Bloch seems to like using this sort of phrase, such as "mountainous mass of masonry" and "frantic furry forms".
  • Anyone Can Die: The viewpoint characters of the first two chapters -- Albert Keith and his ex-wife Kay -- both die, as well as many others.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: Mark becomes Cthulhu at the end and destroys everything.
  • Death by Childbirth: Kay Keith is said to have died this way during the Time Skip after giving birth to Mark Dixon. This is supposedly because Mark's father is Cthulhu, but he appears to be exactly like a normal human until Nyarlathotep shines the crystal on him.
  • Decoy Protagonist: Keith seems like he's the protagonist in the first chapter, but at the end of it he dies. The second chapter is from Kay's point of view, but the third and last switches to Mark and reveals that she is also dead.
  • Dying Dream: Subverted. Mark thinks he's having one of these when he's taken away by the fish people, but it's real.
  • Emotion Eater: According to the fake Orin Sanderson, the Great Old Ones created humans to feed on their emotions, especially fear.
  • Hollywood Silencer: The revolver Jody shoots Fred Elstree with is totally silent.
  • Human Mom, Nonhuman Dad: Mark is the result of Kay being made the "bride" of Cthulhu.
  • Informed Attribute: After shooting Jody and finding herself lying on the floor, Kay is surprised because she's "not the fainting kind". She then goes on to faint several more times.
  • Literary Allusion Title: The title is part of a couplet from the Necronomicon, found in "The Nameless City" and "The Call of Cthulhu": "That is not dead which can eternal lie / And with strange aeons even death may die". One of the last lines in the book is "Death died", though it's not stated what this means.
  • Nuclear Option: Cthulhu is successfully nuked, but Mark becomes his replacement.
  • Time Skip: Mark is introduced in the last chapter after one of these, since he doesn't exist yet before that.
  • You Dirty Rat: The rats Kay finds in the underground passageway seem to be up to no good, but she runs away and shuts the door before they can do anything to her.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Strange_Eons?oldid=2007656"