Han svarede: "Ser vi en hundrede tusindedel af, hvad der eksisterer? Hør blot vinden, naturens største kraft, der blæser mennesker omkuld, vælter bygninger, rykker træer op med rode, pisker havet op i bølgebjerge, ødelægger klinter, og kaster store skibe op på blinde skær, vinden der dræber, suser, hyler, tuder - har De måske set den, kan De se den? Ikke desto mindre eksisterer den." Jeg tav over for denne simple argumentation. Manden var en vismand, eller måske en dumrian.

I could not put this book away when I first began reading it, and had to read it to end. It helps that it is a short story (novella), and that the Danish translation is excellent. I have a lot of thoughts about this book.

Firstly, one of the reasons I got this book was because I read it was a precursor to the stories of Arthur Machen and especially H.P. Lovecraft. I love those stories where the supernatural and the clinical, rational mind meet (a good movie version of this trope is The Exorcist, 1973. I have yet to read the book which the movie is based on). The protagonist is clearly depicted as a life-loving man, rational, and happy. And all of his encounters with »The Other« or »That Which Is Outside« is presented through his diary entries. He is clearly struggling to make sense of what is happening, and he even performs empirical experiments to understand what is going on. Just like the protagonist, the reader is constantly debating whether this man is simply mad from hallucinations, or has actually seen what he has seen and felt what he has so vividly journaled.

As a lover of Lovecraft's works, it also becomes obvious to me that his format must have been greatly inspired by »Horla«. The story was written just a few years before Lovecraft's birth. The style of the book is really a pre-digital version of the »found media« genre like Blair Witch. We're reading some old diary entries from a madman, and have to question, well, everything we know about human life and the world we inhabit. Either seek to understand it and risk falling into the same madness that tore down the author, or choose to dismiss the diary as an insane rambling. Madness or ignorance. Very Lovecraftian.

I have avoided summarizing the actual story, because I hate 'reviews' like that. The story is not more than two dozen pages. Go read it, if you care enough. I will end with the end, as I was extremely captivated as the protagonists possession (or his own delusions) drive him to finally get rid of his tormentor, by trapping this creature in his bedroom, and then burning down his own house. Only as his servants scream out in torment as they are burned alive, does he even remember that they exists. And as his house is destroyed in the flames, the feeling of being watched does not settle. A small doubt persists. What if »Horla« cannot be killed like you kill a human? What if »Horla« survived the fire? What if »Horla« will follow him forever? The solution, when dealing with a possesser who cannot be killed, is obviously to kill one self:

Nej ... nej ... der kan ikke være den mindste tvivl ... han er ikke død ... Altså .. altså ... er det mig selv, jeg bliver nødt til at slå ihjel! ...