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"Celephaïs"
Short story by H. P. Lovecraft
First page of the manuscript Celephaïs
Text available at Wikisource
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Publication
Published inRainbow
Publication typePeriodical
Media typePrint (magazine)
Publication dateMay 1922

"Celephaïs" (/ˈsɛləfeɪs/) is a fantasy story by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft, written in early November 1920 and first published in the May 1922 issue of the Rainbow. It is part of the body of work which later came to be known as Lovecraft's Dream Cycle. The title refers to a fictional city that later appears in other Dream Cycle stories, including Lovecraft's novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926).

Plot

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Celephaïs was created in a dream by Kuranes (which is his name in dreams—his real name is not given) as a child, of the English landed gentry. Then as a man in his forties, alone and dispossessed in contemporary London, he dreams it again and, seeking it, slowly slips away to the dream-world. Finally knights guide him through medieval England to his ancestral estate, where he spent his boyhood, and then to Celephaïs. He became the king and chief god of the city, though his body washes up by his ancestors' tower, now owned by a parvenu.

In The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, Randolph Carter pays a visit to Kuranes, finding that the great dreamer has grown so homesick for his native Cornwall, he has dreamed parts of Celephaïs to resemble the land of his boyhood. Kuranes advises Carter, on a mission to find his own dream-city, to be careful what he wishes for—he might get it.

Inspiration

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Like many of Lovecraft's stories, "Celephaïs" was inspired by a dream, recorded in his commonplace book as "Dream of flying over city."[1]

The story resembles a tale by Lord Dunsany, The Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap in The Book of Wonder, in which the title character becomes more and more engrossed in his imaginary kingdom of Larkar until he begins to neglect business and routine tasks of daily living, and ultimately is placed in a madhouse. The imagery of the horses drifting off the cliff may derive from Ambrose Bierce's A Horseman in the Sky (1891).[2]

The fictional village of Innsmouth in New England is said to be based on the fishing town of Fleetwood, Lancashire which bears an uncanny resemblance to the description of the village in the later Shadow Over Innsmouth and its inhabitants.

The city

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In the original short story, Celephaïs is described as being situated in the valley of Ooth-Nargai beside the Cerenerian Sea. Its most remarkable feature is that it is unaffected by the passage of time, and takes no decay or wear, so that a person may leave it and return many years later to find that nothing has changed.

Important landmarks in Celephaïs are the turquoise temple of Nath-Horthath and the Street of Pillars. Nearby rises snow-capped Mount Aran, whose lower slopes are replete with ginkgo trees. Galleys from the port of Celephaïs go everywhere in the Dreamlands, but especially to the cloud-kingdom Serannian, reaching its harbor by sailing into the sky where the Cerenerian Sea meets the horizon.

References

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Sources

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  • Joshi, S. T.; David E. Schultz (2001). An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-31578-7.
  • Lovecraft, Howard P.
    • [1934] S. T. Joshi, ed. (1987). "Celephaïs". Dagon and Other Macabre Tales (9th corrected printing ed.). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-87054-039-4. Definitive version.
    • [1926] S. T. Joshi, ed. (1985). "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath". At the Mountains of Madness, and Other Novels (7th corrected printing ed.). Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-87054-038-6. Definitive version.
[edit]
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Celephaïs

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from Grokipedia
Celephaïs is a fictional city located in the Dreamlands, a dream-realm in the works of American author H. P. Lovecraft, first appearing as the title of his short story published in The Rainbow in May 1922. In the narrative, Celephaïs is conjured into existence by the protagonist Kuranes, a weary dreamer who escapes the banalities of earthly life by crafting this idyllic haven in his subconscious. Situated in the lush valley of Ooth-Nargai beyond the Tanarian Hills, beside the Cerenerian Sea, the city features glittering minarets, marble walls, a blue harbor filled with graceful galleys, and the turquoise temple of Nath-Horthath with its onyx pavements and bronze gates. The story "Celephaïs," written in early November 1920, explores themes of escapism and the blurred boundaries between reality and reverie through Kuranes' journey. As Kuranes delves deeper into his dreams, he discovers Celephaïs during a hallucinatory voyage at sea, where the city's knights eventually abduct him from the waking world, allowing him to rule eternally as its divine sovereign. This tale marks an early entry in Lovecraft's Dream Cycle, a series of interconnected fantasies influenced by Lord Dunsany's style, emphasizing wondrous yet melancholic dreamscapes over cosmic horror. Celephaïs recurs in later Dream Cycle works, such as the novella The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926–1927), where it serves as a key location visited by protagonist Randolph Carter in his quest for the sunlit city of his visions. The city's enduring presence underscores Lovecraft's fascination with constructed realities and the human yearning for transcendence, elements that distinguish the Dreamlands from his more infamous Cthulhu Mythos.

Publication and Background

Writing and Composition

H.P. Lovecraft composed "Celephaïs" in early November 1920 while residing in , during a period of ongoing financial hardship following the institutionalization of his mother in 1919, as he relied on low-paying jobs such as manuscript revisions and astronomical computations for income. The story emerged as part of Lovecraft's early phase of dream-inspired fantasy writing, directly influenced by his recent discovery of Lord Dunsany's works, particularly (1905), which had captivated him since 1919 and prompted a shift toward ornate, oneiric prose in his fiction. The manuscript spans approximately 2,550 words, reflecting the concise yet evocative style Lovecraft adopted in this period. Biographical elements shaped the draft profoundly, including Lovecraft's fond recollections of vivid childhood dreams that provided escape from reality, as well as his deepening aversion to the alienating forces of modern urban expansion encroaching on his cherished heritage. These personal motifs subtly inform the narrative's exploration of dream realms as refuges from worldly disillusionment.

Initial Publication and Reception

"Celephaïs" was first published in the May 1922 issue (Volume II, Number 2) of the amateur journalism magazine , edited by Sonia H. Greene. This publication was part of the broader amateur press movement, distributed to members of the United Amateur Press Association (UAPA) and the National Amateur Press Association, reflecting Lovecraft's active involvement in these circles since joining the UAPA in 1914. The issue also featured contributions from Lovecraft's associates, underscoring the collaborative nature of amateur journalism at the time. Due to the non-commercial, enthusiast-driven format of The Rainbow, the story's initial circulation was severely limited, likely to around 50 copies given the modest print run and production costs for such a 20-page journal. Lovecraft received no monetary compensation for his contribution, consistent with the unpaid, passion-fueled ethos of amateur publications. While the story garnered no widespread commercial attention, it achieved modest visibility within Lovecraft's network of correspondents and fellow amateurs, who appreciated its ethereal, dreamlike quality reminiscent of Lord Dunsany's fantasies— an influence Lovecraft openly admired and emulated in his early 1920s work. Broader exposure remained negligible during Lovecraft's lifetime until its reprinting in the May 1934 issue of the semi-professional Marvel Tales, which introduced the tale to a slightly larger readership of enthusiasts. However, contemporary reviews or public discourse on "Celephaïs" were scarce, with the story's impact confined primarily to private letters and discussions among Lovecraft's intimate circle, where it was valued for its poetic evocation of otherworldly realms.

Narrative Content

Plot Summary

Kuranes, a once-prosperous English aristocrat now living in poverty and isolation in , turns to to recapture the vivid dreams of his youth, particularly a recurring vision of the ancient city of Celephaïs nestled in the Valley of Ooth-Nargai beyond the Tanarian Hills. In his first significant adult dream, he wanders from his ivy-covered childhood home through a quiet village and steps over a precipice into a colorful abyss, briefly glimpsing the marble-walled city, its golden minarets, and the turquoise-roofed temple of Nath-Horthath rising above the Cerenerian Sea before awakening. Three nights later, aided by , Kuranes dreams his way back to the dreamlands, descending into Celephaïs and wandering its fragrant streets, where no time passes and the inhabitants enjoy perpetual youth, as the city was created by Kuranes himself in his dreams. He visits the temple of Nath-Horthath, where orchid-crowned priests tell him of the city's timeless wonders, then hires the captain Athib to sail toward the distant cloud-city of Serannian, but awakens just as its pink minarets appear on the horizon. Subsequent dreams elude the precise return to Celephaïs; over months, his opium-fueled wanderings take him through other dream realms, including the shadowed Plateau of Leng, from which he barely escapes the pursuit of a robed high-priest. In the waking world, Kuranes's addiction deepens as his funds dwindle; evicted from his garret, he drifts through London's streets before traveling to and taking refuge in the abandoned Trevor Towers on the cliffs above the sea. One final night, under the influence of hashish, a cortege of knights from Celephaïs arrives on roan steeds to escort Kuranes across the golden abyss to the city, where he assumes eternal rule as its sovereign, holding court alternately in Celephaïs and the cloud city of Serannian. In reality, below the cliffs at Innsmouth, the channel tides played mockingly with what was recognized as the body of a tramp from the city, casting it decayed and battered upon the rocks by ivy-covered Trevor Towers. Kuranes reigned thereafter over Ooth-Nargai and the neighboring regions of dream.

Characters

The protagonist of Celephaïs is Kuranes, a dreamer whose real name is never revealed in the story, underscoring his dual existence between the and his dream-realm. He is depicted as the last surviving member of a once-wealthy English family, now impoverished and isolated in a dingy garret, where he turns to and reverie to escape the banalities of modern life. Through his dreams, Kuranes creates and ultimately rules as the sovereign of the fantastical city of Celephaïs, embodying a longing for an idealized, eternal beauty that contrasts sharply with his waking disillusionment. His arc culminates in him becoming the dream-king, unable to return to the physical . Supporting characters include Athib, the unchanging captain of a that ferries dreamers across the Cerenerian Sea to distant realms like Serannian, seated eternally on a chest of spices, oblivious to the passage of earthly time during Kuranes' voyages. Another notable figure is a high-priest not to be described, which wears a silken over its face and dwells all alone in a prehistoric stone on the cold desert Plateau of Leng. The story also features a cortege of handsome knights on roan steeds, clad in shining armor and tabards of cloth-of-gold, who escort Kuranes upon his return to the city as its ruler.

Setting

The titular Celephaïs is a radiant, imaginary city constructed in Kuranes' dreams, situated in the lush Valley of Ooth-Nargai beyond the Tanarian Hills, where time holds no sway and perpetual youth prevails. Its architecture features glittering minarets, a blue harbor filled with graceful galleys, and gingko trees swaying on nearby Mount Aran, all overlooked by a snow-capped peak and bordered by the sea. Access to this dreamscape occurs through ethereal portals, such as a silent abyss near a forgotten Cornish village or rifts in the darkness that open to its vistas. Within Ooth-Nargai, the River Naraxa bubbles gently, spanned by a small wooden bridge where Kuranes once carved his name in a childhood reverie. The Cerenerian Sea, a billowy expanse that merges with the sky, serves as a gateway to floating cities like Serannian, sailed by painted galleys under Athib's command. These fantastical locales starkly oppose the grim realities of Kuranes' waking life: the decaying ivy-covered stone house of his ancestors in rural , evoking lost heritage, and the indifferent, smog-choked slums of , where and modernity erode any .

Literary Analysis

Inspirations and Influences

Celephaïs draws its primary literary influence from the fantasy works of (Edward Plunkett), particularly his Pegāna mythology and dream fantasies, which Lovecraft encountered in late 1919. Following a lecture by Dunsany in on October 19, 1919, Lovecraft expressed profound admiration in his correspondence, describing the event in detail and praising Dunsany's poetic diction and imaginative scope. This discovery initiated Lovecraft's "Dunsanian period" from 1919 to 1921, a phase characterized by ornate, dream-infused narratives that marked a departure from his earlier material. The story's style and content reflect Dunsany's (1905), with its biblical cadences and invented cosmologies shaping Celephaïs's elaborate prose, fantastical geographies like the city of Celephaïs, and ethereal dream-realm framework. Similarly, echoes of Dunsany's A Dreamer's Tales (1910) appear in the narrative's melancholic, wistful tone, evoking a longing for otherworldly beauty amid transience. Lovecraft's involvement in amateur journalism further informed the archaic language of Celephaïs, as his essays and contributions to outlets like the United Amateur Press Association advocated for an 18th-century literary mode, eschewing contemporary slang in favor of formal, period-inflected expression. Composed in 1920 shortly after The White Ship, Celephaïs emerged during Lovecraft's post-World War I disillusionment, embodying his broader aversion to modern industrial society as a means of psychological retreat. In this context, the tale's dream served as a deliberate to the era's upheavals, aligning with Lovecraft's sentiment that “life has never interested me so much as the escape from life.”

Themes and Motifs

One of the central themes in Celephaïs is through dreams as a refuge from the mundanity and hardships of , exemplified by the protagonist's preference for imaginative pursuits over societal norms. This theme underscores the allure of dream worlds as spaces of unbridled and , yet it also reveals the perilous consequences of such withdrawal, culminating in the ultimate sacrifice of one's real-world existence for an illusory eternity. Recurring motifs highlight the stark contrast between the idyllic, eternal qualities of the dreamlands—filled with radiant and timeless wonder—and the decaying, impoverished aspects of , marked by and inevitable . Nostalgia for lost permeates the narrative, often evoked through symbols of childhood summers that represent fleeting moments of pure enchantment amid adult disillusionment. Additionally, subtle horror emerges in elements like the dream-knight's grotesqueness, where seemingly noble figures lead into chaotic voids, foreshadowing a broader cosmic indifference that renders endeavors insignificant. Philosophically, the story explores the dissolution of identity, as the protagonist's spirit increasingly diverges from his physical body, adopting a dream that erodes his recollection of his original self. This ties into the futility of human attempts to control subconscious realms, portraying dreams as autonomous and unpredictable forces that ultimately overpower the dreamer's will, emphasizing the limits of personal agency in the face of vast, indifferent otherworlds.

Legacy and Adaptations

Connections to Lovecraft's Mythos

"Celephaïs" forms a key component of H.P. Lovecraft's , a series of interconnected tales exploring dream realms as tangible alternate realities accessible through the . In this story, the Kuranes discovers and rules the titular city within the Dreamlands, establishing foundational elements of this cosmology that recur across the Cycle. The narrative directly ties into "" (1926–1927), where Kuranes reemerges as the king of Celephaïs, ruling over the region of Ooth-Nargai. Shared geography reinforces this linkage, with Celephaïs situated in the valley of Ooth-Nargai beside the Cerenerian Sea, locations Kuranes traverses in both works, underscoring the expansive Dreamlands map. This introduces a dream portal motif later expanded in "" (1926), where access to these realms via artifacts like the titular key builds on Celephaïs's opium-induced transitions. As an early entry, "Celephaïs" bridges Lovecraft's pure fantasy phase toward cosmic horror, influencing subsequent tales by portraying dreams as gateways to indifferent, vast realities inhabited by outer gods like , thus laying groundwork for the Mythos's alternate dimensions.

Adaptations and Cultural Impact

One notable adaptation of "Celephaïs" is the 2012 comic book version by artist Jason Thompson, included in his graphic novel The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath and Other Stories published by Mock Man Press, which visualizes the story's dream sequences in a manga-influenced style characterized by intricate linework and atmospheric shading. This 14-page segment captures the ethereal quality of Lovecraft's dreamlands through dynamic paneling and detailed depictions of the fantastical city, emphasizing its opulent yet haunting architecture. In other media, Celephaïs features as a recurring dreamland location in Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu role-playing game, first introduced in the 1986 supplement H.P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands and expanded in subsequent editions starting from the game's 1981 launch, where it serves as a vibrant port city for player characters exploring the 's realms. A adaptation directed by Michael Neel was produced in 2023, featuring Tony Todd in one of his final roles, and released on Blu-ray in 2025. In 2025, Japanese Gou Tanabe published an of "Celephaïs" alongside other stories. The cultural impact of "Celephaïs" extends to its influence on centered on dream worlds, with notable echoes in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series (1989–1996), which draws inspiration from Lovecraft's in constructing its narrative universe of sleep and imagination. Academic analyses underscore the story's significance in Lovecraft's stylistic development, positioning it as a bridge from Lord Dunsany-inspired fantasy to the cosmic unease of through its exploration of escapist reverie tainted by existential dread. Among enthusiasts, the narrative's melancholic tone—evoking irreversible loss and the fragility of idealized escape—remains a focal point of discussion in Lovecraft scholarship and dedicated reader communities, highlighting its emotional resonance beyond horror conventions.
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