Dagon (Gothic literature) 2 of 2

Of the three things mentioned in part 1, the Unknown seems to be the most fundamental. Things being alien is a two way street (aliens are only alien to things that are alien to them. You get me?) And unnatural things are deviations from what is right and healthy, which is another kind of borrowed existence. Things being unknown, however, is an unavoidable part of being a human being (i.e. a being that is both conscious and limited). This makes it more fundamental than the other two categories, even though it is also a relative reality (it only exists because other things do).

But, it’s more than that. Not only is it

Dagon (Gothic literature) 1 of 2

So, what can we say about a piece of writing like “Dagon”? It’s a suicide note written by a morphine addict driven nuts while lost at sea by the sight of a giant fish-man worshiping an obelisk. Wow.

The first questions that occur to me are “why do people like this? Why do I like this?” Then I immediately reconsider approaching the question that way. It isn't because we should avoid talking about people, or why they are the way they are, but because focusing on ourselves and our likes and dislikes is a tangly sort of maze from which we might not escape. Better to look at what the good of the thing at hand is, or what good there could be, and maybe gain some insight about ourselves along the way.

So, “Dagon” has a few themes (all interrelated, classic Lovecraft, and literarily Gothic): the unknown, the alien, and the unnatural.

Most of you don't have to worry.
Dagon would only hide under a waterbed.

The Unknown

Everyone has experience of the unknown. I mean both that they have been faced with darkness and mystery, and that they've come to know something that was unknown before.