H.
P. Lovecraft analysed as a Gothic author.
Jennifer
Richards
The
term Gothic literature sparks up many immediate and somewhat cliché
connotations, its main recurring themes are often forgotten or
overlooked for the aesthetic it generated and subsequently authors or
pieces of work that, arguably, should have contributed to the
movement were considered as completely separate, one may wonder how
differently contemporary Gothic culture may have developed had these
authors or pieces of work affected society in the same way. A figure
of interest for this discussion would be H. P. Lovecraft, critically
his work has been analysed as both Gothic and scientific, however in
popular culture he is rarely considered to have had anything to do
with the movement. In this essay I shall be evaluating the body of
work created by Lovecraft, a renowned science fiction author, I shall
be interpreting his work from the angle of Gothic literature and
discussing the points that align him with that genre. I shall be
comparing and contrasting the gothic movement with Lovecraft's
literary career and how big of a role the science fiction genre
within literature played in that movement, I shall also be evaluating
how differently the movement would have gone had authors like
Lovecraft been considered purely Gothic authors.
“The
oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and
strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. These facts few
psychologists will dispute, and their admitted truth must establish
for all time the genuineness and dignity of the weirdly horrible tale
as a literary form.”(Lovecraft 1)
Gothic
literature is filled with ambiguity, what would one define as Gothic,
where is the line drawn? This subject is frequently debated,
especially as in modern culture Gothic is most commonly remembered as
an aesthetic, a notion, a romantic aspect. It would seem the critical
analysis and its purest qualities, in literature, are disregarded to
a fault. Even though the culture began as a derivative of aesthetics,
architecture was one of the first aspects of the movement, what it
evolved into for writers and readers everywhere became something much
more complex. Of course the origins of the movement are not the
origins of the term Gothic, a name derived from a Germanic tribe
centuries ago, considering this it is hardly a surprise that a great
deal of Gothic literature has taken themes of Germanic folklore and
is inspired by Bavarian Europe. As Gothic is colloquially regarded as
an aesthetic or visual movement, is it so much of a stretch to
consider H. P. Lovecraft's concepts and theories as Gothic? It is
implied that he follows the belief that reality only extends as far
as to what we can individually perceive or experience, his entire
body of work plays off of this implication and subsequently the
notion of “alternate realities” or alien creatures becomes a
feasible component of the reality that he lives in. The monsters that
terrorise his characters and bring about their inescapable doom are
nothing more than visual or an aesthetic and correlating to themes
found in Edgar Allan Poe's work: an extension of the individual's
psyche. If reality is nothing beyond what we can personally perceive,
anything we perceive within that reality is nothing more than a
projection from our minds, so if we follow that thesis everything
inclusive in Gothic literature is little more than aesthetic. Looking
at one of his most famed predecessors, someone of which H. P.
Lovecraft cited great influence from, it is no surprise his work
coupled the groundbreaking and cosmic aspects of science and the
romantic, wonderfully dark and disturbing themes of Gothic
literature. Edgar Allen Poe and H. P. Lovecraft lead very similar
lives, and when one thinks of Lovecraft, it provides connotations
that bring to mind the world Poe created, however what made them the
most comparable was not what they chose to include in their work, or
what they were attracted to creatively and academically, but what
they distanced themselves from; “Poe
and Lovecraft deliberately chose to turn their backs on contemporary
styles and subject-matter and created their own individual worlds of
fantasy. In this above all else they were similar.”(Bloch 1)
From
an analytical sense there are a number of qualities that coincide
Lovecraft's work with the Gothic genre; he has an excellent
understanding of the sublime, his ability to wield psychological and
atmospheric torment enables him to create horrendously obscure
landscapes and scenarios. Each instance comes equipped with
tantalizing terror that placed the reader into a state of existential
wonder and fear. Although his imagery aligned itself more with
surrealist dreams-capes, the language he used had a grandiose and
esteemed quality, highly descriptive and elegant, his ability to
paint a picture using words is comparable to that of Mary Shelly or
the Bronte sisters. While it is elegant there is a heavy and harsh
tone carried throughout his work that bears similarities to the
aforementioned, it complies with the traditional language used in
early Anglo-Saxon Gothic literature; “It
is no surprise that the Gothic, a literature that emerged from the
heart of northern Protestant Europe in the eighteenth century, uses
an insistently harsh and ancient Northern tongue for its disordered
and fantastical imaginings of murky deeds in the Dark Ages centuries
before Enlightenment”(Luckhurst 1). Luckhurst continues to credit
Lovecraft for maintaining this form of organic language used in
Gothic literature, even though the author's work is assigned a
different genre, it is clear he had contributed to the Gothic
movement. One could say that if he were to be
completely submerged into that culture then he could be considered to
have helped modernise Gothic literature, by using alternative
frameworks and settings to convey his horror, or perhaps some would
go as far to say his literature may be Gothic but it is at least
considered avant garde within its culture. Being one of the first
writers to peruse different avenues of the archaic sublime, another
few to consider would be Mary Shelly, Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Louis
Stevenson and even Bram Stoker if we look at Dracula as an inherent
metaphor for the flaws within Victorian society. In his own words,
Lovecraft has proven he clearly understands the purpose of Gothic
literature, and maintains a profound handle on the way our psychology
and society works; “Against
it are discharged all the shafts of a materialistic sophistication
which clings to frequently felt emotions and external events, and of
a naively insipid idealism which deprecates the aesthetic motive and
calls for a didactic literature to uplift the reader toward a
suitable degree of smirking optimism.” (Lovecraft 1) he professes
an unequivocal human thirst for the fear, chaos and taboo exposed
through Gothic literature.
Although
his themes of the multi-verse and alternate realities, alien
civilisations and tears in time and space are what align him with
science fiction and crown him the father of sci-fi, one cannot deny
the very apparent Gothic themes. Even though originally the Gothic
genre oriented around architecture, pagan subjects, demonic or occult
folklore and pseudo medieval fantasy worlds, all of which were
romanticised during the Victorian period, around the same time
authors began a fascination with the occult and paganism, it later
evolved and advanced to include psychological or scientific
components, modernised and brought into urban or unconventional
landscapes, this niche was filled by authors such as Lovecraft. As
the subject matter so drastically divorced itself from the values and
status quo upheld during the bourgeois industrial period with worlds
of dark, seductive and chaotic fantasy, challenging Christian beliefs
and expectations, the notion of the taboo, sublime or theoretical
other being all the more intriguing. Poe, Lovecraft, Stevenson and
many others all leaned further toward a psychological, aspect of the
Gothic genre and subsequently distanced themselves from the
traditional, organic and pagan themes found in most of the novellas,
however the aesthetics and upfront premise may not coincide with that
romantic aspect, the undertones and connotations drawn can be
considered a part of that area, especially in regards to the language
and in extension imagery used. Lovecraft's tone and tongue on page
gave the illusion of towering Bavarian castles, uncanny and
treacherous crypts, slinking, ghoulish and romantic murderers hiding
in the shadows, gargoyles illuminated in lightning and a howling
storm that crashed about decadent yet desolate palace halls. He
combined the traditional script and poetry with new age concepts of
bejewelled, crumbling pyramids, once home to a race of powerful
reptilian overlords, mysteriously vanished, combined with existential
terror, he plays on ideas of disruptions in our time and space
continuum, implying the history we remember or have documented never
happened, or was overlapped by an extra-terrestrial race of highly
powerful or intelligent beings. He toys with the concept of the
multi-verse and psychological disturbance, promoting the theory that
nothing is ever truly real. The Gothic genre was all about
disturbance, instilling a curious fear and exhilarating terror in the
hearts of society, however bumps in the night, lanky creatures
stalking the streets, crazed murderers and boogeymen punishing wrong
doers can only invoke fear so much before it becomes stale, authors
such as Edgar Allen Poe came with a new approach, a fear so
disturbing few dare even acknowledge it, the fear of your own
neurology, psychological instability, this is something that cannot
be escaped, hidden from or fought and so Poe, as well as Lovecraft
and Stevenson use this to create terrifying and dark tales testing
the Gothic factor. Another aspect of his that aligns Lovecraft with
Gothic literature, considering various habits and patterns of Gothic
authors, is this consistent narrative style: “his
sometimes frustratingly methodical descriptions, ostensibly for the
sake of accuracy, separating him from Gothic writers whose narrative
is perhaps more emotional or character driven. It is exactly in this
ambiguous area of literary style, however, that Lovecraft perhaps
engages best with one suggestive Gothic trope - namely, the
preoccupation with the manuscript narrative.”(Hudson 1)
It
would seem that he has a keen knowledge of Gothic literature and what
it pertains to, but perhaps chooses to drive his work in different
direction. In some of his own text discussing the subject of Gothic
literature he most commonly refers to it as “cosmic fear” and
suggests that the use of a physical enemy or an identifiable enemy in
literature designed to terrorise is not enough. This gives the
implication that while the concept and aesthetic of Gothic literature
is intriguing and respectable, what has been born of it provides
connotations he doesn't wish to be associated with, subsequently his
writing style, subject matter and existential approach were all
combined and he fell in line with a genre far more fitting; the genre
of science fiction provides a greater platform for writers fascinated
by the metaphysical, human torment and surrealism, while the
aesthetic clearly interested Lovecraft, his obsession and belief of
the human need for fear may have proved too great to be aligned with
Gothic literature. One must then however return to the ambiguity of
Gothic literature and where the line ends, the very nature of Gothic
literature, abiding to an aesthetic and theme designed to terrorise
humanity is subjective and therefore cannot be limited to strict
criteria. In other words it depends how one defines Gothic, if we
look at it as a superficial and aesthetic movement with greater stock
in tantalising and romance, reinventing the archaic magic of rural
British and European landscapes, then perhaps it is too constricting
and simple for Lovecraft, even if his language and format aligns with
said romance. However if one is to consider Gothic literature to be
everything encompassing fear, sublime, gruesome and absurd
disturbance and the art of horror, then H. P. Lovecraft could be
considered one of the most profound and skilled Gothic authors in
literary history.
References
Bloch,
R. (1973). Robert Bloch on Poe and Lovecraft. [online]
Alangullette.com. Available at:
http://alangullette.com/lit/hpl/bloch.htm [Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
De
Vore, D., Domenic, A., Kwan, A. and Reidy, N. (n.d.). The
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http://cai.ucdavis.edu/waters-sites/gothicnovel/155breport.html
[Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
Harris,
R. (2013). Elements of the Gothic Novel. [online]
Virtualsalt.com. Available at: http://www.virtualsalt.com/gothic.htm
[Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
Hudson,
K. (2013). Sheffield Gothic : Foreshadowings - H.P. Lovecraft
as a Gothic writer. [online]
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http://sheffieldgothicreadinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/foreshadowings-hp-lovecraft-as-gothic.html
[Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
Luckhurst,
R. (2013). H. P. Lovecraft and the northern tongue. [Blog] Oxford
words blog. Available at:
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/05/h-p-lovecraft/ [Accessed
24 Apr. 2015].
Mullan,
J. (n.d.). The origins of the Gothic. [online] The
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http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/the-origins-of-the-gothic
[Accessed 24 Apr. 2015].
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