Donald Tyson, Necronomicon: the Wanderings of Alhazred. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 2004. ISBN: 0738706272.
Abdul Alhazred, the "Mad Arab," is the alleged original author of the book. The book is a bit of magical grimoire and travelogue. The book is arranged into 58 short chapters covering topics ranging from a history of the Elder Gods to various places and customs to how to do certain spells. It may be fiction, but the book feels like it could be a real work.
If you've read ancient travelogues and histories, such as Herodotus' Histories, this will feel a bit familiar in terms of the feel, style, and stories. The book tells Alhazred's travels in his own words. As he travels, he makes notes on places, traditions, and peoples he observes. He does not tell all secrets; at times, he only provides hints on certain topics.
The book is interesting, but it does read a bit like a textbook. The text can be a little dry at times, and yet it draws you into the world it weaves. The short chapters make reading it a bit easier. You can pick up the book, read a bit here and a bit there, and eventually you get it done. The work is imaginative, and you can often visualize the settings described.
Overall I liked the book. One reason is I enjoy reading histories and pseudohistories, so it fits that category. Another reason is the imaginative setting and magic. You may know it's fiction, but as you read it you may wonder if it really is fiction or not. Tyson does pretty well in bringing Lovecraft's vision to life.
On a final notes, this book is part of a series of Necronomicon works by Tyson. After this book, he also wrote Alhazred, a novelization of the "Mad Arab's" life, and he created a Necronomicon Tarot deck with art by Anne Stokes. Part of the reason I read this was in preparation to work with the Tarot deck. The deck kit does come with a good guide book, so I don't think, having read this book, you need to read it to work with the deck. However, I feel it may enhance your experience with the deck. I do feel overall that having familiarity with Lovecraft's original works can be helpful, but this book does stand on its own.
In the end, I really liked it. If you are a fan of Lovecraft and/or the Cthulhu mythos, you may like this book too.
4 out of 5 stars.
Additional reading notes:
On knowledge, from Olaus Wormius' prefatory note to the book:
"Only this much I will say: that knowledge once lost is lost forever, and who may judge that one teaching shall be useful in time of need, and another shall bear no value to men forevermore? May there not come a time when secret knowledge is sorely needed to fight the armies of darkness. Yet if all the books that teach it are burned, let men search in vain for the instrument of their salvation" (xiii-xiv).
That is the kind of statement a Blood Ravens Librarian might say. Also, a nice argument against banning books and censorship.
Again, on the importance of knowledge:
"Nor is it possible to dwell in the wasteland without learning its ways, for knowledge is rewarded but ignorance severely punished, and those who survive instruction become wise" (11).
Truth is not always to be spoken:
"Read it and be wise, yet in your wisdom seal your lips to the ears of other men, for to speak it before fools is to court death at their hands. Many truths are known that are not to be spoken, and many truths have been lost to the silence of ages" (66).
On the cycle of creation and destruction:
"There can be no creation without destruction, and no destruction without creation; to unmake a thing is to make something else, and each time a thing is made, something is destroyed" (94).
In Tarot, this can be one of the lessons of The Tower-XVI card. This is also a lesson I learned and considered in working with the Kali Oracle.
Two chapters that I found interesting, in part of their appeal to a librarian:
- "The Uncanny Ways of Cats and their Cult."
- "The Book Markets of Alexandria."
This book qualifies for the following 2024 Reading Challenge:
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