Can't make sense of a paragraph from Lovecraft
I decided to start reading some work of Lovecraft, then I got stuck at the first paragraph I encountered:
The horrible conclusion which had been gradually obtruding itself upon my confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. I was lost, completely, hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recesses of the Mammoth Cave. Turn as I might, in no direction could my straining vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set me on the outward path. That nevermore should I behold the blessed light of day, or scan the pleasant hills and dales of the beautiful world outside, my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief. Hope had departed. Yet, indoctrinated as I was by a life of philosophical study, I derived no small measure of satisfaction from my unimpassioned demeanour; for although I had frequently read of the wild frenzies into which were thrown the victims of similar situations, I experienced none of these, but stood quiet as soon as I clearly realised the loss of my bearings.
I think I managed to understand each separate clauses, but the logical relationships among them get me really confused.
I have no idea why the author used "yet" "for" and "but" at the place where I marked them in boldface. I also don't know why he wrote "my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief", which means "my reason could not hold unbelif" if I'm not mistaken. Shouldn't he express something like "my reason could not hold belif"?
I'm feeling kind of frustrated now, could anyone help me figure it out?
Edit: Thanks to Greg Lee's answer now I get a sense of what the author want to convey. But I'm still not sure if I understand the exact function of these three words "yet" "for" and "but". Is this "yet" related to "indoctrinated ... demeanour" (the the sentence followed until semicolon) or "indoctrinated ... bearings" (the sentence followed until period)? Does this "for" stand for "beacause"? If so, I find this "because ... but ..." sentence struture really weird...
meaning-in-context conjunctions literature paragraphs
asked 1 hour ago
Censi LICensi LI
1358
add a comment |
I decided to start reading some work of Lovecraft, then I got stuck at the first paragraph I encountered:
The horrible conclusion which had been gradually obtruding itself upon my confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. I was lost, completely, hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recesses of the Mammoth Cave. Turn as I might, in no direction could my straining vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set me on the outward path. That nevermore should I behold the blessed light of day, or scan the pleasant hills and dales of the beautiful world outside, my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief. Hope had departed. Yet, indoctrinated as I was by a life of philosophical study, I derived no small measure of satisfaction from my unimpassioned demeanour; for although I had frequently read of the wild frenzies into which were thrown the victims of similar situations, I experienced none of these, but stood quiet as soon as I clearly realised the loss of my bearings.
I think I managed to understand each separate clauses, but the logical relationships among them get me really confused.
I have no idea why the author used "yet" "for" and "but" at the place where I marked them in boldface. I also don't know why he wrote "my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief", which means "my reason could not hold unbelif" if I'm not mistaken. Shouldn't he express something like "my reason could not hold belif"?
I'm feeling kind of frustrated now, could anyone help me figure it out?
Edit: Thanks to Greg Lee's answer now I get a sense of what the author want to convey. But I'm still not sure if I understand the exact function of these three words "yet" "for" and "but". Is this "yet" related to "indoctrinated ... demeanour" (the the sentence followed until semicolon) or "indoctrinated ... bearings" (the sentence followed until period)? Does this "for" stand for "beacause"? If so, I find this "because ... but ..." sentence struture really weird...
meaning-in-context conjunctions literature paragraphs
asked 1 hour ago
Censi LICensi LI
1358
My advice is to take it as a lesson learned, and seek more sane passages... pretty much anywhere. Lovecraftian characters are not, in my personal experience, more prone to insanity than Lovecraftian fans.
– Ed Grimm
33 mins ago
@EdGrimm Well, in fact I'm a Lovecraftian fan who have only read Lovecrafe in translation, and based on my personal experience, I have to agree with you...
– Censi LI
16 mins ago
add a comment |
I decided to start reading some work of Lovecraft, then I got stuck at the first paragraph I encountered:
The horrible conclusion which had been gradually obtruding itself upon my confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. I was lost, completely, hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recesses of the Mammoth Cave. Turn as I might, in no direction could my straining vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set me on the outward path. That nevermore should I behold the blessed light of day, or scan the pleasant hills and dales of the beautiful world outside, my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief. Hope had departed. Yet, indoctrinated as I was by a life of philosophical study, I derived no small measure of satisfaction from my unimpassioned demeanour; for although I had frequently read of the wild frenzies into which were thrown the victims of similar situations, I experienced none of these, but stood quiet as soon as I clearly realised the loss of my bearings.
I think I managed to understand each separate clauses, but the logical relationships among them get me really confused.
I have no idea why the author used "yet" "for" and "but" at the place where I marked them in boldface. I also don't know why he wrote "my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief", which means "my reason could not hold unbelif" if I'm not mistaken. Shouldn't he express something like "my reason could not hold belif"?
I'm feeling kind of frustrated now, could anyone help me figure it out?
Edit: Thanks to Greg Lee's answer now I get a sense of what the author want to convey. But I'm still not sure if I understand the exact function of these three words "yet" "for" and "but". Is this "yet" related to "indoctrinated ... demeanour" (the the sentence followed until semicolon) or "indoctrinated ... bearings" (the sentence followed until period)? Does this "for" stand for "beacause"? If so, I find this "because ... but ..." sentence struture really weird...
meaning-in-context conjunctions literature paragraphs
asked 1 hour ago
Censi LICensi LI
1358
I decided to start reading some work of Lovecraft, then I got stuck at the first paragraph I encountered:
The horrible conclusion which had been gradually obtruding itself upon my confused and reluctant mind was now an awful certainty. I was lost, completely, hopelessly lost in the vast and labyrinthine recesses of the Mammoth Cave. Turn as I might, in no direction could my straining vision seize on any object capable of serving as a guidepost to set me on the outward path. That nevermore should I behold the blessed light of day, or scan the pleasant hills and dales of the beautiful world outside, my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief. Hope had departed. Yet, indoctrinated as I was by a life of philosophical study, I derived no small measure of satisfaction from my unimpassioned demeanour; for although I had frequently read of the wild frenzies into which were thrown the victims of similar situations, I experienced none of these, but stood quiet as soon as I clearly realised the loss of my bearings.
I think I managed to understand each separate clauses, but the logical relationships among them get me really confused.
I have no idea why the author used "yet" "for" and "but" at the place where I marked them in boldface. I also don't know why he wrote "my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief", which means "my reason could not hold unbelif" if I'm not mistaken. Shouldn't he express something like "my reason could not hold belif"?
I'm feeling kind of frustrated now, could anyone help me figure it out?
Edit: Thanks to Greg Lee's answer now I get a sense of what the author want to convey. But I'm still not sure if I understand the exact function of these three words "yet" "for" and "but". Is this "yet" related to "indoctrinated ... demeanour" (the the sentence followed until semicolon) or "indoctrinated ... bearings" (the sentence followed until period)? Does this "for" stand for "beacause"? If so, I find this "because ... but ..." sentence struture really weird...
meaning-in-context conjunctions literature paragraphs
meaning-in-context conjunctions literature paragraphs
asked 1 hour ago
Censi LICensi LI
1358
asked 1 hour ago
Censi LICensi LI
1358
edited 3 mins ago
Censi LI
asked 1 hour ago
Censi LICensi LI
1358
asked 1 hour ago
Censi LICensi LI
1358
asked 1 hour ago
Censi LICensi LI
1358
1358
My advice is to take it as a lesson learned, and seek more sane passages... pretty much anywhere. Lovecraftian characters are not, in my personal experience, more prone to insanity than Lovecraftian fans.
– Ed Grimm
33 mins ago
@EdGrimm Well, in fact I'm a Lovecraftian fan who have only read Lovecrafe in translation, and based on my personal experience, I have to agree with you...
– Censi LI
16 mins ago
add a comment |
My advice is to take it as a lesson learned, and seek more sane passages... pretty much anywhere. Lovecraftian characters are not, in my personal experience, more prone to insanity than Lovecraftian fans.
– Ed Grimm
33 mins ago
@EdGrimm Well, in fact I'm a Lovecraftian fan who have only read Lovecrafe in translation, and based on my personal experience, I have to agree with you...
– Censi LI
16 mins ago
My advice is to take it as a lesson learned, and seek more sane passages... pretty much anywhere. Lovecraftian characters are not, in my personal experience, more prone to insanity than Lovecraftian fans.
– Ed Grimm
33 mins ago
My advice is to take it as a lesson learned, and seek more sane passages... pretty much anywhere. Lovecraftian characters are not, in my personal experience, more prone to insanity than Lovecraftian fans.
– Ed Grimm
33 mins ago
@EdGrimm Well, in fact I'm a Lovecraftian fan who have only read Lovecrafe in translation, and based on my personal experience, I have to agree with you...
– Censi LI
16 mins ago
@EdGrimm Well, in fact I'm a Lovecraftian fan who have only read Lovecrafe in translation, and based on my personal experience, I have to agree with you...
– Censi LI
16 mins ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
"my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief" means "I could no longer doubt". He was convinced that he would never again see the light of day. He goes on to say that he was pleased with himself that he could accept this terrible turn of events with equanimity.
The prose style is deliberately impenetrable.
answered 59 mins ago
Greg LeeGreg Lee
14.5k2931
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "97"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f489026%2fcant-make-sense-of-a-paragraph-from-lovecraft%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
"my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief" means "I could no longer doubt". He was convinced that he would never again see the light of day. He goes on to say that he was pleased with himself that he could accept this terrible turn of events with equanimity.
The prose style is deliberately impenetrable.
answered 59 mins ago
Greg LeeGreg Lee
14.5k2931
add a comment |
"my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief" means "I could no longer doubt". He was convinced that he would never again see the light of day. He goes on to say that he was pleased with himself that he could accept this terrible turn of events with equanimity.
The prose style is deliberately impenetrable.
answered 59 mins ago
Greg LeeGreg Lee
14.5k2931
add a comment |
"my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief" means "I could no longer doubt". He was convinced that he would never again see the light of day. He goes on to say that he was pleased with himself that he could accept this terrible turn of events with equanimity.
The prose style is deliberately impenetrable.
answered 59 mins ago
Greg LeeGreg Lee
14.5k2931
"my reason could no longer entertain the slightest unbelief" means "I could no longer doubt". He was convinced that he would never again see the light of day. He goes on to say that he was pleased with himself that he could accept this terrible turn of events with equanimity.
The prose style is deliberately impenetrable.
answered 59 mins ago
Greg LeeGreg Lee
14.5k2931
answered 59 mins ago
Greg LeeGreg Lee
14.5k2931
answered 59 mins ago
Greg LeeGreg Lee
14.5k2931
answered 59 mins ago
Greg LeeGreg Lee
14.5k2931
14.5k2931
add a comment |
add a comment |
Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f489026%2fcant-make-sense-of-a-paragraph-from-lovecraft%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
My advice is to take it as a lesson learned, and seek more sane passages... pretty much anywhere. Lovecraftian characters are not, in my personal experience, more prone to insanity than Lovecraftian fans.
– Ed Grimm
33 mins ago
@EdGrimm Well, in fact I'm a Lovecraftian fan who have only read Lovecrafe in translation, and based on my personal experience, I have to agree with you...
– Censi LI
16 mins ago