Discovering H.P. Lovecraft. Darrell Schweitzer

as a craftsman of consummate skill, was a perfectionist, always searching for the mot just, and constantly revising his tales before arriving at their final form. He also constantly incorpo­rated bits of factual knowledge stored in his encyclopedic mind into the fabric of his fiction, giving them an added element of believability, so essential in achieving the temporary “suspension of disbelief” in the reader. Since Lovecraft’s published letters gave ample evidence of his familiarity with both FreudJan and Jungian psychoanalysis, it is plausi­ble that he may have intentionally incorporated into many of his takes some of the universal symbols that lung was so fond of interpreting as verifications of his theory of dreams.

      There is some specific evidence in Lovecraft’s fiction and po­etry that he intended a psychological meaning for at least some of his works. For example, “The White Ship” described a voyage through the psyche, and “The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath” takes place en­tirely in the dream-world of the narrator. And out of his poetry, con­sider the following lines from “Aletheia Phrikodes”:

      “Things vague, unseen, unfashion’d, and unnam’d

      Jostled each other in the seething void

      That gap’d, chaotic, downward to a sea

      Of speechless horror, foul with writhing thoughts.”

      Nevertheless, our analytic interpretation is quite vulnerable to the accusation of subjectivism—too many assumptions are made which cannot be empirically verified. And besides, even if a psychological interpretation is adequate, why this particular one? Why not a Freudian explanation based on Lovecraft’s hypothetically repressed “sex instinct” (note the phallic symbolism of the “black tower”), or perhaps on a pathological manifestation of a deep-rooted “death instinct” (notice his perception of himself in the mirror as an already decaying corpse), or perhaps the monstrous image in the mirror represents the instincts of the Id perceived in a paroxysm of neurotic anxiety? Or perhaps the Adle­rian “will to power” will supply a better answer; the “striving for supe­riority” that compensates for the outsider’s abysmal inferiority complex may be what is meant by the ascent of the tower, while the castle of lights is the “directive fiction,” the goal of his “life-style”…. Or is the question perhaps “how can you make words mean so many different things…?”

      The main defect of all the possible psychoanalytic interpreta­tions, is that the theories on which they are based are themselves built on hypothetical constructs of doubtful validity. Such theories are usu­ally judged merely by their usefulness in the clinical setting, and not in terms of any absolute parameter of truth or falsehood. And the inter­pretations can hardly be more valid than the theories they are based on….

      For this reason, although this type of explanation is very at­tractive, and although Jung’s analytical theory may appear to fit the story better than other similar theories, such interpretations must be taken with a grain of salt.

      The anti-metaphysical interpretation is the most shallow and superficial of the four presented in this study. Although interesting and perhaps amusing, and in spite of being compatible with Lovecraft’s per­sonal beliefs, it simply does not fit with his personality, always charac­terized by those who knew him well as one of tolerance and kind under­standing. Lovecraft just did not possess the morbid and caustic humor implied by this interpretation. And, besides, the kind of survival shown in the tale does not correspond to traditional metaphysical no­tions. When engaging in this type of polemic, Lovecraft could do much better, as we can see in some of his letters to M. Moe and others, as well as in his essay “The Materialist Today.” This interpretation is perhaps the least valid of the four presented.

      The philosophical interpretation is another matter altogether. It fits well with Lovecraft’s Weitanschauung and with the context pro­vided by his other writings. Lovecraft, a scientist at heart, never tired of defending his views in letters to his friends, but being also a keen observer of human nature, did not expect others to share his convic­tions. He was a visionary able to foresee the general rejection of mate­rialistic and iconoclastic science by those in which it produced too much dissonance. The interpretation of “The Outsider” within the framework of his cosmic-minded mechanistic materialism is probably the most valid of the four versions.

      Even though Lovecraft has achieved what appears to be a per­manent place in world literature with his powerful dramatic fiction, he has been generally neglected in the past as a significant thinker, perhaps due to the fact that most of his works appeared initially in pulp maga­zines and amateur publications. Now that his selected letters have been published in five volumes, and some of his essays are becoming more readily available, recognition will come, even if belatedly, to this great “thinker from Providence.” It is the present author’s conviction, after having carefully studied Lovecraft’s letters, essays, and fiction, that he has had no peer as a materialistic philosopher, and that his realistic Weltanschauung is becoming more relevant today than ever before, now that the scientific analysis of behavior seems to have made the final statement in favor of determinism….

      POSTSCRIPT

      After finishing the foregoing article, I realized that I had ne­glected to consider an alternative explanation of “The Outsider” which is consonant with both Lovecraft’s philosophical outlook and available biographical data, and which may yet turn to be the best interpretation of all. Perhaps the reason it escaped me at first is because it is so obvi­ous.

      Here, then is the fifth face of The Outsider: A Critique of Progress.

      The underground castle stands for the Past, the level ground is the Present, while the castle of lights is the Future. Man emerges from the past with high dreams and hopes for the future, but encounters only abysmal disillusionment. In the past there was safety and security, and the frightful revelations of the future are too much to bear. Man expe­riences “future shock” and runs blindly back in a frantic attempt to re­turn to the tranquillity and stability of the past. But the buried past cannot be regained: the stone slab is immovable. The past is dead, and now alienated Man must continue a meaningless existence in an ever changing present, from which the only escape is the regression of in­sanity….

      This interpretation is really a twist of the “philosophical” ex­planation in the previous pages.. Of course, many other alternative elucidations are also possible, and the reader will have to decide which is most satisfactory.