He

 My reading (a first draft, I will re-record this as an audio when my throat has recovered) of Lovecraft's short story "He" (1925). The way he describes New York in this story, as a place made very alien to him, is largely how I feel when making very infrequent visits to London.

The idea of a metropolis being built over formerly sacred (or unhallowed) sites is a familiar one and this keys in with ideas I have been exploring in Folklore Studies - the academic examination of folktales. One particular idea has been drawing my attention, that of ostension. Aside from its more regular meaning (of presenting something to the attention of others), in folklore terms ostension is how either reality imitates folklore (such as when people try and do something they have heard about in a folktale or urban myth - like going down the sewers to hunt alligators) or when they deliberately create a new tale such as starting rumours about some dilapidated house being haunted and then others actually begin to believe it and convince themselves that they have seen or heard creepy things there.

Cities lend themselves to the generation of urban myths, particularly places old enough to have winding streets that lead nowhere, neglected buildings wherein people go quietly mad and do appalling things etc.

Back to work tomorrow, so will take a break from these recordings and give my throat a chance to properly recover before doing any more.