Indeed, if we were to set the adventures of X in a Classical Grecian Underworld, like the final labour of Hercules in Hades, the similarities would be apparent. Hodgson's Hero is a classical Homeric Hero - a man of strength and courage who sets out to fight and defeat many monsters. Taking the Greek element first, the basic plot of The Night Land is that of an individual on an heroic romantic quest.

One element points to Classical Greek influence, the other to that of Hebraic Biblical literature. The clues lie within the diction and prose constructs of the novel itself, particularly the use of the word 'diskos', and the repetition of sentence construction 'And. Nothing in literature occurs without a reason, and so we must first take a peek behind the magician's curtain and attempt to reconstruct Hodgson's thinking when he decided to express his vision of the far future in this particular style. In order to answer this, a closer analysis of The Night Land writing style must be undertaken. Yet we must ask the question: should the much-maligned style of The Night Land be dismissed so readily? The fact that so many have overcome this seeming barrier, to appreciate the story and imagination of the novel - to quote Lovecraft again, 'it is yet one of the most potent pieces of macabre imagination ever written' - proves the power of Hodgson's work. Just as Night Land Virgins are advised to skip Chapter One (see my essay ' In Defence of Chapter 1' on this site), they have to adapt their reading to the particular writing style of The Night Land. Lovecraft pulls no punches, condemning the novel as 'seriously marred by painful verboseness, repetitiousness. Lovecraft, who states the narrative is 'told in a rather clumsy fashion'. The diction and linguistic techniques employed by William Hope Hodgson in writing the Night Land have been much criticised even by such luminaries as H. What can be said in defence of Hodgson's style? The Word Current An Apology for the Linguistic Architecture of The Night Land by Nigel Brown

The night land hodgson