The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath: (Annotated Edition)

The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is an adventure of the spirit. In it, the veteran dream-quester Randolph Carter travels through colorful domains in which some but not all the physical laws of everyday life apply. He sails on a ship to the Moon, then rides back with a host of cats who leap from the Moon to Earth. While in the Dream World, Carter has a physical presence even though he is dreaming because he is in a physically real dimension of spirits. In fact, the living may physically enter the Dream World through graves and other areas of the dead. Therefore, the Dream World is accessible through the subconscious mind when the conscious mind sleeps, through death, through traveling through the realms of the dead, such as graveyards, and through gates opened by the Elder Gods. The premise of the novel is that the human spirit is a physical reality. This means that all human beings carry part of the Dream World with them, and like Carter, they may also take trips through the Dream World. Ultimately, this means that The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a journey through the human imagination, which can conjure up the dark Nyarlathotep or color an everyday scene with golden light.