H. P. Lovecraft's Supernatural Horror in Literature
Published June 15, 2003
Lovecraft published this work, essentially a monograph, in 1927. The first sentence in the introduction is a grabber:
"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."
Lovecraft readily admits that weird fiction is not for everyone, "because it demands from the reader a certain degree of imagination and a capacity for detachment from everyday life."
Still, he holds that weird fiction will always be with us because of the deep programming in the back of our primitive minds. In the book, he explores gothic horror, dedicates an entire chapter to Edgar allen Poe, and stories from the British Isles, Europe and America.
Also in the introduction, he provides us with his own formula for ascertaining whether or not a story is truly a weird tale:
"The one test of the weird is simply this — whether or not there be excited in the reader a profound sense of dread, and of contact with unknown spheres and powers; a subtle attitude of awed listening, as if for the beating of black wings or the scratching of outside shapes and entitties on the known universe's utmost rim."
- H. P. Lovecraft's Supernatural Horror in Literature
- Published: June 15, 2003
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- Section: Books
- Writer: Frank Giovinazzi
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i have read somewhere, something to the effect that HPL didn't like the pulp format, was ashamed that during his lifetime it was the format in which most of his work was published, and he was often frustrated/depressed that he could not get published "properly" during his lifetime. It is such a shame he gained most recognition after his lifetime =+(
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My, but the old gent has been making his presence felt here lately, hasn't he? :)
There's one considerable criticism I've read of SHiL, which is that he entirely ignores the popular magazine and pulp tradition, which was of course the field in which he himself was professionally published (probably he ignored it because he was often embarrassed to be seen in that sort of company). Of all the pulp authors of the time, Clark Ashton Smith is the only one to get a mention, and even then HPL downplays Smith's pulp connections (which he himself introduced Smith to). That aside, SHiL is indeed a fine survey of the literature up to the 1930s.