The Colour Out of Space
|
|
"The Colour Out of Space" is a short story written by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Initially published in Amazing Stories in 1927, it became one of his most anthologized works.
"Colour" is a narrative written from the viewpoint of a surveyor from the fictional Lovecraftian city of Arkham. While researching the area, he speaks to an old hermit about the "blasted heath", a mysterious patch of land where no terrestrial life is able to flourish.
The hermit tells a horrific tale that occurred during the late 1800s - a meteorite crashed into the farm of the former owner of the dead land. Its metal and an inclusion within it contain a substance with unknown spectral bands and an indescribable colour, that proves toxic and mutagenic. While scientists were never able to tell what (or who) that meteor contained, its effects are undeniable - the entire family that lived in the vicinity was struck by insanity, illness, and worse as the land was slowly drained of life.
Significance
Lovecraft considered this to be the best of all his stories. One possible explanation is that some personal viewpoints are summed up in it. As detailed by biographer L. Sprague de Camp, Lovecraft was disgusted by the popular portrayal of aliens by science fiction writers of his time, primarily because they seemed so human.
In "Colour", the alien presence is unknowable, not just to the characters, but to the reader as well. If this lifeform has any motives, goals, background, etc., they are never revealed. In fact, it is never definitively established that the alien lifeform even possesses intelligence.