Talk:The House on the Borderland

Comic

Any one want to write something about the comic version? Zerath13

It is, unfortunately, written in a florid style, only partially true to the original, and "sexed up" in terms of creating an incest backstory involving the sister.68.164.236.26 (talk) 16:45, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

Another interpretation?

In the manner of the novel "The Haunting", the manuscript story is written in such a way that the author's experiences can be taken as the dreams and delusions of a lonely man going mad in in grim, oppressive surroundings. The unobserved attack on the dog could indeed have been by a wildcat; the carcasses of the swine-things vanish as if they were never there; his apparent death could simply be caused by the house collapsing into the underground pit or sinkhole (created by the locale's peculiar geological character as shown by the subducting stream); and it is made explicit that the sister fears the author, never confirming that she actually saw the monsters. This ambiguity in Hodgson's approach to the tale (also reminiscent of Poe's "William Wilson") seems deliberate and may show a further level of artistry. SD 68.164.236.26 (talk) 16:58, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

All true, but it may not be necessary to point this out, as it is addressed quite directly in the book, so a decent plot synopsis would make the ambiguity obvious. The mystery is deeper than "it's all true" or "it's all just a dream" anyway - it's kinda both at once - hence the house being on the borderland. twl_corinthian (talk) 23:14, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

1921 British edition

This entry should include mention of the 1921 edition of THE HOUSE ON THE BORDERLAND, published by Holden-Herdingham, Ltd., London. 108.5.42.33 (talk) 21:18, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

"Plot introduction"

The article had a "plot introduction":

In 1877, two gentlemen, Messrs Tonnison and Berreggnog, head into Ireland to spend a week fishing in the village of Kraighten. Whilst there, they discover in the ruins of a very curious house a diary of the man who had once owned it. Its torn pages seem to hint at an evil beyond anything that existed on this side of the curtains of impossibility. This is a classic novel that worked to slowly bridge the gap between the British fantastic and supernatural authors of the later 19th century and modern horror fiction.

I've removed this from the article because the first bit's redundant (the full synopsis covers it all) and the second bit is uncited. THotBL may be a classic HORROR novel but I'm not sure it's a classic novel in the general sense, as it's not very widely known. Also, what does it mean for a novel to "work to slowly bridge the gap"? twl_corinthian (talk) 23:14, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

Improving the article

• List of characters is unnecesarily long, includes the house for some tenuous reason, and also contains uncited analysis of elements of the book which are highly ambiguous, even cryptic.

• "Literary significance" claims the book is a milestone on the road from the Gothic to later horror modes, but doesn't cite sources for this claim. To my knowledge the book (despite its brilliance) is not widely known. HPL and CAS could hardly be said to represent the mainstream during their lifetimes.

Unless someone has strong objection, I'll rewrite bits of the article to trim out some of the unverified (or unverifiable) analysis. twl_corinthian (talk) 23:15, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

Agree on both points. I see someone has added a cite to the latter, but the character list is unnecessary. Articles on films include a "Cast" section to delineate which actor played which character, but lesser editors seem to think that an extensive and crufty "biography" needs be attached to each character; it doesn't, and such attachment is unencyclopedic fancruft. There is no useful information to be had by including such a section here, and the section should be removed. A properly-written plot summary should amply detail the characters as much as necessary, and the house itself is not a character. 12.233.147.42 (talk) 22:07, 21 April 2015 (UTC)

Rewrote the plot summary and eliminated the character list. Cosmicdense (talk) 07:24, 21 October 2020 (UTC)