| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Dunwich Horror by H. P. Lovecraft: aloud at what sprawled before them among disordered tables and
overturned chairs. Professor Rice declares that he wholly lost
consciousness for an instant, though he did not stumble or fall.
The thing that lay half-bent on its side in a foetid pool of
greenish-yellow ichor and tarry stickiness was almost nine feet
tall, and the dog had torn off all the clothing and some of the
skin. It was not quite dead, but twitched silently and spasmodically
while its chest heaved in monstrous unison with the mad piping
of the expectant whippoorwills outside. Bits of shoe-leather and
fragments of apparel were scattered about the room, and just inside
the window an empty canvas sack lay where it had evidently been
The Dunwich Horror |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Dawn O'Hara, The Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber: more cheerful, yes? Tell me, how grows the book?"
"By inches. After working all day on a bulletin
paper whose city editor is constantly shouting: `Boil it
now, fellows! Keep it down! We're crowded!' it is too
much of a wrench to find myself seated calmly before my
own typewriter at night, privileged to write one hundred
thousand words if I choose. I can't get over the habit of
crowding the story all into the first paragraph. Whenever
I flower into a descriptive passage I glance nervously
over my shoulder, expecting to find Norberg stationed
behind me, scissors and blue pencil in hand.
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: some mistake. How could Crashaw be in Mrs. Beaumont's house at
two o'clock in the morning? Surely, surely, you must have been
dreaming, Villiers; you were always rather fanciful."
"No; I was wide awake enough. Even if I had been
dreaming as you say, what I saw would have roused me
effectually."
"What you saw? What did you see? Was there anything
strange about Crashaw? But I can't believe it; it is
impossible."
"Well, if you like I will tell you what I saw, or if
you please, what I think I saw, and you can judge for yourself."
The Great God Pan |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: The Parsee, leading the others, noiselessly crept through the wood,
and in ten minutes they found themselves on the banks of a small stream,
whence, by the light of the rosin torches, they perceived a pyre of wood,
on the top of which lay the embalmed body of the rajah, which was to be
burned with his wife. The pagoda, whose minarets loomed above the trees
in the deepening dusk, stood a hundred steps away.
"Come!" whispered the guide.
He slipped more cautiously than ever through the brush,
followed by his companions; the silence around was only broken
by the low murmuring of the wind among the branches.
Soon the Parsee stopped on the borders of the glade, which was lit up
Around the World in 80 Days |
