"I have examined maps of the city with the greatest care, yet have never again found the Rue d’Auseil. These maps have not been modern maps alone, for I know that names change. I have, on the contrary, delved deeply into all the antiquities of the place, and have personally explored every region, of whatever name, which could possibly answer to the street I knew as the Rue d’Auseil. But despite all I have done, it remains an humiliating fact that I cannot find the house, the street, or even the locality, where, during the last months of my impoverished life as a student of metaphysics at the university, I heard the music of Erich Zann."
- H.P. Lovecraft, "The Music of Erich Zann"
Keith Sutton brings us this very cool marker for the Paris street where Erich Zann's unfortunate end played out. It's a wonderfully subtle prop that unobtrusively draws upon a major plot point from the story.
I think the Rue d'Auseil is just down from the Rue Morgue. Lovecraft wisely never said that the city was in Paris; that is part of his craft of insinuation and ambiguity in horror writing.
ReplyDeleteNeat! I have a special interest in this right now because I'm trying to do an Erich Zann sculpt.
ReplyDeleteIn France, impossible to have :
ReplyDeleteRUE d'AUSEIL
It must be: RUE D'AUSEIL
I am French and born in Paris.
Born in Paris too there is no rue d'Auseil or d'Auseuil (not even in the past I have verified - which is a pure invention of Lovecraft.
ReplyDeletePossible street name could be the rue d'Auteuil (16th district of Paris >>>> http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rue_d%27Auteuil)which actually exists and created in 1860 and perhaps HPL made a mistake writting it
Robert
Since the whole point is that he can't find the street on any map, I don't think it's likely that Lovecraft meant to use an actual street.
ReplyDelete