Skip to main content

"Hidden" Library

Grasshopper-Lies-Heavy.jpg

The Grasshopper Lies Heavy

The Grasshopper Lies Heavy is a fictional book central to the plot of Philip K. Dick's novel The Man in the High Castle. The characters in The Man in the High Castle live in a world where the Axis powers were the victors of World War II. The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, a book within the book, portrays an "alternate history" where the Allies won, and which creates a stir the more people read it. A central theme of Dick's novel is that reality is tenuous and unknowable. The characters are ironically preoccupied with authenticity and legitimacy.

necronomicon.jpg

The Necronomicon

This fan-art rendering of the Necronomicon depicts the spellbook as bound in human flesh, a living being with a face. It is a plot driver in several of H.P. Lovecraft's short stories, as a volume that can summon the "Old Ones," godlike beings. The fictional book also played a part in the Evil Dead series of films, where it was portrayed as having a humanlike face similar to the one shown here. In the first film, when an audio recording of someone reading the book's contents is played, it summons a host of demons. To capitalize on the curiosity of readers and viewers who wonder if the book is real, several books have been published under the name Necronomicon, but the volume that Lovecraft wrote about was pure invention.

"Hidden" Library