The House on the Borderland
1908
The House on the Borderland
1908
The novel that changed horror forever. When a manuscript written in strange, precise hand is discovered in an Irish ruin, it tells the account of an old recluse who came to a remote house and witnessed something that broke his mind. Beyond his walls lies a poisoned plain where a jade-green double of his home stands amid titanic gods and monsters beyond comprehension. But the earthly realm offers its own horrors: swine-like creatures boiling from a cavern beneath the ground, besieging the house in a siege of flesh and tusk. Yet these are merely precursors to the true horror - an encounter so vast, so indifferent to human existence, that all of humanity is rendered insignificant. First published in 1908, Hodgson's masterpiece predates and influenced Lovecraft's entire mythos. Terry Pratchett called it "the Big Bang" of his imagination. For readers who hunger for weird fiction that doesn't flinch from the infinite, the incomprehensible, and the profoundly alien.
Editions
X-Ray
“There had stood a great house in the centre of the gardens, where now was left only that fragment of ruin. This house had been empty for a great while; years before his”
— William Hope Hodgson
“And then, suddenly, an extraordinary question rose in my mind, whether this stupendous globe of green fire might not be the vast Central Sun”
— William Hope Hodgson
“Six days, and I have eaten nothing. It is night. I am sitting in my chair. Ah, God! I wonder have any ever felt the horror of life that I have come to know? I am swathed in terror. I feel ever the burning of this dread growth. It has covered all my right arm and side, and is beginning to creep up my neck. To-morrow, it will eat into my face. I shall become a terrible mass of living corruption. There is no escape. Yet, a thought has come to me, born of a sight of the gun-rack, on the other side of the room. I have looked again”
— William Hope Hodgson
“The immutable, awful quiet of a dying world.””
— William Hope Hodgson
“The inner story must be uncovered, personally, by each reader, according to ability and desire.””
— William Hope Hodgson
“غمرتني ذكريات مُضطربة مليئة بالدهشة والفرح والتوقعات المُهتزة وتصور أني سأرى حبيبتي مرة أخرى، فدُرت بنظري هنا وهُناك لكني لم أرها، فشعرت باليأس قليلاً، وصليت بحرارة قلبي، عجيب.. كيف صمد البحر أمام صلواتي؟!استطعت رؤية العديد من آثار تحركات النار المُتقلبة من تحتي فسألت نفسي عن سبب ذلك، تذكرت أني قد أُجبرت على فُراق العزيزة على قلبي قبل النطق بنصف ما رغبت في قوله.ثم قفزت إلى الخلف بعدما لمسني شيء ما من خلفي، فاستدرت بسرعة! يا إلهي، كم أنت كريمٌ حقًا، إنها هي! نظرت إلى عينيّ بشوق ونظرت إليها بكل كياني، وددت أن أحتضنها لكن مجد ونقاء وجهها أبقياني بعيدًا، وعبر الضباب المُتعرج مدت ذراعيها لي وهمست بنعومة مثل حفيف سحابة عابرة:– عزيزي!وهذا كل ما قالت، لكنني سمعتها، هو صوتها، وفي لحظة تالية احتضنتها مُتحديًا كل شيء، وإلى الأبد.هي وأنا؛ ولا شيء معنا باستثناء الفراغ الصامت الشاسع على مدى رؤيتنا، ومياه بحر النوم الهادئة تسمعنا، كنا في الجنة.اختفت الكرات العائمة المُغطاة بالغيوم، تشربها العدم، وهكذا نظرنا إلى وجه الأعماق النائم، وحدنا، وحدنا! يا إلهي، سأكون وحدي في الآخرة، ولكني حصلت عليها، نعم، لقد أعجزتني الدهور ولكني آمل أن أعيش خلال السنوات المُتبقية التي قد تظل قائمة، معها.””
— William Hope Hodgson
Link to this book
Add a free, dofollow link to Lex on your blog, forum, syllabus, or reading list.
<a href="https://lex-books.com/book/the-house-on-the-borderland-256adb5c-f15b-4fbb-a468-e5de38696af5"><img src="https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg" alt="Read The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson free on Lex" width="160" height="40"></a>[](https://lex-books.com/book/the-house-on-the-borderland-256adb5c-f15b-4fbb-a468-e5de38696af5)[url=https://lex-books.com/book/the-house-on-the-borderland-256adb5c-f15b-4fbb-a468-e5de38696af5][img]https://lex-books.com/badges/read-on-lex.svg[/img][/url]Read The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson free on Lex: https://lex-books.com/book/the-house-on-the-borderland-256adb5c-f15b-4fbb-a468-e5de38696af5Cite this book
Reading this edition for a paper or guide? Copy a citation.
Hodgson, William Hope. The House on the Borderland. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-house-on-the-borderland-256adb5c-f15b-4fbb-a468-e5de38696af5.Hodgson, W. H. (1908). The House on the Borderland. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-house-on-the-borderland-256adb5c-f15b-4fbb-a468-e5de38696af5Hodgson, William Hope. The House on the Borderland. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-house-on-the-borderland-256adb5c-f15b-4fbb-a468-e5de38696af5.
