Many readers are maddened by the florid language of The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, in which there is no such thing as an ordinary mountain; it must be a "fabulous unvisited mountain." The novel is populated by "spice-fragrant wharves" and "toadlike lunar blasphemies." On the other hand, the language is sometimes evocative of mystery and setting, as in "those carven sentinel mountains that squat eternally in the grey dusk." Scholars point out that the novel is only a first draft that was set aside by Lovecraft, accounting for the awkward language and obscure plot that for some mars the narrative. In spite of such complaints, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath fascinates with its evocation of a dream world in which the physical laws are governed by the imagination, and the wandering plot represents the wandering nature of dreams.

One common complaint about dream-fiction is that it spoils the...