The story "The Lamp of Al-Hazred" by August Derleth as a literary biography of Howard Phillips Lovecraft. H. P. Lovecraft, August Derleth “Alhazred’s Lamp Application of lamps from Michael SM

Patch 7.2.5 cannot be called a major update to the game, but it does have a lot of interesting small additions that will make life more interesting for players.

For example, AlAbas and Zhul will help the robbers again feel like they are taking away wealth and giving it to their loved ones.

Starting at level 100, Rogue players will be able to accept a quest from Jules in the Rogue class stronghold. During this task:

You buy a dim lamp;
Buy a lamp polishing kit;
Polish the lamp;
Summon the genie AlAbas;
AlAbas sends you to collect Air Coins from the pockets of mobs;
After collecting 1000 Air Coins, you receive the epic AlAbas lamp, which allows you to get even more trophies;
In exchange for 10,000 Air Coins once a week, Jules will give you 5k gold;
After collecting a number of epic and rare items from mobs' pockets, you will receive the coolest AlAbas Sparkling Lamp, which allows you to loot even more Air Coins.

From the pockets of mobs you can get various items that are exchanged for Air Coins automatically - immediately after the loot. Epic items have a “cost” of 10-20k coins, rare ones - several hundred, and green ones - tens, and ordinary ones even less.

What to buy with Air Coins?
This is the most interesting thing. Why farm coins, not for 5k gold? You can buy all sorts of fun things from Jules himself!

Secretive marmot (10k)– a pet that walks in Stealth =).

Cave rat (10k)– just a combat pet with a unique model.

Barrel with bandanas (100k)- a toy that gives players bandanas. You could get it back in Draenor.

Barrel with eye patches (100k)- another barrel, but this time it gives you a wonderful eyeball to make you feel like a one-eyed thug.

Well, great and sweet content. I remember that Kuvaldych spent many pleasant minutes in Draenor doing “pocket business”. This was much more interesting than running around the Garrison in circles.

The most unusual and atypical story for Lovecraft. The work turned out to be so positive and bright largely thanks to August Derleth, who completed the work of the teacher. There is no kinder and more cheerful story in the work of the Dreamer from Providence than “Alhazred's Lamp.” It takes your breath away, and a pleasant warmth spreads through your soul, warming you both inside and out. It’s as if you suddenly found yourself in a good old fairy tale that simply cannot end badly. After reading this story, you can understand how sincerely Derleth admired Lovecraft, how the capable student adored his teacher. This kind of attitude almost moves you to tears.

Now I understand who inspired Ray Bradbury when writing some of his stories and, in particular, those related to the collection “The Martian Chronicles”. Without a doubt, another great American read the works of his predecessor and highlighted the main thing in them: kindness and a possible bright future, for which almost everyone has a chance.

“The Lamp of Alhazred” is a magnificent parable in which mysticism is present for the most part for the surroundings. Here, I believe, the merit is solely due to Derleth. Without a doubt, by finishing this short story, he thereby honored the memory of his friend who had gone to the region of Unknown Kadath, saying a few kind words along the way. Perhaps my opinion will seem too subjective to many, but I think it would not be amiss to include in the school curriculum the story begun by Lovecraft and completed by Derleth. Alhazred's Lamp is definitely worth it.

Well done, Lovecraft! Good girl, Derleth! Guys, thank you for this wonderful, kind and simply excellent work, which you want to re-read again and again.

Rating: 10

Incredibly beautiful and kind, bright and poetic, and most importantly, an autobiographical story by the author, the very essence of which can only be grasped by a person widely familiar with his work, or better yet with life, so I advise beginners to put “The Lamp” aside, believe me, its time will come !

Now for the experts. "Alhazred's Lamp" is a retrospective of the life and work of G.F. Lovecraft, made in the form of a kind of parable. A short, bright and very sincere story that makes the heart beat faster and evokes enthusiastic emotion. It’s like you find yourself in the city of childhood: you walk through memorable places, meet forgotten friends and remember the good old days, when the air was cleaner, the grass was greener, and the people were better. And the present disappears, giving way to memories, into the thickness of which you plunge deeper and deeper with each page you read! And at the end, when the main character

Spoiler (plot reveal) (click on it to see)

A terminally ill cancer patient returns to his childhood with the help of a Lamp.

Real catharsis sets in, and you, renewed and enlightened, return to the real world!

Overall: a story similar to a mixture of “The Silver Key” and “The Unknown Kadath”, I recommend it to fans of reflective Lovecraft.

Rating: 9

A positive story is unusual for Lovecraft. It is all positive, from beginning to end, because the mysterious lamp brought only benefits to its owner, and the ending is absolutely enviable! At the same time, the main character is somehow recognizable - read the list of story themes! - Lovecraft himself. If the ending was Derleth's idea, well, he wished his co-author a happy ending...

Rating: 8

This story is a farewell. The story is a revelation. The story, as a memory of a great and talented man who drew his inspiration from dreams, who created an entire universe, who turned the whole idea of the supernatural inside out, opened a new round in the horror genre, as in one of the genres of fiction. This is an unusual, lyrical, somewhat romantic man, a man who loves antiquity and loneliness, someone who is not of this world.

I'm talking about Howard Phillips Lovecraft, the prototype of the main character of this story, completed by Derleth. The plot of the work gives very direct and frank hints about whom Derleth wanted to say his last word. The main character finds the Lamp of Alhazred, that same crazy Arab, the author of the famous non-existent Necronomicon (as his own, he himself does not exist, because his name is not even included in the 99 names of Allah). A certain piece of eternity appears before us, a piece of a huge puzzle - we see how the lamp helps the main character survive many stories, shows him many unknown mysterious corners, and then takes him completely into the depths of space, where these ancient terrible creatures exist, waiting in the wings . The lamp is a source of inspiration, it is the personification of the author’s talent. After all, we see already familiar names and titles on the pages: Innsmouth, Arkham, Miskatonic, Dunwich - these are the places and corners with which many of Lovecraft’s stories are connected. In the story, the main character writes precisely these stories. This is the highlight itself. In the character and motives of the main character, in his fate. After all, he is Lovecraft himself.

The result was a farewell story, a story - the last word, putting an end, a logical point in Lovecraft's work, a correct and beautiful point.

Rating: 10

I don’t know how Lovecraft himself planned to end the story when he started writing it, but in the sequel, written by Derleth, the story turned out, although impressive (as always), but not at all scary, but rather even somewhere bright and optimistic. I can’t believe that something bad happened to GG; rather, it seems that GG ended up in some wonderful and amazing place...

Rating: 9

“...his spiritual world was intricately intertwined with the worlds that appeared to him in the light of the lamp, and images from childhood that had found shelter in the secret corners of his heart, being reborn, penetrated into the hitherto unknown depths of the Universe.”

A simple but unusual text that can be used as an introduction to Lovecraft collections. It is about an artifact that he inherited from his grandfather. This almost mythical object, recovered from an Arabian tomb erected at the dawn of history, captivated the consciousness of the new owner, sending him on a journey. Ward discovered the abandoned City of Pillars - Irem, Ice Kadath, Ridges of Madness, Arkham, R'lyich, Innsmouth, Devil's Reef, Miskatonic; Hastur, Nyarlathotep and Yog-Sothoth, later highlighted in a number of stories.

6815

The design of the single-ended tube amplifier uses exclusive Hi-End transformers "Tamradio" Tamura

Horn speakers with front short horn and Lowther DX4 driver

The directly heated kenotron heats up in 5-7 seconds, for this reason there is a delay on the relay

Single-stroke on 2A3 and Tamura “Tamradio” motors

Briefly about the design

A few words about the configuration: Outputs, interstage transformers and a choke in the power supply from the Japanese Tamura. There is no need to talk about the company that produces audiophile winding products “Tamradio”, everyone knows about it without me. Yes, it’s expensive, yes, it takes a long time to wait for an order, but practically no one in the world has the same or similar quality. There may still be "Tango". I was once again convinced of the quality of their transformers, although I have been using the products of this respected company for more than 20 years. A Hashimoto anode transformer and two filament toroidal transformers for 2A3 lamps were wound to order on site. A separate power transformer and inductor for the driver tube and anode voltage turn-on delay timer are located on a separate printed circuit board on the “lower” floor of the amplifier. The choke is modern and the powerplant is vintage from a 50's amp. The machine contains a total of 11 skein products of very high quality.

The filament of the 2A3 output lamps is powered by alternating current; to eliminate background noise, a balancing wire resistor is introduced into the filament. With acoustic sensitivity of 99 dB, from a distance of 2.5 m the background is not audible at all.

The tabletop is made of natural solid beech from the Altai region, thickness 40 mm. Amplifier weight 30 kg. It’s pointless to talk about parameters... Power is two to three watts and that’s it.

Sound

The main thing in my device is not transformers, lamps and modes... but SOUND! I could never imagine that a small 2A3 tube could produce such a large-scale and physical sound. This is while fully maintaining detail and musicality. I think this is because of the Tamradio transformers and the C3G driver tube. Well, and the excess power of the anode transformer plus separate power supply for the output and driver stages. Black Gate capacitors have also added their own. The result came out extremely tasty and “fatty”! I am very pleased and have been listening to my single-ended speaker practically without turning it off for about a month now. And he plays better and better... Yes! Comrades! If this single-cycle engine catches someone’s fancy, I won’t sell mine, of course), but I will recommend “Golden Hands”, who are capable of repeating this exclusive construction.

My device works on speakers according to the design of Sergei Petrov. This is a reverse horn on Lowther PM-2A 16 ohm speakers with a silver coil. The sensitivity of the speakers is about 100 dB. I ordered the speakers directly from the English factory, as well as the transformers - from Japan. So to speak - first-hand.

Here they write that I was triple lucky, because... Norman has given up public audio for some time now, and his help with my project was a “demobilization chord.” And like all the latter, one of the most successful. The entire single-ended project was manufactured in Samara, well - except for the Lowther speakers and wires, of course.

Answers on questions

It seems to me that in a single-ended device of this class you should have made not a combined power supply, but a full-fledged dual mono. Or two monoblocks. Then the weight would be approximately 60 kg and it would look and sound more impressive. Yes, and where is your volume control? It turns out that this is a single-ended power amplifier?

I have had a similar device working for three years now. The 2A3 lamp easily “swings” a 15" speaker in large bass horns. The system is installed in a room of 58 square meters. So, congratulations on your successful selection of lamps and high-quality implementation of a single-ended tube amplifier!

Tell me, have you tried how a D3A lamp as a driver works with a 2A3 output? Much worse than the S3G that you have? Is it possible to install a feed-through capacitance with a resistor in the driver anode instead of the Tamura interstage transformer?

You can use a driver tube - D3A with a resistor in the anode, will it sound worse or better, the question is ambiguous, I tried it, but there was something I didn’t like, which I don’t remember. This combination will most likely play differently, a different lamp will definitely give a different sound. My C3g driver tube with an interstage transformer easily drives both 300V and GM-70! In my opinion, the C3g lamp is one of the best modern driver lamps. There is also C3M, 6AC7, D3A, nothing else worthy comes to mind. The C3G pentode operates in triode mode; I think that it is wrong to spoil the signature of the wonderful 2A3 by turning on a pentode in the driver.

As I understand it, you have a pre-amplifier and C3g tubes in the driver are quite sufficient, but if you make a full amplifier, as I planned, then the gain may not be enough.

My preamplifier is passive, the sensitivity of the single-ended amplifier is 500 mV, which is enough through the roof, the speakers have a sensitivity of 100 dB.

But I do not agree that the C3G pentode with the 2A3 driver should operate in triode mode. There are many pentodes that are much better in pentode mode than the C3G pentode in triode mode.

I have the opportunity to compare all this practically. There is a single-ended EL12 pentode with local negative feedback. This amplifier is one of my favorites and I listen to it with great pleasure. There is another device - a push-pull on EL12 in a pentode version of the output stage with a pentode driver. It also has a very interesting and fast sound. I mean, I don't want to spoil the 2A3 with a pentode. Why do I need a third pentode driver for 2A3 triodes?

Switching the driver tube - pentode - into triode or pentode mode is a matter of taste. For example, the pentode connection is more interesting to me, because... in it I can easily get the required drive voltage for the output tube.

Application of lamps from Mikhail SM

Mikhail SM = Several years ago, I custom-made a tube amplifier for a person from Ukraine with an EF-12 driver stage in pentode mode and 6B4G output tubes. It was loaded onto the acoustic design of Fidelio and Lowther DX4. I noticed then that the tandem of these two lamps categorically did not accept any preamplifier - the third one. The expressiveness of the bass register and the sound in general suffered - it tragically deteriorated. But surprisingly, the acoustic design of the shield, or Open Baffle, requires a longer chain of stages: from three to four to five, after the I/U DAC converter. In my version with the Ukrainian amplifier, the total gain with the driver tube (pentode-connected) EF12, output 6V4G with output transformers 20:1 and input G-regulator: 0.7 x 100 x 3/20 = 10.5. With a standard output voltage of a CD player of 0.775 V, we obtain with such a gain on the secondary winding of the output transformer - 8 Volts. At an 8 ohm load we have 8 watts of output power. If the EF-12 driver tube is turned on not with a pentode, but with a triode, we get a total gain in the region: 2.6 - 3, which, in terms of the secondary winding of the output transformer, will give 2.5 Volts at 8 ohms, or - 0.8 W of output power , which is extremely small... with such power you will have to forget about physicality and dynamics even with an acoustic sensitivity of 100 dB.

Since when is it better to play C3g in a triode connection? The two-anode 2A3 is a fairly budget-friendly lamp, both in terms of sound quality and price. With this lamp, and all sorts of WE-417, WE-437, D3a, etc. I experimented a lot 10 years ago. For example, the fairly popular EF-36, EF-37 in pentode mode are much more interesting than C3g in triode mode.

Mikhail SM = An alternative non-direct replacement for the 2A3 lamp without power loss is the AL5/375 (in triode mode it gives from 2.5 to 4 Watts). It can be operated at an anode voltage of up to + 400 V and a current of no more than 45 mA. The AL-5/375 is easy to drive and does not require the construction of pentode drivers. It sounds not much worse than the reference AD1.

The AL-5/375 lamp has a maximum allowable anode voltage of 250 V and was designed for push-pull amplifiers operating in class B. Putting it into triode mode with an anode voltage of 400 V is unacceptable (IMHO). I have been running a push-pull amplifier using AL-5 tubes for two years now. I have been fiddling with these lamps for a long time and am still fiddling with them. Calling the AL-5/375 an alternative to the 2A3 is not very reasonable, because even in triode mode it produces 2 Watts of power with high distortion. Without distortion more than one watt. you can't squeeze it out. By the way, the number 375 in the name of the lamp is the maximum value of its anode voltage. I have AL5 Telefunken, Valvo, Philips - so there is something to experiment with.

Mikhail SM = In the world of audio, there are many things that are unacceptable; you need to be able to circumvent these inadmissibility, and not blindly trust technical parameters.

Strong words, but to say that the AL5/375 lamp is an alternative to the 2A3 means emphasizing your technical illiteracy. Are there any direct alternatives to the 2A3 lamp among pentodes? And if there is, then why do we need 2A3?

Mikhail SM = Then explain why in RX - correctors, people install such “silent” lamps as EL-11, EL-12, A-L4 (in triode) - exactly after everyone’s favorite EF-12, EF-14 in pentode connection? Is the overall gain with these tubes really more important than the “legendary” signatures of the AD1, RE604 or PX25?

What is the connection between the vinyl equalizer and the SE output of the tube amplifier? By the way, I’m fiddling around now - I’m putting EL-12 at the input of the vinyl corrector according to Likhnitsky’s precepts and I think that the EL-11, EL-12, A-L4 tubes are just very good sounding. But not as an alternative to the 2A3 triode, but in conjunction with its own transformers, rectifiers and wiring.

Mikhail SM = The 1958 German Lamp Handbook has a section on these lamps. It turns out that lamps EL-12/375, EL-12/U g2 have a maximum anode voltage of + 375 V and + 425 V. The AL-5 may have an Ig2 of 250 Volts, but it can easily handle 420 V.

Abbas = Both the EL12 and AL5 sound very nice in triode mode. Another thing is that in single-cycle mode more than one and a half, two watts cannot be removed from them. It is best to put them in correctors for vinyl or push-pull devices, and for single-ended devices, look for more suitable triodes. The F2a11 lamp works great in triode connection.

Mikhail SM = Forgive me for being categorical, but sharing experience is very important here. In terms of a combination of parameters: ease of drive, alternating current filament supply, high gain - German-made pentodes connected with a triode are simply unique. Plus, recognized by sound artists - musicality. In terms of musicality, the 2A3 (IMHO) sounds more modest compared to German pentodes, although directly heated triodes are characterized by a certain “aristocratic” sound. I also have two tube amplifiers: One is an old 6B4G with an EF12 Telefunken (or ECC-32 Mullard) in the driver, The second is an EL12 Telefunken and an ECC-32 driver. EL-12/375 are not the same “curves” if you choose the correct load and feed them with a higher anode. They may not have such direct current-voltage characteristics as directly heated lamps, but they are musical! I always look at the device not as a tube amplifier, but as a “time machine” that takes me back to the old world. If you want the music to be transmitted by the lamps as reliably as possible, then no one will help you with advice. Only your own ears will determine which is better: modern directly heated lamps, or rare “supposedly crooked” pentodes.

Abbas = You talked about an alternative. If you don’t like the 2A3 lamp, take the reference AD1, 4683, 45x2, finally, but what does AL-5 have to do with it? The heat is not the same, the anode transformer is not the same, the bias is not the same, the power is not the same, the distortion is not the same... For example, the F2A11 can dissipate 25 W at the anode and it sounds no less interesting than its peers 2A3. I have made several single-ended tubes using both of them, each of them has its own advantages.

I think using a pentode in triode mode is a perversion, no matter AL-5 or others. The same EL-12 at one time cost much more than AD1 (AL-5 is an older lamp) and no one during their development thought about its triode use in the output stage.

Mikhail SM = I meant the general case, not this specific case. In the case of 2A3 and the presence of “Tango” output transformers with a 4 Ohm output, this is already 25:1 or 5000/8 Ohms, which for EL-12 (AL-5) is about K = 3 min. That means it works with a transformer. The current is less, but not much. Arranging a 4 or 6.3 Volt incandescence is no problem. You can install a separate filament transformer; there is a lot of free space in the amplifier. In such cases, I make amplifiers that can work with different lamps - such as 6B4G or EL-12/375. A convenient option if there is a margin for the given load. Each type of lamp has its own infrastructure: sockets, filament, offset.

Abbas = Telefunken's 1938 Tube Handbook (red) gives recommendations for the use of AL-4 and AL-5 pentodes in triode connection. For AL-5 in triode connection, the following mode is given: anode - 250 V, 40 Ma, Ra 3500 Ohm, P - 2.1 Watt at 5% distortion, Drive voltage 12 V effective. But for the EL-12 there is no triode mode, probably because it is “crooked” than others and is not applicable in powerful amplifiers. For the F2A11 lamp there is also a triode mode in single-cycle operation. AL-4 and EL-11 were quite often used in cinema amplifiers as a driver tube driven by an interstage transformer. And also on the topic of perversions with the inclusion of pentodes in triode mode. In terms of characteristics, lamps EL-11, AL4 and EL3, AL5 and EL12 in triode connection had no analogues among indirectly filament triodes in those years. For an inductive corrector, these pentodes in triode mode in the second and third stages are an ideal solution, because with an average internal resistance their MU is about 20 or higher. ML-6, ML-4 are less convenient in this regard; the Americans did not have anything similar before the war. The closest lamp, the EL-84, came much later. If you assemble a three-stage RX using pre-war lamps, then the only option is AL, EL pentodes in triode connection.

Eugen Komissarov = There are no alternatives to the pre-war AL, EL now either. Large opening, high gain, low internal resistance. The closest option is a double triode 6SN7, if two triodes in the cylinder are connected in parallel, and still it’s not the same. Or 5687, but the sound there is not quite the same. AL, EL have one drawback - they are difficult to drive, the Miller capacitance is under 300 pF, which imposes restrictions on the output impedance of the previous stage. Its output impedance should be no higher than 30 kOhm, especially for the volume control. A variable resistor of 50 kOhm will be normal, but 100 kOhm is too much.

I never liked the literary activity of August Derleth (I specifically do not use the word “creativity” because I do not consider it to be sufficiently applicable to this activity). I respect Derleth as the first publisher of the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and a friend of this writer. By the way, Lovecraft several times mentioned the book Cultes des Goules (“Cults of Ghouls”, or “Cults of Ghouls”), invented by their mutual friend Robert Bloch, who attributed its authorship to a certain Comte d’Erlette. This count is naturally a humorous allusion to Derleth.

But I consider Derleth’s literary works themselves to be weak craftsmanship, rather ineptly exploiting Lovecraft’s ideas, and generally completely banal. Nevertheless, I want to devote this article to one story by Derleth, because it stands out sharply from the general faceless series of his works. This story, "The Lamp of Al-Hazred", pays homage to Lovecraft, and pays it off with real talent.

In fact, “The Lamp of Al-Hazred” is not so much a story as a presentation of the biography of Lovecraft (referred to as Ward Phillips) in an almost poetic style. I appreciated the subtlety and sincerity of Derleth's manner in The Lamp. First, let's talk about why the Arabic name (that is, the surname) is used in the name. The fact is that Lovecraft, having read The Arabian Nights, at the age of five once announced that he was taking the name Abdul Al-Hazred. Perhaps this is a legend, but Lovecraft really was a child prodigy - at the age of 2 he was already reciting poetry by heart, and at the age of 6 he began to write his own. Then he began prose. Lovecraft wrote his first significant work (later published and now included in his collected works) at the age of 14. The name of Al-Hazred on the pages of his stories and tales has a special meaning - this Arab, called the epithet “mad,” is the author of the terrible legendary “Necronomicon”...

In Derleth's story, a mysterious ancient lamp is inherited by Ward Phillips from his grandfather Whipple. His prototype is Lovecraft's grandfather Whipple Van Buren Phillips; if this name is any indication, Lovecraft had Dutch roots. True, only three works - "The Dog", "A Nightmare in Red Hook" and "The Hidden Fear" - contain characters of Dutch origin (except for the first, they are Americans by place of residence). And in all cases, these are extremely odious villains - respectively, the werewolf ghost, the occultist scientist and necromancer Robert Seidem and the degenerate creepy Martens family.

The life circumstances of Ward Phillips are described as exact details of Lovecraft's biography:

Phillips began to write for tabloid magazines, and, in addition, he processed whole mountains of almost hopelessly graphomaniac prose and lyrics sent to him by amateur writers who hoped that Phillips’s magic pen would help them see their works in print - all this allowed him to lead a contented life. independent lifestyle. At the same time, sedentary work reduced his ability to resist the disease. He was lanky, thin, wore glasses and, due to his weak body, was an easy target for colds, and once, already in adulthood, to his great embarrassment, he even fell ill with measles.

I will also note that Derleth did not mention in the story about one period of Lovecraft’s life (probably for reasons of tact), associated with marriage and moving to New York. In 1924, at the age of 34, Lovecraft married Sonya Grini, an emigrant from Russia (originally from a Jewish family in the Chernigov province). But their marriage lasted only a few years: Lovecraft could not live in a big city, his wife could not live in provincial Providence. The drama of this situation is quite clear to me. But they parted calmly (they didn’t even officially dissolve the marriage). By the way, this period of life was reflected in Lovecraft’s work in such forms that became the reason for his accusations of racism. On this issue, I once had a debate with an American blogger, when I had to take the trouble to refute these accusations. However, this is not important, because what matters to me is that it was at this stage of his life that the writer created such monumental masterpieces as “The Call of Cthulhu”, “The Mysterious House on the Misty Cliff”, “The Somnambulistic Search for the Unknown Kadath” and “The Case of Charles Dexter Ward."

So, after New York, Lovecraft returned to Providence and began to live in this house on Barnes Street:

For the last 4 years, due to increasing poverty, he lived in much smaller apartments with his relatives.

Let's get back to the story. The letter accompanying Ward Phillips' grandfather's final gift stated that

<…>the lamp was recovered from an Arabian tomb erected at the dawn of history. It once belonged to some half-crazed Arab known as Abdul Al-Hazred, and was made by craftsmen of the legendary Hell tribe, one of the four mysterious tribes of Arabia that lived in the south of the peninsula<…>At the conclusion of his long letter, Whipple wrote: “It can bring joy, whether lighted or extinguished; and in the same way it can bring pain. It is a source of bliss and horror."

<…>the archaic appealed to Phillips. He lived in the past to such an extent that he developed a whole worldview, rather even his own philosophical teaching, about the impact of the past on the present. His idea was distinguished by cold floweriness and some kind of fantasy that despises time and space, which from the first glimpses of consciousness was so closely connected with his innermost thoughts and feelings that any literal expression of them would look highly artificial, exotic and beyond the framework of generally accepted ideas , no matter how true it all seemed. For decades, Phillips's dreams were filled with anxious anticipation of something inexplicable related to the surrounding landscape, architecture, and weather. All the time before his eyes there was a memory of how, as a three-year-old child, he looked from the railway bridge at the most densely built-up part of the city, feeling the approach of some miracle, which he could neither describe nor even fully comprehend. It was a feeling of amazing, magical freedom, hidden somewhere in the vague distance - behind the gaps of ancient streets stretching through the hilly terrain, or behind endless flights of marble stairs ending in tiers of terraces. However, Phillips was much more drawn to escape to a time when the world was younger and more harmonious, in the 18th century or even further, when long hours could be spent in sophisticated conversations, when people could dress with a certain elegance without catching the suspicious glances of their neighbors. , when there was no need to complain about the lack of imagination in the lines he edited, about the poverty of thoughts and terrible boredom<…>

Lovecraft's creative method (so to speak) was based on visionary thinking, that is, he often used his dreams as the basis for literary material. The richness of the plots of his dreams is amazing. Derleth plays on Lovecraft's dreaming as a contemplation of scenes projected (or emitted) by Al-Hazred's magic lamp:

Phillips watched in amazement as the scenes unfolded before him. The thought flashed through his mind that he had become the victim of an unusual optical illusion, but he was not content with such an explanation for long. Yes, he didn’t need any explanation. A miracle had happened, and that was all he was interested in. For the world that unfolded before him in the light of the lamp was a world of great and incomprehensible mystery. He had never seen anything like it before, had never read about anything like it, or even dreamed of it in his sleep.

Ward Phillips has an important task to do - seeing, remembering and giving names and titles.

That night, hour after hour passed, and Phillips looked and looked. He gave unfamiliar places names, extracting them from a hitherto unknown region of his imagination, as if awakened by the light of an ancient lamp. He saw a building of extraordinary beauty on a steep cape shrouded in sea fog, reminiscent of the cape in the vicinity of Gloucester, and called it “a mysterious house on a misty cliff.” He saw an ancient city with gable roofs, through which a dark river flowed, a city similar to Salem, but more mysterious and creepy, and he called it Arkham, and the river - Miskatonic. He saw the coastal city of Innsmouth shrouded in darkness, and near it the Devil's Reef, and saw the deep waters of R'lyeh, where the dead god Cthulhu rests. He looked at the windswept plateau of Leng and at the dark islands of the southern seas - the mysterious islands of dreams, and at the landscapes of other places. He saw distant cosmic worlds and levels of existence that existed in other time layers that were older than the Earth itself, and from where the traces of the Ancients led to Khali, to the beginning of all beginnings and even further.

Overcoming the temptation to go on an irrevocable journey through these worlds, Phillips began to write story after story, transferring to paper the pictures and phenomena he saw in the light of Al-Hazred's lamp.

He did not know

whether the visions that passed before his eyes were reality or a play of imagination. As he soon noticed, his own spiritual world was intricately intertwined with the worlds that appeared to him in the light of the lamp, and the images that had found shelter in the hidden corners of his heart since childhood, being reborn, penetrated into the hitherto unknown depths of the Universe.

Thus began a vigorous creative activity.

For many nights since then, Phillips has not lit the lamp.

Nights turned into months, months into years.

He grew old, his works penetrated into print, and the myths about Cthulhu, about Hastur the Ineffable, about Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Forests with the Legion of the Young, about Hypnos, the God of Sleep, about the Great Race and its secret messengers, about Nyarlathotepe - all this became part of the knowledge stored in the innermost depths of his human essence, and the amazing world of shadows that lies far beyond the knowable. He brought Arkham into reality and sketched "The Mysterious House on Misty Cliff"; he wrote about the ominous shadow hanging over Innsmouth and about the Unknown whispering in the dark, about mushrooms from Yuggoth and the horrors of ancient Dunwich, and all this time the light of Al-Hazred's lamp burned brightly in his poetry and prose, despite the fact that Phillips had long been I haven't lit it yet.

16 years have passed... Ward Phillips has aged.

He was mortally ill and knew that his years were numbered, and he again wanted to see the beautiful and terrible worlds in the glow of Al-Hazred's lamp.

He turned on the lamp and looked at the walls.

But something strange happened. On the wall, where paintings connected with the life of Al-Hazred had previously appeared, a charming image of a country dear to the heart of Ward Phillips appeared - but it was not located in reality, but in the distant past, in the good old time, when on the banks of the Seekonk he carefree played out scenes from ancient Greek myths in his childhood imagination. He again saw the green lawns of his childhood, the quiet river backwaters and the gazebo that he had once built in honor of the great god Pan - all the serene, happy time of his childhood appeared on these walls; the lamp returned to him his own memories. And the thought immediately came to him that the lamp might always have revived in him the memory of the past - a memory passed on to him through his grandfather, great-grandfather and even more distant ancestors of Ward Phillips, who could once see the places that appeared in the light of the lamp .

This was the last day, the last step of Ward Phillips before he left.

Suddenly the sun's rays flashed around him. As if throwing off the shackles of years, he easily ran along the shore of the Seekonk to where the memories of his childhood were waiting for him and where he could be reborn and start all over again, once again experiencing a wonderful time when the whole world was young...

August Derleth concludes the story “The Lamp of Al-Hazred” with the words:

Years have passed. The old house on Angel Street was demolished, the library was bought up by bookstores, and all the household goods were auctioned off, including an old-fashioned Arabian lamp. In the technological world that replaced Phillips's imaginary worlds, no one could derive any benefit from it.

But this is, of course, deceit. Millions of people around the world have benefited, are benefiting and will continue to benefit (not in the vulgar sense of the word) from Al-Hazred's magic lamp - they absorb the unique creativity of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and fantasize themselves.

This lamp became the property of Ward Phillips seven years after the disappearance of his grandfather Whipple. The lamp, as well as the Angel Street House where Phillips now lived, had previously belonged to his grandfather. Phillips moved into the house immediately after his grandfather disappeared, but the lamp was kept by the attorney until the expiration of the seven years required by law for the official recognition of the fact of death - these were the orders of his grandfather, given by him in case of unforeseen circumstances: sudden death or something... something like that. Thus, Phillips had ample time to thoroughly study the contents of Whipple's extensive library. Only after reading the numerous volumes on the shelves would he be finally ready to inherit his grandfather’s “most priceless treasure,” as Whipple himself used to say.

By that time, Phillips was thirty, and his health was poor, and he was tormented by all the same ailments that so often darkened his childhood. He was born into a relatively wealthy family, but all the wealth accumulated by his grandfather was squandered on various unwise projects, and Phillips inherited only the house on Angel Street and its furnishings. Phillips began to write for tabloid magazines, and, in addition, he processed whole mountains of almost hopelessly graphomaniac prose and lyrics sent to him by amateur writers who hoped that Phillips's magic pen would help them see their works in print - all this allowed him to lead a contented life. independent lifestyle. At the same time, sedentary work reduced his ability to resist the disease. He was lanky, thin, wore glasses and, due to his weak body, was an easy target for colds, and once, already in adulthood, to his great embarrassment, he even fell ill with measles.

On warm days, he took his work with him and went out to the picturesque river bank, covered with forest - this place was his favorite even in his childhood. The bank of the Seekonk River has not changed at all since then, and Phillips, who lived mainly in the past, believed that the best way to overcome the sense of time was to remain faithful to places dear to him from his childhood, which had not changed their then appearance... Explaining his way of life, he wrote to one of his correspondents: “Among these forest paths, so familiar to me, the difference between the present and 1899 or 1900 completely disappears, and sometimes, going out to the edge, I am almost ready to see the city as it was at the end of the last century.” In addition to the banks of the Seekonk, he also loved to climb Nentakonkhont Hill and sit there for a long time, waiting for the amazing views that, as night fell, opened up over the city with its sharp spiers and gable roofs, which shimmered with orange, crimson, pearl-green reflections, while the here and there lights turned the wide-spread landscape below into a magical land, to which Phillips was much more attached than to the city itself.

As a result of these daily excursions, Phillips stayed at work until well after midnight, and since he, in order not to exhaust his already meager funds, had long ago given up electricity, an old oil lamp could be of some practical use to him, not to mention the value that This was a skillful product of ancient craftsmen. The letter accompanying the last gift of the grandfather, whose affection for his grandson had never changed, and which had increased even more since the early death of the boy's parents, said that the lamp had been recovered from an Arabian tomb erected at the dawn of history. It once belonged to some half-crazed Arab known as Abdul Al-Hazred, and was made by the craftsmen of the legendary tribe of Ad, one of the four mysterious tribes of Arabia, living in the south of the peninsula, while the Thamud tribe roamed in the north, and Tasm and Jadis is in its central part. Long ago, the lamp was discovered in the abandoned city of Irem, the City of Pillars, built by Shedad, the last of the despots of Hell. Some know it as the Nameless City, located somewhere in the Hadhramaut region. Others believe that he was buried by the ever-moving sands of the Arabian deserts, and, invisible to the ordinary eye, is sometimes accidentally revealed to the eyes of chosen people - the favorites of the Prophet. At the conclusion of his long letter, Whipple wrote: "It can bring joy, whether lighted or extinguished; and it can likewise bring pain. It is a source of bliss and terror."

Al-Hazred's lamp had an unusual shape, resembling a small oblong pot, with a handle attached to one side and a hole for the wick on the other. The lamp was made of a metal resembling gold and decorated with many funny designs, as well as letters and symbols that formed words in a language unfamiliar to Phillips, whose knowledge covered several Arabic dialects, but was clearly insufficient to read the inscription. It was even in Sanskrit, a much older language consisting of letters and hieroglyphs, some of which were pictograms. Phillips spent the whole day cleaning and scrubbing the lamp - and finally poured oil into it.

That evening, putting aside the candles and kerosene lamp that had helped him in his work for so many years, he lit Al-Hazred's lamp. He was pleasantly surprised by the inherent warmth of the lamp, the constancy of the flame and the brightness of the light. However, he did not have time to study all the advantages of this lamp. The work needed to be completed urgently, and Phillips plunged into the task of editing a voluminous poetic opus that began as follows:

I remember what happened before me -
The distant dawn of Earthly Day
And the first step of life, grown from fire
Spontaneous battles - long before me...

And so on - all in the same archaic syllable, which has long gone out of use. Nevertheless, the archaic appealed to Phillips. He lived in the past to such an extent that he developed a whole worldview, rather even his own philosophical teaching, about the impact of the past on the present. His idea was distinguished by cold floweriness and some kind of fantasy that despises time and space, which from the first glimpses of consciousness was so closely connected with his innermost thoughts and feelings that any literal expression of them would look highly artificial, exotic and beyond the framework of generally accepted ideas , no matter how true it all seemed. For decades, Phillips's dreams were filled with anxious anticipation of something inexplicable related to the surrounding landscape, architecture, and weather. All the time before his eyes there was a memory of how, as a three-year-old child, he looked from the railway bridge at the most densely built-up part of the city, feeling the approach of some miracle, which he could neither describe nor even fully comprehend. It was a feeling of amazing, magical freedom, hidden somewhere in the vague distance - behind the gaps of ancient streets stretching through the hilly terrain, or behind endless flights of marble stairs ending in tiers of terraces. However, Phillips was much more drawn to escape to a time when the world was younger and more harmonious, in the 18th century or even further, when long hours could be spent in sophisticated conversation, when people could dress with a certain elegance without being caught in suspicion. the looks of his neighbors, when there was no need to complain about the lack of imagination in the lines he edited, about the poverty of thoughts and terrible boredom - about everything that made this work completely unbearable. Desperate to squeeze anything worthwhile out of these dead verses, he finally pushed them aside and leaned back in his chair.

And then - then he felt subtle changes in his surroundings.

On the so familiar solid wall of books, punctuated only by window openings, which Phillips was in the habit of curtaining so tightly that not a single ray of light from outside could penetrate into his sanctuary, strange shadows fell, not only from the Arabian lamp, but also from some objects visible in its light. Against the backdrop of the illuminated bookshelves, things happened that Phillips could not have imagined in the wildest impulses of his imagination. But where the shadow lay - for example, behind the high back of the chair - there was nothing but darkness, in which the outlines of books were vaguely visible.

Phillips watched in amazement as the scenes unfolded before him. The thought flashed through his mind that he had become the victim of an unusual optical illusion, but he was not content with such an explanation for long. Yes, he didn’t need any explanation. A miracle had happened, and that was all he was interested in. For the world that unfolded before him in the glow of the lamp was a world of great and incomprehensible mystery. He had never seen anything like it before, had never read about anything like it, or even dreamed of it in his sleep.

It was reminiscent of one of the scenes of the creation of the world, when the earth was young, when huge clouds of steam escaped from deep crevices in the rocks and traces of giant reptiles were visible everywhere. High in the sky flew webbed monsters, which fought among themselves and tore each other to pieces, and from a hole in the rock on the seashore a terrible tentacle protruded, writhing menacingly in the dim red light of that distant day - an image as if straight from the pen science fiction writer.

Gradually the picture changed. The rocks gave way to a windswept desert, among which, like a mirage, arose an abandoned city, the lost City of Pillars, the legendary Irem, and Phillips knew that although man had not set foot on these streets for a long time, here among the ancient stone buildings, preserved almost unchanged since the inhabitants of the city were destroyed or driven out of nowhere by ruthless enemies - mysterious and sinister creatures were still lurking. However, none of them were visible; there was only a latent fear of the unknown - like a shadow that fell on this earth from the depths of bygone times. And far beyond the city, on the edge of the desert, snow-covered mountains rose, and when he looked at them, the names themselves appeared in his head. The city was called Nameless, and the snowy peaks were called the Mountains of Madness or, perhaps, Kadath of the Ice Desert. And with delightful ease he gave these places names that came to him immediately, as if they were always wandering around the perimeter of his thoughts, waiting for the moment of embodiment.

He sat for a long time, the spell dissipated, and was replaced by a feeling of slight anxiety. The landscapes that ran before his eyes were only dreams, but in them, nevertheless, there was some kind of still unclear threat emanating from the evil creatures inhabiting these worlds, traces of whose presence he encountered everywhere. In the end, he could not stand it and, turning off the lamp, lit the candle with slightly trembling hands, quickly calming down at its albeit dim, but so familiar and peaceful flicker.

He thought for a long time about what he saw. Grandfather called the lamp his “most priceless treasure,” therefore, he was familiar with its properties. And the most important of these properties, apparently, was hereditary memory and the magical gift of revelation, when in its light one could see distant countries and cities visited by its previous owners. Phillips could have sworn that he saw landscapes familiar to Al-Hazred himself. But he really couldn’t be satisfied with such an explanation! The more he thought about what he had seen, the more confused his thoughts became. In the end, he returned to the work he had put aside, immersing himself in it and forgetting all the fantasies and fears that urgently required comprehension.

The next evening, in the light of the autumn sun, Phillips left the city. Having taken a taxi to the district border, he was left alone with nature. The place where he ended up was almost a mile further than where he had walked before. He followed the path that ran northwest from Plainfield Pike and then skirted the western foot of Nentaconhont, and soon an idyllic panorama of alternating meadows, ancient stone walls, ancient groves and multi-colored roofs opened up to his gaze. Located less than three miles from the city center, he already had the opportunity, like the first colonists, to enjoy the views of the old New England countryside.

Just before sunset, he climbed a hill along a steep road that ran along the edge of an old forest, and from a dizzying height, a stunningly beautiful view spread out before him - shimmering ribbons of rivers, distant forests, the orange edge of the sky with a huge solar disk slowly plunging into a dense layer cirrus clouds. Entering the forest, he saw the sunset through the trees, and turned east to come to where he especially liked to be - on the hillside facing the city. Never before had he realized the enormity of Nentaconhont. This hill was a real miniature plateau or even plateau with its valleys, ridges and peaks and least of all resembled an ordinary hill. From the small meadows on the elevated parts of Nentakonhont, he admired truly wonderful views of the city, stretching along the horizon with fabulous spiers and domes, as if floating in the air, shrouded in some mysterious haze. The top windows of the tallest towers reflected light. the sun has long disappeared behind the horizon, presenting a mysterious, strange and charming sight. Then he saw a huge round lunar disk floating in the autumn sky among the bell towers and spiers, while Venus and Jupiter sparkled above the orange line of the sunset. The path across the plateau was winding - sometimes it went in the middle, and sometimes it went out onto a forested slope, from where dark valleys descended to the plain, and huge smooth boulders on the rocky peaks created an image of something ghostly and witchcraft against the background of the twilight.

Finally he reached a familiar place, where the grassy edge of an old abandoned aqueduct created the illusion of an ancient Roman road. He stood again on the east-facing ridge that he remembered from his earliest childhood. In front of him in the gathering twilight, like a huge constellation, lay a city sparkling with lights. The moonlight shed streams of white gold, and against the background of the fading sunset the flickering of Venus and Jupiter intensified. To get home, he had to go down the hill to the highway, along which he could return to his prosaic refuge.

But all these tranquil hours did not make Phillips forget what had happened in his room the previous evening, and he could not deny that as darkness fell his impatience visibly increased. Vague anxiety was balanced by the anticipation of further nightly adventures, the likes of which he had never experienced before.

Having quickly finished his modest dinner, he immediately went into the office, where he was silently greeted by the familiar rows of books rising from the floor to the ceiling. This time he did not even look at the work awaiting him, but immediately lit Al-Hazred's lamp. Then he sat down and waited.

The soft light of the lamp cast yellowish reflections on the book-lined walls. The light did not flicker; the flame was constant, and, as before, Phillips immediately felt a pleasant, lulling warmth. Gradually, the shelves and the books on them began to become covered with haze, melt and, in the end, were replaced by paintings from other worlds and times.

That night, hour after hour passed, and Phillips looked and looked. He gave unfamiliar places names, extracting them from a hitherto unknown region of his imagination, as if awakened by the light of an ancient lamp. He saw a building of extraordinary beauty on a steep cape shrouded in sea fog, reminiscent of the cape in the vicinity of Gloucester, and called it “a mysterious house on a misty cliff.” He saw an ancient city with gable roofs, through which a dark river flowed, a city similar to Salem, but more mysterious and creepy, and he called it Arkham, and the river - Miskatonic. He saw the coastal city of Innsmouth shrouded in darkness, and next to it - Devil's Reef, saw the deep waters of R "Laih, where the dead god Cthulhu rests. He looked at the windswept plateau of Leng and the dark islands of the southern seas - the mysterious islands of dreams, and at the landscapes of other places He saw distant cosmic worlds and levels of existence that existed in other time layers that were older than the Earth itself, and from where the traces of the Ancients led to Khali, to the beginning of all beginnings and even further.

But he observed all these pictures as if through a window or through a door, which seemed to beckon him to leave the bustle world and go on a journey through these magical spaces; the temptation in him grew and grew, he trembled all over with the desire to obey, to throw away everything he had lived by until now, and try to become someone else, still unknown to himself - but instead, making an effort on himself, he turned off the lamp and I saw again the book-lined walls of Grandfather Whipple's office.

And for the rest of the night, by candlelight, abandoning the routine activities he had planned for today, he wrote story after story, transferring onto paper the pictures and phenomena he saw in the light of Al-Hazred’s lamp.

He wrote all that night and, exhausted, slept all the next day.

And all the next night he wrote again, however, he found time to answer his correspondents, describing to them in detail his “dreams”, not knowing whether the visions that passed before his eyes were reality or a play of imagination. As he soon noticed, his own spiritual world was intricately intertwined with the worlds that appeared to him in the light of the lamp, and the images that had found shelter in the hidden corners of his heart since childhood, being reborn, penetrated into the hitherto unknown depths of the Universe.

For many nights since then, Phillips has not lit the lamp.

Nights turned into months, months into years.

He grew old, his works penetrated into print, and the myths about Cthulhu, about Hastur the Incomparable, about Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Niggurath, about the Black Goat from the Woods of a Thousand Young, about Hypnosis, the God of Sleep, about the Great Race and its secret messengers, about Nyarlathotepe - all this became part of the knowledge stored in the innermost depths of his human essence, and the amazing world of shadows that lies far beyond the knowable. He brought Arkham into reality and sketched "The Mysterious House on Misty Cliff"; he wrote about the ominous shadow hanging over Innsmouth and about the Unknown whispering in the dark, about mushrooms from Yuggoth and the horrors of ancient Dunwich, and all this time the light of Al-Hazred's lamp burned brightly in his poetry and prose, despite the fact that Phillips had long been I haven't lit it yet.

Sixteen years passed in this way, and then one evening Ward Phillips walked up to a lamp that stood behind a pile of books on one of the lower shelves of Grandfather Whipple's library. He took it in his hands, and a forgotten charm immediately descended on him. Having cleaned the lamp, he placed it on the table. Recently, Phillips' health has deteriorated greatly. He was mortally ill and knew that his years were numbered, and he again wanted to see the beautiful and terrible worlds in the glow of Al-Hazred's lamp.

He turned on the lamp and looked at the walls.

But something strange happened. On the wall, where paintings connected with the life of Al-Hazred had previously appeared, a charming image of a country dear to the heart of Ward Phillips appeared - but it was not located in reality, but in the distant past, in the good old time, when on the banks of the Seekonk he carefree played out scenes from ancient Greek myths in his childhood imagination. He again saw the green lawns of his childhood, the quiet river backwaters and the gazebo that he had once built in honor of the great god Pan - all the serene, happy time of his childhood appeared on these walls; the lamp returned to him his own memories. And the thought immediately came to him that the lamp, perhaps, had always resurrected in him the memory of the past - a memory passed on to him through his grandfather, great-grandfather and even more distant ancestors of Ward Phillips, who could once see the places that appeared in the light of the lamp .

And again it seemed to him that he was looking through the door. The picture beckoned him, and he, hobbling with difficulty, approached the wall.

He hesitated only a moment - and took the last step.

Until the day when some inquisitive admirer of his work came to the city for a visit, no one noticed the disappearance of Ward Phillips, and when they noticed, they decided that he had gone to wander through the surrounding forests, where he was overtaken by death - after all, the neighbors on Angel Street were well aware of his lifestyle, and his incurable illness was also no secret to anyone.

Several special search parties examined the area of Nentaconhont and the shores of the Seekonk, but no trace of Ward Phillips was found. The police believed that someday his remains would still be found. However, they were not found, and over time the unsolved mystery was buried in police and newspaper archives.

Translation: Y. Kukutsa.