The Necronomicon is a fictional book invented by H.P. Lovecraft and is often featured in stories based on the Cthulhu mythos inspired by his works. However, there are those who believe in the existence of an actual ancient text called the Necronomicon fitting the description given in Lovecraft's fiction.
The book
Lovecraft often employed fictional reference works in his supernatural horror fiction, a process also used by other fantasy authors like Jorge Luis Borges and William Goldman. The first explicit mention of the Necronomicon occurred in Lovecraft's 1923 story The Hound, but hints of it (or similar books) occur as far back as "The Statement of Randolph Carter" (1919).
What influenced Lovecraft to invent the name Necronomicon is not clear — Lovecraft himself claims the name came to him in a dream, but possible influences include Edgar Allan Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" and an unfinished first century astronomical poem by Roman poet Marcus Manilius titled the Astronomicon. Some suggest that Lovecraft was influenced primarily by Robert W. Chambers' collection of short stories, The King in Yellow, but it is now believed that Lovecraft did not read that until 1927.
Lovecraft originally titled the book the Al Azif (Arabic, the sound of cicadas and other nocturnal insects, said in folklore to be the conversation of demons) and said that it was written by the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred, containing among other things an account of the Old Ones, their history, and descriptions of how they might be summoned.
A number of translations were said to have been made over the centuries. The Greek translation, which gave the book its most famous title, was made by a (fictional) Orthodox scholar, Theodorus Philetas of Constantinople. Olaus Wormius (an actual historical personage wrongly located by Lovecraft in the thirteenth century) translated it into Latin and indicated in the preface that the Arab original was lost at the time. This translation was printed twice, once in the fifteenth century, in black-letter, evidently in Germany, and once in the seventeenth, probably in Spain.
The Latin translation called attention to the Necronomicon and was banned by Pope Gregory IX in 1232. The Greek translation, printed in Italy between 1500 and 1550, is believed to be completely lost since the burning of R. U. Pickman's library in Salem. The Elizabethan magician John Dee was supposed (at the suggestion of Lovecraft's friend Frank Belknap Long) to have possessed a copy and to have made an English translation of it, of which only fragments survived.
The book is now mentioned in various places in fiction but always as being very rare; there are supposedly secret or hidden copies in the British Museum (now held at the British Library); the Bibliothèque nationale de France; Widener Library of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the University of Buenos Aires; and the library of the fictional Miskatonic University in the equally fictional Arkham, Massachusetts. The latter's edition is the Latin translation by Olaus Wormius printed in Spain in the seventeenth century.
The book is dangerous to read, being almost inevitably destructive of one's health and sanity, and is kept under lock and key in these libraries. However, many books entitled Necronomicon have appeared in publication since Lovecraft's death, capitalizing on his popularity and the notoriety of the fictional tome.
Many later fantasy and horror writers have mentioned the Necronomicon in their own stories: two examples are a passage in Gene Wolfe's novel Peace, in which a book of necromancy being forged by a character is not named but suggests at an influence by the popular image of the Necronomicon, and Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's humorous version, the Necrotelecomnicon — the book of phone numbers of the dead. Other examples abound: Andrzej Sapkowski mentions a Polish translation of the book titled Źwierzcyadło Maggi Czarney Bissurmańskiey in his short story "Tandaradei!", and it is mentioned under its original title in his novel Boży bojownicy (God's Warriors). The Necronomicon is used also by Sergey Lukyanenko in Night Watch (Russian novel). It also made an appearance in the Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea and it was the central plot device for the movie trilogy The Evil Dead.
Critics accused Lovecraft of using the Necronomicon as a deus ex machina within his stories, having it mentioned whenever the narrator makes an occult reference, no matter how unlikely the narrator is to have delved into the occult in the first place. For example, in At the Mountains of Madness, practically all the characters on the Antarctic expedition have read the tome, although it is unlikely that a group of geologists, biologists and engineers would have had reason to read such an unusual book.
Appearance and contents
Lovecraft made frequent reference to the Necronomicon but was very sparing with actual detail of its appearance and contents. That it is a substantial tome cannot be questioned as Wilbur Whateley of Dunwich comes to Miskatonic University to find the page which would have appeared on the 751st page of his own inherited, but defective, Dee edition by comparing it with the University's copy (The Dunwich Horror).
However, other than the obvious black letter editions nothing else is known of its physical dimension or appearance although it is commonly portrayed as bound in leather of various types and having metal clasps. Editions are sometimes disguised, as Mr John Merrit discovers to his disquiet when pulling down a book labelled Qanoon-e-Islam from Joseph Curwen’s bookshelf and discovering it actually to be the Necronomicon in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward.
The three direct quotes by Lovecraft from the Necronomicon are as follows:
- From The Nameless City:
- "That is not dead which can eternal lie, / And with strange aeons death may die." (later versions of the same quote always read "even death may die");
- From The Festival:
- "The nethermost caverns are not for the fathoming of eyes that see; for their marvels are strange and terrific. Cursed the ground where dead thoughts live new and oddly bodied, and evil the mind that is held by no head. Wisely did Ibn Schacabao say, that happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain, and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes. For it is of old rumour that the soul of the devil-bought hastes not from his charnel clay, but fats and instructs the very worm that gnaws; till out of corruption horrid life springs, and the dull scavengers of earth wax crafty to vex it and swell monstrous to plague it. Great holes secretly are digged where earth's pores ought to suffice, and things have learnt to walk that ought to crawl."; and
- From The Dunwich Horror:
- "Nor is it to be thought that man is either the oldest or the last of earth's masters, or that the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. Yog-Sothoth knows the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the gate. Yog-Sothoth is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in Yog-Sothoth. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They had trod earth's fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread. By Their smell can men sometimes know Them near, but of Their semblance can no man know, saving only in the features of those They have begotten on mankind; and of those are there many sorts, differing in likeness from man's truest eidolon to that shape without sight or substance which is Them. They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet may not forest or city behold the hand that smites. Kadath in the cold waste hath known Them, and what man knows Kadath? The ice desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones whereon Their seal is engraver, but who hath seen the deep frozen city or the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can he spy Them only dimly. Iä! Shub-Niggurath! As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at your throats, yet ye see Them not; and Their habitation is even one with your guarded threshold. Yog-Sothoth is the key to the gate, whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall They reign again."
There exist innumerable other Necronomicon quotes but those above are the only ones written by Lovecraft himself.
Meaning and etymology of title
Lovecraft wrote that the meaning of the title as translated from the Greek language: nekros (corpse), nomos (law), eikon (image) was: "An image of the law of the dead." A more prosaic (but probably more correct) translation, is via conjugation of nemo (to consider): "Concerning the dead." Another etymology that has been suggested here is "knowledge of the dead," from Greek nekrós (corpse, dead), and gnomein (to know), on the apparent assumption that the g could be lost; the person so suggesting thinks this "seems to fit better with the subject treated in the book."
Another possible meaning is "The Book of the Law of the Dead Gods."
Greek editions of Lovecraft's works have commented that in Greek the word can have several different meanings when broken at its roots. More specifically:
- Necro-Nomicon
- The Book of the Law of the Dead, derived from Nomicon (Book of Law).
- Necro-Nomo-icon
- The Book of Dead Laws.
- Necro-Nemo-ikon
- A Study or Classification of the Dead.
- Necro-Nomo-eikon
- Image of the Law of the Dead.
- Necro-Nemein-Ikon
- Book Concerning the Dead.
- Necrό-Nomo-eikon
- Law of Dead Images.
- Necr-Onom-icon
- The Book of Dead Names, derived from onoma (name).
- Ne-Crono-Mycon
- Timeless fungus.
Background
Though Lovecraft insisted the book was pure invention (and other writers invented passages from the book in their own works), there are accounts of some people actually believing his Necronomicon to be a real book. Even during Lovecraft's life he received letters from fans inquiring about the Necronomicon's actuality.
This issue was confused in the late 1970s by the publication of a book purporting to be a translation of the "real" Necronomicon. This book, by the pseudonymic "Simon," published by Schlangekraft ("snake power", an Illuminatus reference) and then in Avon paperback, attempted to connect the fictional Lovecraft mythology to Sumerian Mythology. The claim made in the preface of Simon's Necronomicon connecting Lovecraft's work to historical Sumerian mythology is entirely a product of Simon's imagination, although the religious and magical systems in Simon's Necronomicon are consistent with confirmed Sumerian or Babylonian material described by reliable sources such as historians H.W.F. Saggs (The Greatness that Was Babylon) and Georges Roux (Ancient Iraq), and sociologists A.T. Mann and Jane Lyle (Sacred Sexuality).
A blatant hoax version of the Necronomicon was produced by paranormal researcher and writer Colin Wilson, describing how it was translated by computer from a discovered "cipher text." It is far truer to the Lovecraftean version and even incorporates quotations from Lovecraft's stories into its passages.
Such historical "Books of the Dead" as the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead or the Tibetan Bardo Thodol are sometimes described as "real Necronomicons." They should not be confused with it, as their thrust is information to be read or remembered by the dead, rather than by the living to summon the dead. Lovecraft, however, may have been inspired by them.
Probable derivations
- Various writers in the school of the Cthulhu Mythos have "quoted" from the Necronomicon, amongst them Clark Ashton Smith and August Derleth.
- Necronomicon was the title of a book of paintings by the Swiss artist H. R. Giger (published in 1978); it was a quite appropriate title for his particularly sinister style of blended machinery and flesh.
- In Sam Raimi's popular movies Evil Dead 2, and Army of Darkness, the Necronomicon Ex Mortis appears as an evil book of magic. (And in Evil Dead, the first of the trilogy that also includes them, hearing a recording of an academic reading from a similar book is blamed for all of the character Ash's later trouble.)
- Science fiction author Neal Stephenson derived the title of his book Cryptonomicon from the Necronomicon featured in the Evil Dead movies, not knowing that the name had originated with H. P. Lovecraft.
- The movie Necronomicon is based on Lovecraft's stories.
- Terry Pratchett's Discworld features an "evil book" known as the Necrotelecomnicon, a parody of the title.
- In The Simpsons, Bob Dole reads from the Necronomicon at the Republican headquarters.
- In The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Billy steals Grim's copy of "The Bad Book" to raise Yog Soloth.
- In an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Frylock almost gives Meatwad the Necronomicon instead of The Bible.
- In an episode of Justice League Unlimited, shortly after entering Hades' library, Shayera and Wonder Woman come across the Necronomicon. Mere minutes later, Felix Faust casually mentions the book by name.
- In an episode of The Venture Bros., Dr. Orpheus refuses to swear on a Bible before taking the witness stand in court, instead preferring to take the oath on the Necronomicon.
- In a level of the video game Max Payne, Max encounters the Necronomicon and Paradise Lost among people who believe in the somewhat unrelated Norse mythology.
- In Castlevania 64 for Nintendo 64, the option menu is a book entitled Necronomicon. The book also appears in the video games Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Symphonia.
- Digital Pinball: Necronomicon is a Japanese video pinball game for the Sega Saturn console.
- In Megatokyo, a webcomic, one of the characters finds a book called Necrowombicon, said to be used to make daikatana. The Necrowombicon has its origins in the webcomic Penny Arcade.
- In the humourous film noir movie, Cast a Deadly Spell, Fred Ward plays the private detective H. Phillip Lovecraft, who is hired by a questionable character to retrieve a book called The Necronomicon, that has been stolen from the latter's personal library.
- In Defense of the Ancients, the Necronomicon is an item that gives an increase to the Intelligence statistic and allows a player to summon two soldiers with necromatic powers. It is mainly useful to mages.
- In 1971, science fiction author Larry Niven published a humorous short story called The Last Necronomicon.
- In the comic Van Von Hunter, there is a book called Notdanecronomicon, that when touched without saying "all clear" it summons an undead army.
- In the webcomic Sam and Fuzzy there is a book called "the necro-deatho-bookikon" reffered to as mainstream satanistic garbage.
- In the webcomic Movie Punks, there is a book called the Punkronomicon, which is used for the picking up of goth chicks in clubs and/or bars.
- In the 2nd edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay core book, there's a very thinly-veiled reference on page 219: "Another such volume is the Book of the Dead, written by the mad Arabyan prince Abdul ben Raschid ... Only the most strong-willed can read these books and retain any sense of sanity. These forbidden tomes tell of the horrible secrets of the beyond, of the dark insane dreams that the dead dream in their eternal rest."
- In the song "Twisted", rapper Tech N9ne threatens to make a Christian read their kids the Necronomicon on Christmas.
- In the Wild Arms video game series, the Necronomicon is an item that can be equipped to a magic user in order to greatly increase their magic statistics.
- In the fourth of Sierra's Quest for Glory series, Shadows of Darkness, the Necronomicon is set upon an altar, bound in human skin, and written in blood, a derivation from tales of the Necronomicon relating to concentration camps.
See also
References
- H. P. Lovecraft: A History of The Necronomicon. Necronomicon Press. ISBN 0-318047-15-2.
- H. P. Lovecraft: The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward. Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-35490-7.
- Dan Harms and John Wisdom Gonce III: The Necronomicon Files. Red Wheel Weiser. ISBN 1-578-63269-2.
External links
- Egyptian Book of the Dead
- Tibetan Book of the Dead
- A purported translation of a Sumerian copy of the Necronomican, c.1985
- Fake Necronmicons
- The Necronomicon Anti-FAQ by Colin Low, a spoof FAQ about the "real" Necronomicon
- A rebuttal of the Anti-FAQ, also by Colin Low
- This site contains the text of the Wilson Necronomicon as well as a later project known as the R'lyeh Text.
- The Ultimate Cthulhu Mythos Book List - Listing of all mythos novels, anthologies, collections, comic books, and more.
- The Last Necronomicon by Larry Niven
Commercially available books entitled Necronomicon
- Al Azif: The Necronomicon by L. Sprague de Camp (1973) [1]
- Necromonicon by "Simon" (1980) [2]
- H.R. Giger's Necronomicon by H.R. Giger [3]
- The Necronomicon by George Hay (1993) [4]
- Necronomicon: The Wanderings Of Alhazred by Donald Tyson (2004) ISBN 0-7387-0627-2 at Amazon