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Re‐visioning Romantic‐Era Gothicism: An Introduction to Key Works and Themes in the Study of H.P. Lovecraft
Author(s) -
Smith Philip
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
literature compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.158
H-Index - 4
ISSN - 1741-4113
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2011.00838.x
Subject(s) - romance , criticism , literature , exaggeration , key (lock) , xenophobia , art , history , sociology , psychoanalysis , psychology , racism , gender studies , ecology , biology
Howard Phillips Lovecraft was an author, letter writer and poet who lived between 1890 and 1937. His works blend science fiction with Gothic themes. Lovecraft was, by the majority of accounts (including his own), a bad writer. He was also an outspoken racist for the majority of his life to a degree which makes much of his work, to a modern reader, politically grotesque. Despite the above, it would not be an exaggeration to say that Lovecraft’s work can be found in the genealogy of almost all modern science fiction and horror. This essay introduces the major concepts in critical responses to the fictional prose works of H.P. Lovecraft. The author examines the recurring themes of language, genre, literary influences, xenophobia, cosmic indifferentism, dreams, time and the influence of Lovecraft. This essay does not, due to length limitations, seek to be inclusive of all Lovecraft criticism, but instead presents key themes and works. Nor does it address the totality of Lovecraft’s work and focuses, instead on readings of his fictional prose works.