1. The character of Randolph Carter appears in other Lovecraft stories and the novel The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. Does his character grow from the first story to the last, or is he always the same? Why would he be such a wonderful dream explorer in The DreamQuest of Unknown Kadath and such a failure as a dream traveler in "The Silver Key"?

2. Some of Lovecraft's complaints in "The Silver Key" about modern fantasy writers seem to match James Branch Cabell, who in Lovecraft's time was regarded by many readers as a great writer. Compare Cabell's fantasies to Lovecraft's. What in Cabell's approach to fantasy would Lovecraft condemn?

You may want to begin with Cabell's The White Robe (1928), a collection of stories, and Jurgen (1919), a novel.

3. "The Silver Key" and the other stories voted into the Fantasy Hall of Fame may...