cje@elbereth.rutgers.edu (Cthulhu's Jersey Epopt) (11/29/89)
In article <1989Nov25.225355.11761@athena.mit.edu> cordelia@athena.mit.edu (Graywing) [Andy Ellis] writes: > A couple of questions for the more knowledgeable: ... > d> know of the truth of the former existance of _Al Azif_? Are you asking if the *Al Azif* ever existed? If so, the answer is no. Lovecraft invented it out of whole cloth. (For those not "in the know", *Al Azif* is, in H. P. Lovecraft's stories, an Arabic work of "demonology" which was later translated into the Greek "Necronomicon". "Al Azif" is supposed to refer to a buzzing sound made by certain nocturnal insects, a sound which was popularly regarded as being the howling of demons.) Did HPL base *Al Azif*/*Necronomicon* on a real text? Possible, but doubtful. Lovecraft never demonstrated any serious interest in the occult or in ancient occult texts; he just used them as fodder for various stories. It's unlikely that he would have seen some fabulously rare text -- he wasn't that serious a scholar. -- Yog-Sothoth Neblod Zin, Chris Jarocha-Ernst UUCP: {ames, att, harvard, moss, seismo}!rutgers!elbereth.rutgers.edu!cje ARPA: JAROCHAERNST@CANCER.RUTGERS.EDU CCIS, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08855-0879