American Literary Naturalism in H. P. Lovecraft

Indianapolis, IN

While many traditional gothic authors focused on the horrors of a forgotten past, H. P. Lovecraft centered his works around the terror of an undiscovered future. There must have been some major epistemic shift that yielded the difference between Lovecraft and his claimed influences. For my research project, I hypothesized that the distinguishing factor between Lovecraft and the canon of American gothic literature was human progress. At the turn of the century American gothic was shaped and changed into the unique cosmic horror of H. P. Lovecraft. This major shift in thinking can be seen in the movement known as American literary naturalism. My project aimed to tie together the commonly dissociated elements of traditional American gothic and literary naturalism. I postulated that the epistemic shift, which caused the literary naturalism movement, affected the American gothic genre to form the unique style of horror seen in the writings of Lovecraft. Therefore, to analyze the structures that comprise Lovecraft’s works, I first began with the influences of traditional American gothic horror. From there, I moved forward into the 20th century and broke down the components of American literary naturalism to examine the extraneous variables that worked to produce the new type of horror showcased in the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft.