Dwellers in the Mirage

This pulp fiction adventure story was first published in 1932. It is surprisingly free from the prejudiced attitudes to women and ethnic minorities seen in other such fiction, although I did find it a bit irritating that the protagonist often refers to his best friend Jim, who is Cherokee, as "Indian" which seemed racist compared to Jim's nickname for him as "old timer". However, they are close friends as is shown in the story so I made allowances for the period in which this was written.

Leif, who has Nordic heritage, and Jim are travelling in a remote area of Alaska where they are meant to be looking for gold, at some time after WWI (where they served together after meeting at University). After they hear mysterious drums, Leif show more eventually unburdens to Jim and tells him of his experiences when he was working as an engineer in the Gobi Desert. He got on very well with the Mongolian tribes and found that his natural gift for languages enabled him to communicate with them easily (and refreshingly there is not the kind of description of such people that would have been found in the work of contemporaries of Merritt's such as H P Lovecraft). When his team moved north they came into contact with a strange tribe who usually kept themselves to themselves, but who showed an instant proprietary interest in Leif and taught him their language. They then showed up in force and Leif told his employer and colleagues to let them take him as he realised there would be a bloodbath otherwise - and to instantly depart south to the area of the friendly tribes leaving him to extricate himself.

The experiences which followed have haunted Leif since and now he senses that he is about to be drawn into the ambit of the Lovecraftesque being which is worshipped by the mysterious tribe. I won't say more about the plot other than it in some ways draws on the romantic tradition of the lost peoples living in their own mini paradise - Shangri La and the like - which were popular in fiction of the late Victorian period, popularised by writers such as H. Rider Haggard. On the whole, the various ethnic characters and women are treated with respect although Leif's romantic interest Evalie is a bit of a non character.

I found this a bit slow in the middle but it did pick up and on the whole is an entertaining adventure romp with a bit of philosophy regarding whether reincarnation exists or an ancestral memory. It wasn't a keeper, but was a workmanlike read and I am giving it a 3-star rating. show less

Abraham Merritt was a better writer than Robert E. Howard, but that is a low bar. It is of the "Lost Race" and "Demonic Possession " memes. I recall this story as a fun time waster.

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C'est l'histoire d'un homme, contemporain de l'auteur, qui se retrouve dans la peau d'un antique chef de tribu (réincarné ? hypnotisé ?) et qui doit faire face à une créature provenant d'ailleurs au fond d'une vallée perdue.
Considéré un écrivain précurseur de Lovecraft, moins horrible que lui dans ce livre-ci donc plus plausible (enfin, façon de parler) et donc plus effrayant (il m'est arrivé d'éclater de rire en lisant certains livres de Lovecraft, tellement c'était énorme), j'ai beaucoup aimé.

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Merritt-Les-habitants-du-mirage/43726