Seminar: Literary Theory Applied to H.P. Lovecraft-Notably “the Beast in the Cave”

According to what H. P. Lovecraft wrote in 1927, weird fiction “has something more than secret murder, bloody bones, or a sheeted form clanking chains” (xv). To my way of thinking, weird tales are customized in a way that imparts a sense in the reader’s thinking of being mixed up; it is usually described as an unnatural journey from the normal to the abnormal. Many authors have used certain weird elements skillfully in their stories in order to distribute the feelings of dread, uncertain and inquisitiveness. Therefore, several approaches have been used to bring the weirdness into the tales, namely the use of science and religion. Though both approaches have their own effectiveness in representing the weird, the religious ideas in some aspects

In the short story," The Hound", By H.P. Lovecraft, the author seems to be using a vivid amount of personification. The dancing death fires. But the autumn moon shone weak and pale, we could not be sure. When they closed St. John's coffin, what did they see? The Hound by H.P. Lovecraft is trying to draw the reader into the story by luring us into the fact that the just robbed a dead guy or a corpse as some would call it. He tells us that the guy in the story committed suicide because he couldn't take any more of the noise and being "paranoid".

Dagon is a short story written by the American horror and fantasy writer H.P. Lovecraft in 1917. The story began with an unknown narrator telling the story of his abduction by the German sea-raiders. Later on, the protagonist continues the story of his successful escape in a small boat from these sea-raiders. After being lost for days in the sea, the man became haunted by his dreams, nightmares, and delusions. He told the story of how he was asleep and unexpectedly found himself in the middle of a black mire in the middle of the ocean after his boat had drifted. He went into the mire in an attempt to find dry land, a ship, or someone who can help him. He found a white monolithic statue with aquatic hieroglyphics on it and a giant creature looks like a giant fish worshiping it. He then starts his hallucination where he says that he ran back to his boat singing and laughing. Afterwards, he woke up in San Francisco hospital and knew that a ship saved him. Due to his hallucinations and nightmares, he became a morphine addict and he wrote this story as his suicide letter.

“Mr. Poe could not possibly send forth a book without some marks of his genius, and mixed up with the dross we find much sterling ore.” — (From a review of Poe’s Tales, September 6, 1845.) In 1845, Poe, 27, and Virginia, 13, married, and were happy for a time. In 1842, Virginia ruptured a blood vessel; the first sign of the ill health that plagued her short life. Poe turned to alcohol to cope with her illness and the stress of his dying wife. Two years later, Virginia died of tuberculosis, and Poe’s own death would follow shortly two years after that.

The plausibility of the two creatures affects the terror the reader experiences. The narrator of “The Horla” and William Harker both note

Lovecraft’s “The Shadow over Innsmouth” is a story of denial, steaming from the rejection of the otherworldly or bizarre occurring around the narrator. The narrator’s morbid curiosity to unearth for himself the truth behind this obscure town eventually becomes his downfall. The narrator is analogous to the modern cliché horror/thriller media (movies, TV, video games, etc.) of the character who despite all of the warnings and signs not to open a door, go into the woods (i.e. 90% of fairy tales), or in this case visit the sinister town of alien frog-fish creatures. Instead, the narrator takes the cheaper route of ignorant mistake. There is a slight gleam of realization of the town’s fortune after talking to Zadok Allen, but soon after met with

His father Winfred Scott Lovecraft, and his mother Sarah Susan Phillips were members of the upper middle class in New England, however when Lovecraft was two years old his father had suffered from a mental break and was put into a mental hospital. His mother than decided that they would move in with her father Whipple Phillips. It was here where Lovecraft started to become increasingly interested in reading and literature. Lovecraft was a big fan of mythology, gothic fiction and later on became very fascinated by Edgar Allen Poe and Lord Dunsany. However in 1898 Lovecraft’s father passed away due to tertiary syphilis, and the same year Lovecraft experienced his first nervous breakdown, then another the following year. Due to having nervous breakdowns Lovecraft’s mother took him out of school, and him and his mother had to move once again in 1904 after the passing of his grandfather. After moving Lovecraft went back to school once again, yet experienced another nervous breakdown at seventeen and that was the end of his formal

Jones, Mark. “Tentacles and Teeth: The Lovecraftian Being in Popular Culture.” New Critical Essays on H.P. Lovecraft (2013) 227-248. Print.

(Lovecraft, 53) As we all might know, stepping away from one’s prejudgment against someone else is difficult, as you comprehend your understanding of the person to be factual. Therefore, the courage which this Lovecraft character exemplifies, by being able to overpass his differences with Zann, makes it evident that at times being curious and not leaving the earth alone, ironically can make one shave off a new personality from within themselves. Lastly, in the Dunwich horror, despite the fact that the community had struggled greatly when trying to discover the creature’s appearance, them being curious and not merely being satisfied with the reality of their old life, filled with fear when the next attack would be, emphasizes the importance of taking executive decisions when the question of life and death came into play. In addition, no longer did the members of Dunwich have “morning found in a cold sweat of terror and a frenzy of wakeful concentration”, or all of a sudden one day “have the whippoorwills in the glen … scream with such unusual persistence ... [causing many people] to not sleep, [until] a fright made voice shriek out “Help, oh, my

As previously stated, Lovecraft had very little success as a writer in his time. He did have a self-published magazine called The Conservative and several of his short stories were published in the horror magazine Weird Tales, but beyond this there was little to his career. After his death, authors that he was close friends with championed his works and even borrowed elements from his creations. His works steadily grew in popularity over time, but he still did not receive much in terms of accolades. He did receive a memorial in his native Providence, Rhode Island but little else beyond that. His achievements are based in what he left

Darkness surfaces as a cast of its own. The difference between love and darkness is a very thin line. At some points, a person may not realize they are teetering between one and the other. Danger can be intertwined throughout one’s journey in finding love. It leads to darkness in varying degrees. Edgar Allen Poe’s, “William Wilson” and “The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar,” and H.P. Lovecraft’s, “The Outsider” and “Pickman’s Model” were written in the 19th and 20th centuries. During these time periods, these men may have been considered reclusive, but are best known for their unprecedented horror fiction.

Marx, allegedly revising Hegel, once said history repeats itself “the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.” In light of recent events, perhaps another revision is necessary. In his book First as tragedy, then as farce, Zizek states that Liberalism died twice, first as a political doctrine, and then as an economic one. The deaths being The Attacks of September 11th and the 2008 economic crash. The Paris Attacks has shown that History repeats itself thrice. First as tragedy, then as farce, and finally as a Weird Tale.

Few other authors possess the blood-curdling properties found in Stephen King’s writing. Similar horror fictionists include Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, H. P. Lovecraft, and Edgar Allen Poe, all inspirations of King’s works. This essay will depict King’s childhood, troubles, and his success.

On August 20, 1890, Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island. He was the only child of Winfield Scott Lovecraft and Sarah Susan Philips. In 1893, when Lovecraft was only three, mental illness took his father from him when he was on a business trip. Lovecraft was raised by his mother, his two aunts, and his grandfather. “His neurotic mother convinced him he was ugly; it was possibly this belief but certainly his predilection for solitude which caused him to be reclusive” (Rothfield).

The database also has access to 49 volumes and novels focused on the literary criticism of Lovecraft’s work both from contemporary literary scholars as well as what the literary critics of Lovecraft’s time made of his work. It even gives access to his works from other publishers including Arkham House Publishers, Inc. which has published five volumes of letters written by Lovecraft. While there are so many available I would personal focus on the volumes or novels edited or written by S.T Joshi as his seems to be the only consistent scholar focused on Lovecraft having his first criticism book being published in 1981 in the form of an annotated bibliography titled H.P. Lovecraft and Lovecraft Criticism: An Annotated Bibliography and his most recent in 2010, A Weird Writer in Our Midst: Early Criticism of H.P. Lovecraft. S.T Joshi also did the majority of Lovecraft’s bibliographies. Even though this database is a secondary source its focus and tribute to a single author alongside its organization makes it for easy access information and papers written from and about