Lovecraft Mythos

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The Lovecraft Mythos is the term coined by the scholar S. T. Joshi[1] to describe the imaginary mythical backdrop, settings, and themes employed by the American weird fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft's mythos is the foundation of a fictional myth-cycle known as the "Cthulhu Mythos", first recognized and developed by the writer August Derleth[2], that places a particular group of Lovecraft's stories into a separate and distinct category.

Lovecraft himself, however, never used the term Cthulhu Mythos, nor did he acknowledge any individual distinctions among his stories. Nonetheless, Lovecraft undoubtedly recognized an underlying unity of certain imagined settings and deities in his tales, though the closest he ever came to naming this collective world was the Arkham cycle[3] (after the main fictional town) or Yog-Sothothery[4] (after one of the primary gods). [5]

Joshi identifies four key elements in Lovecraft's mythos:

  • The fundamental principle of cosmicism
  • An imaginary New England setting
  • A pantheon of recurring "pseudomythological" entities
  • A collection of arcane books that supposedly yield insights into the mythology

These elements are given varying weights in different tales. Joshi points out, however, that Lovecraft never fully realized his mythos at any time in his career, but instead developed it gradually, adding elements to it with each story he wrote. [6]

Contents

[edit] Cosmicism

Common themes in Lovecraft's fiction are the insignificance of humanity in the universe[7] and the search for knowledge ending in disaster[8]. Humans are often subject to powerful beings and other cosmic forces, but these forces are not so much malevolent as they are indifferent toward humanity. [9]

Lovecraft was a "mechanistic materialist" who embraced the philosophy of cosmic indifferentism. He believed in a purposeless, mechanical, and uncaring universe that human beings, with their limited faculties, could never fully understand. Moreover, his viewpoint made no allowance for religious belief, which could not be supported scientifically. The incomprehensible, cosmic forces of his tales have as little regard for humanity as humans have for insects. [10]

Lovecraft's gods, the Great Old Ones — though dangerous to humankind — are neither good nor evil, human concepts of morality having no meaning for these beings. Indeed, they exist in cosmic realms beyond human understanding. As a symbol, they represent the kind of universe that Lovecraft believed in — a universe in which humanity is an insignificant blot, destined to come and go, its appearance unnoticed and its passing unmourned. [11]

[edit] Imaginary New England setting

A number of Lovecraft's stories take place in a fictional New England setting that is centered around the equally fictional Arkham; consequently, these tales may be part of what Lovecraft called his "Arkham cycle". Lovecraft's fictitious locations may also parallel real-life places in Massachusetts [12] This setting is sometimes referred to as "Lovecraft Country", especially in role-playing games based on the mythos.

[edit] Lovecraft's pantheon

When Lovecraft conceived his imaginary mythology, he apparently never laid out a definitive plan to follow. Instead, he simply launched into writing his stories[13], changing the mythos elements as needed to serve the plot. By recreating the mythos with each story he wrote, Lovecraft added to the deepening mystery of the myth cycle and illustrated the inability of the human mind to fully comprehend it. [14] Nonetheless, Phillip A. Schreffler, in his book The H. P. Lovecraft Companion, argues that by carefully scrutinizing Lovecraft's writings a workable framework emerges for a pantheon of beings. [15] Not included in this chart is Nodens[16], a member of a potent group of rival deities known as the "Elder Gods" (never expanded by Lovecraft) that were more or less benign.[17]

Lovecraft's central deities are Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth, both representing opposing cosmic principles. Azathoth, the "blind", "idiotic" ruler of the pantheon, occupies the literal center of the universe, whereas Yog-Sothoth, Azathoth's co-ruler, embodies the infinite, existing in all places and in all times. Next in the hierarchy is Shub-Niggurath (whom Lovecraft mentions but never describes in his stories), representing some sort of pagan fertility god. Attending Azathoth at his court are the Other Gods, mysterious beings that dance mindlessly around Azathoth's throne in cadence to the piping of a demonic flute, and Nyarlathotep, the avatar and messenger of Azathoth and the Other Gods. Nyarlathotep is the only being that can interact intelligibly with human beings, though he often manifests himself in human form to disguise his true appearance.

The topmost tier of deities is served by terrestrial, non-human beings. Cthulhu is regarded as the priest of the gods, while Dagon appears to be his subordinate. The lowest tier consists of a race of ocean-dwelling humanoids, the Deep Ones, serving Cthulhu and Dagon, and a pair of extraterrestrial races, the Elder Things (along with their slaves, the shoggoths) and the Mi-go. [18]

[edit] Gods and devils

According to Robert M. Price in his essay "Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology'", Lovecraft never intended his pantheon of beings—occasionally referred to as the Old Ones—to be supernatural creatures but rather powerful extraterrestrials. For naive humans to worship these beings as gods or to deride them as devils was to feebly attempt to anthropomorphize them and thus render them into mundane and explainable terms. What early humans could not understand they characterized as divine; hence, prescientific cultures deified incomprehensible entities like Azathoth. Though humans might try to placate or earn the favor of these beings by worshiping them, the Old Ones are not welcoming of such veneration and moreover are quick to exploit the gullibility of their worshipers to further their own agenda.

Price says that Lovecraft's inspiration was to tear humanity from its supposedly centralized place in the universe by forcing his characters to confront alien beings far older and wiser than humankind. He also maintains that August Derleth, as well as other writers who followed after him, misinterpreted Lovecraft's original conception and took the Old Ones to be literally supernatural and godlike. Derleth further departed from Lovecraft's original vision by concocting a parallel to the Christian narrative of Satan warring against Heaven, pairing the devils of Lovecraft's mythos (the Old Ones) against a race of benevolent Elder Gods with humanity's fate hanging in the balance. In reality, however, religion plays no part in Lovecraft's indifferent, nihilistic universe. [19]

[edit] Arcane literature

Main article: Cthulhu Mythos arcane literature

Mystical books and other writings of arcane lore are the hallmark of Lovecraft's mythos. These tomes were invented by Lovecraft and his imitators to lend more believability to their stories. A good measure of humor was also employed in their creation; for example, Cultes des Goules is credited to the fictional writer Comte d'Erlette, an obvious pun on August Derleth's name. [20]

Lovecraft's first arcane book was the Pnakotic Manuscripts, first cited in his short story "Polaris" (1918)[21]. His most famous creation, however, is the Necronomicon, written by the fictional "mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred. Lovecraft first quoted an enigmatic couplet from this tome in "The Nameless City" (1922), though he did not give the book its name until "The Hound" (1923)[22].

Selected fictional works
created by mythos authors
Author Fictional book
Robert Bloch Cultes des Goules[23],
De Vermis Mysteriis
Ramsey Campbell Revelations of Glaaki
Lin Carter Ponape Scripture,
Zanthu Tablets
August Derleth Celaeno Fragments,
R'lyeh Text
Robert E. Howard Unaussprechlichen Kulten
H. P. Lovecraft Dhol Chants,
Necronomicon,
Pnakotic Manuscripts,
Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan
Brian Lumley Cthäat Aquadingen,
G'harne Fragments
Clark Ashton Smith Book of Eibon

[edit] The reader's response to the mythos

During his writing career, most of Lovecraft's work was published in the pulp magazine Weird Tales. To make his stories more believable (and to amuse himself), Lovecraft employed various methods to convince readers that his mythos was real. With the care and attention to detail needed to stage a hoax, Lovecraft concocted an imaginary yet plausible background lore for the false religion of the Old Ones (which actually are just powerful extraterrestrials). By avoiding exposition and instead cloaking his mythos horrors in vague, mythical legends, Lovecraft left it up to the reader to piece together the terrifying scientific truth behind his veiled hints.

To achieve "an air of verisimilitude by wide citation"[24], Lovecraft—with much relish—encouraged other writers to use his mythos in their own stories and to add to it as they saw fit, although this often resulted in distortions of Lovecraft's original vision. Outside of his own works, Lovecraft included references to his myth cycle in the revision stories he wrote for other authors. To distance himself from his creations, he often varied the names of his mythos entities (for example, "Tulu" for Cthulhu). A reader who saw a particular entity in one story, and then noticed that same entity in another (perhaps under a slightly different moniker) might develop the impression that Lovecraft's mythos was genuine. In fact, this was exactly the effect that Lovecraft sought to achieve, though he occasionally had to gently remind readers that his mythos creations were entirely fictional. [25]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] Books

  • Burleson, Donald R. (1979). “The Lovecraft Mythos”, Frank N. Magill (ed.): Survey of Science Fiction Literature, Vol. 3, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Salem Press, pp. 1284–8. ISBN 0-89356-197-5.
  • Joshi, S. T., David E. Schultz (2001). An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-31578-7.
  • Lovecraft, Howard P. (1998). Selected Letters III. Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-87054-032-7.
  • Mariconda, Steven J. (1995). On the Emergence of "Cthulhu" & Other Observations, 1st printing, West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press. ISBN 0-940884-81-X.
  • Mosig, Yozan Dirk W. (1997). Mosig at Last: A Psychologist Looks at H. P. Lovecraft, 1st printing, West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press. ISBN 0-940884-90-9.
  • Price, Robert M. (1996). “Introduction”, Robert M. Price (ed.): The New Lovecraft Circle. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.. ISBN 0-345-44406-X.
  • Price, Robert M. (1991). “Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology'”, David E. Schultz and S. T. Joshi (ed.): An Epicure in the Terrible: a centennial anthology of essays in honor of H. P. Lovecraft. Rutherford, NJ and Cranbury, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press and Associated University Presses. ISBN 0-8386-3415-X.
  • Shreffler, Phillip A. (1977). The H. P. Lovecraft Companion. Westport, CT and London, England: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-8371-9482-2.

[edit] Journals

  • August, Derleth (Lammas 1996). "H. P. Lovecraft—Outsider". Crypt of Cthulhu #93: A Pulp Thriller and Theological Journal Vol. 15 (No. 3). Robert M. Price (ed.), West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press. Original publication: Derleth (June 1937). "H. P. Lovecraft—Outsider". River Vol. 1 (No. 3).
  • Dziemianowicz, Stefan (Eastertide 1992). "Divers Hands". Crypt of Cthulhu #80: A Post-structuralist Thriller and Theological Journal Vol. 11 (No. 2). Robert M. Price (ed.), West Warwick, RI: Necronomicon Press.
  • Price, Robert M. (Hallowmas 1985). "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos". Crypt of Cthulhu #35: A Pulp Thriller and Theological Journal Vol. 5 (No. 1). Robert M. Price (ed.), Mount Olive, NC: Cryptic Publications.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "The Lovecraft Mythos", H. P. Lovecraft, p. 31ff. Joshi acknowledges, however, that Donald R. Burleson independently coined the term in his eponymous article that appears in Magill's Survey of Science Fiction Literature, volume III (see References section for a detailed citation), p. 1284ff. (H. P. Lovecraft, p. 68, footnote no. 52.)
  2. ^ Derleth's earliest conception of the "Cthulhu Mythology" appeared in his essay "H. P. Lovecraft—Outsider", published in River several months after Lovecraft's death. Derleth writes:

    After a time there became apparent in his tales a curious coherence, a myth-pattern so convincing that after its early appearance, the readers of Lovecraft's stories began to explore libraries and museums for certain imaginary titles of Lovecraft's own creation, so powerful that many another writer, with Lovecraft's permission, availed himself of facets of the Mythos for his own use. Bit by bit it grew, and finally its outlines became distinct and it was given a name: the Cthulhu Mythology: because it was in "The Call of Cthulhu" that the myth-pattern first became apparent.

  3. ^ Although Lovecraft sometimes mentioned the "Arkham cycle" in his correspondence, he never explained its meanings; it is possible that he was referring to his stories that take place in his mythical New England setting. (Joshi & Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, p. 50.)
  4. ^ Lovecraft's flippant use of Yog-Sothothery—a veiled reference to Yog-Sothoth, one of the mythical beings in his tales—probably indicates that he never took his mythos very seriously. In a letter to Frank Belknap Long in early 1931, Lovecraft wrote "that 'Yog-Sothoth' is a basically immature conception [and] unfitted for really serious literature". (Joshi & Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, p. 51.)
  5. ^ Joshi, "The Lovecraft Mythos", p. 31.
  6. ^ Joshi's characterizations are a followup to George T. Wetzel's assertion that Lovecraft's mythos stories can be thought of as chapters of a long novel (Joshi, "The Lovecraft Mythos", H. P. Lovecraft, p. 32). See also Wetzel's essay "The Cthulhu Mythos: A Study" (H. P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism", pp. 79–95).
  7. ^ Price, "Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology'", An Epicure in the Terrible, p. 247.
  8. ^ Price, "Introduction", The New Lovecraft Circle, pp. xviii–xix. Price writes: "One seeks forbidden knowledge, whether wittingly or, more likely, unwittingly, but one may not know till it is too late... The knowledge, once gained, is too great for the mind of man. It is Promethean, Faustian knowledge. Knowledge that destroys in the moment of enlightenment, a Gnosis of damnation, not of salvation."
  9. ^ Price, "Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology'", p. 249.
  10. ^ Mariconda, "Lovecraft's Concept of 'Background'", pp. 22–3, On the Emergence of "Cthulhu" & Other Observations.
  11. ^ Burleson, "The Lovecraft Mythos", Survey of Science Fiction Literature, p. 1284.
  12. ^ Joshi, "The Lovecraft Mythos", p. 31.
  13. ^ Shreffler, "The Hierarchy of Monsters", The H. P. Lovecraft Companion, p. 156.
  14. ^ Dziemianowicz, "Divers Hands", Crypt of Cthulhu #80, p. 44.
  15. ^ Shreffler, pp. 156–7.
  16. ^ Nodens, the Lord of the Abyss, holds a singular place in Lovecraft's writings because he is the only god to intervene on behalf of human beings. (Shreffler, p. 158.) Examples of this are found in The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath (1926) and "The Strange High House in the Mist" (1931).
  17. ^ Dirk W. Mosig says that Lovecraft never intended the Elder Gods to be benign, protective deities. In his essay "H. P. Lovecraft: Myth-Maker", Mosig maintains that they are actually ineffectual beings synonymous with Lovecraft's "weak gods of the earth". (Mosig, "H. P. Lovecraft: Myth-Maker", Mosig at Last, pp. 24–5.)
  18. ^ Shreffler, pp. 158–162.
  19. ^ Price, "Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology'", pp. 248–50.
  20. ^ Edward Lauterbach, "Some Notes on Cthulhuian Pseudobiblia", H. P. Lovecraft: Four Decades of Criticism, pp. 96–7.
  21. ^ Joshi & Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, pp. 187.
  22. ^ Burleson, "The Lovecraft Mythos", Survey of Science Fiction Literature, p. 1284.
  23. ^ Although Derleth claimed to have invented Cultes Des Goules, Lovecraft refuted this and attributed the fictional tome to Robert Bloch—a fact confirmed many years later by Bloch himself. (Price, "H. P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos", Crypt of Cthulhu #35, p. 11, footnote #11.)
  24. ^ Lovecraft, Selected Letters III, p. 166.
  25. ^ Price, "Lovecraft's 'Artificial Mythology'", pp. 251, 253; Mariconda, "Toward a Reader-Response Approach to the Lovecraft Mythos", On the Emergence of "Cthulhu" & Other Observations, pp. 33–4.
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