H.P. Lovecraft(1890-1937)

• Daniel Steele• Eng 205

Themes

MonstersMadnessMortal Man vs. Cosmic power

Stories of the Mythos

• The Call of Cthulhu– Francis Wayland Thurston looking through his deceased

granduncle’s notes discovers information about a cult that worships “The Great One” Cthulhu

• The Dunwich Horror– Disfigured Wilbur Whateley and his sorcerer grandfather

attempt to summon the Old Ones to this world by feeding their harbinger Yog-Sothoth

• The Shadow Out of Time– Nathaniel Wingate Peaslee, possessed by a member of The

Great Race of Yith, is viewed as insane by those around him but has been shown awesome things and places by the being controlling him

Quotes

• “Now all my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large” –H.P. Lovecraft

• “It seemed to be a sort of monster, or symbol representing a monster, of a form which only a diseased fancy could conceive.” –The Call of Cthulhu

• “…I concluded that their intelligence was enormously greater than man’s.” –The Shadow Out of Time

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn