The Necronomicon Files: The Truth Behind the Legend: Amazon.co.uk: Daniel Harms, John Wisdom, III Gonce: Books

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The Necronomicon has become one of the most controversial books of the 20th century. Read the first page

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5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, 24 Nov 2005

By	"chris_lowe_369" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Necronomicon Files: The Truth Behind the Legend (Paperback)

The Necronomicon Files is one of the best books written about the Cthulhu Mythos in recent years.
It shows how a fictional book came to be considered real by some. It has one major weakness: it does not go into detail on how writers in the Cthulhu Mythos have used it since Lovecraft's day.

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3.0 out of 5 stars A book of contrasts, 8 Jan 2009

By	J. K. Barnett "asmodai" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Necronomicon Files: The Truth Behind the Legend (Paperback)

This book is both refreshingly good but also frighteningly poor. Its problems are due largely to the collaborative nature of the work and the variable quality of the writing. It sometimes feels like a disjointed collection of short essays on various subjects relating to Lovecraft and his most famous literary device 'The Neronomicon'. The books grand themes could be split into two areas of interest: Lovecraft and his literary works and the Necronomicon as an occult phenomenon. As a brief aside, the notion of seriously attempting to argue the truth or fallacy behind this legendary grimoire is simply a non starter for anybody with a modicum of intelligence.

Daniel Harms is a very capable writer and he both opens and closes this book well. His sections provide some interesting background on Lovecraft, his literary influences and the origins of The Necronomicon. John Gonce, on the other hand, is only ever saved when the content under his inept pen has some inherent interest. Sadly he deals with some of the more intriguing topics in the book such as the historical provenance for parts of the Necronomicon and the place it has in modern magickal practice. But these sections do provide a wealth of useful references that the discerning reader can subsequently follow up with further reading.

The writing in the Necronomicon Files has a habit of degenerating into simple enumerations of the Necronomicon in various contexts. For example, the sections relating the books many appearances in film and television is painful in its detail and only helps to trivialise the rest of the work. Isn't the dissemination of trivia what Wikipedia is for? However, the detailed discussion of the many published versions of the Necronomicon is a far more interesting list which includes the two most famous offerings from Hay & Wilson et al and the infamous 'Simon' book. This section again provides a nice platform from which you can explore these works for yourself in greater detail. I personally think the Hay book is a work of great intelligence.

THEN we reach what is the real point of this entire exercise - subjecting the Simon Necronomicon to an extensive and often unjust level of vitriolic criticism. Suddenly, all of those seemingly disparate elements snap loudly into place and your are left reading the remaining chapters with something approaching indigestion. Indeed, you will physically gasp as Gonce compares his subsequent treatment by Simon `believers' to that suffered by Salman Rushdie on publishing The Satanic Verses. Then you may simply despair as you realise that Gonce is in fact more akin to those religious hardliners who promoted the persecution of that author.

Sadly, John Wisdom Gonce is the biggest problem throughout this book, and unfortunately he has the lion's share of its content. His words are simply not fit to be in print. His biography uses terms such as 'expert' and 'authority' but his writing is often callow and far too familiar. I can only assume that his rather amusing nomen is one of his own deluded making, as he shows virtually nothing of the true erudite. He is far too close an approximation of those ranting, evangelical, theological conservatives that he so likes to pour scorn on to even come close to enlightenment.

If you only read the opening and concluding chapters by Harms and then simply use the bibliography as a reference to other works, then you will pretty much get the beating heart of this book. It is just a shame that the most interesting and recondite topics could not have been dealt with by a more capable and sympathetic author.

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