Lovecraft: disturbing the universe PDF
Preview Lovecraft: disturbing the universe
LOVECRAFT This page intentionally left blank LOVECRAFT Disturbing the Universe DONALD R. BURLESON THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Copyright © 1990 by The University Press of Kentucky Paperback edition 2009 The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-0-8131-9319-9 (pbk: acid-free paper) This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America. Member of the Association of American University Presses Contents Preface ix 1Pre-Iude: The MannerofReading 1 2 "The StatementofRandolph Carter" 17 3 "TheTerrible Old Man" 28 4 "The CatsofUlthar" 39 5 "The Nameless City" 49 6 "The Outsider" 58 7 "The Music ofErichZann" 67 8 "The Call ofCthulhu" 77 9 "Pickman's Model" 86 10 "The Strange High House inthe Mist" 94 11 "The Colour Out ofSpace" 106 12 "The Dunwich Horror" 118 13 "The ShadowoverInnsmouth" 133 14 "The Haunter ofthe Dark" 147 15 DeconstructingLovecraft: An Open "Conclusion" 156 Bibliography 161 Index 167 II dit toujours autre chose, cela et autre chose, autre chose que ce qu'ildit,unechoseplusl'autre,toujoursautrechose.IIditunechose commel'autre. -JacquesDerrida, Signeponge Whatwondersunexpectedmayexist Inthosefarprovincesofwebandmist! -H.P. Lovecraft, "Tryout'sLamentfortheVanishedSpider" Undwenndu lange ineinemAbgrundblickst, blicktderAbgrund auchindichhinein. -FriedrichNietzsche, Jenseits vonGutundBose DoIdare Disturb the universe? - T.S. Eliot, "TheLoveSongofJ. AlfredPrufrock" For S.T. Joshi This page intentionally left blank Preface During the 1970s and 1980s, a notable amount of literary criticism began to appear on the Providence, Rhode Island, writer H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937). Most ofitbelongs to such schools as formalist, Jungian-psychoanalytic, and mythic criticism. Though the present study is from a very different criticalperspective-thatofpost-structuralistordeconstruc tive reading-the purpose is not to minimize the results of previouscriticism.Formalism,forexample,providesinsights thatarescarcelytobeignored. Rather,thepurposehereisto look farther afield with the texts, to submit them to par ticular kinds ofclose readings that extend previous con ceptions oftheir literary depth and show how enigmatic, as creaturesoflanguage,thetextsreallyare. Nooneuntil now has applied the strategies of post-structuralist thinking to Lovecraft's writings, and I believe that those writings will loomallthemoresignificantasthesestrategiesarebrought to bear on them. With the late Paul de Man, I believe that literarytextsare"literary"preciselytothedegreethattheir figurality encourages the protean encroachments of de constructivereading. Myparticularpointofviewconcerning post-structuralist theory and critical technique, together with a general discussionofthe nature ofdeconstructionfor those readers not intimately acquainted with the subject, is described in chapter1. WhenchoosingwhichLovecrafttextstoexplorehere,Ifelt much like a small child visiting an ice cream parlor that offers several dozenflavors. One is tempted to "pigout" and eatthem all-muchas Lovecraft, inthecompanyoffriends, once literallydid in an ice creamparlorindownstate Rhode
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