Beyond the Wall of Sleep is a collection of fantasy, horror and science fiction short stories, poems and essays by American author H. P. Lovecraft. It was released in 1943 and was the second collection of Lovecraft's work published by Arkham House. 1,217 copies were printed. The volume is named for the Lovecraft short story "Beyond the Wall of Sleep". The stories for this volume were selected by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei. The dust jacket art was a collage of photographs of sculptures by Clark Ashton Smith.

Contents

Beyond the Wall of Sleep contains these texts. Items 1-4, 100, and 101 are essays; 5-8 and 34-99 are poems; while 9-33 are stories. Although the story and poetry selections have appeared in other Lovecraft collections, Beyond the Wall of Sleep has never been reprinted in its original form.

Influenced

'Beyond the Wall of Sleep' is a song on the debut album of the influential Heavy Metal band Black Sabbath.

Reception

New York Times reviewer William Poster noted that this second Lovecraft collection comprised mostly the author's "lesser writings," faulting in particular his poems and prose poems, which "tend to reveal his weaknesses rather than reveal his stature. Without the coloring excitement of narrative suspense and climax his language seems thin and obvious, getting most of its effects by the hypnotic repetition or judicious timing of adjectives like 'slimy,' 'nameless,' or 'loathsome.'" E. F. Bleiler described Beyond as "really an afterthought volume", commenting that "The fiction is almost all minor, although The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, despite its being strangely tired and routine, has interesting concepts and good moments".

Sources