Seminar: Literary Theory Applied to H.P. Lovecraft-Notably “the Beast in the Cave”
Buena VistA university | A Theoretical Analysis of H.P. Lovecraft’s “Beast in the Cave” | Senior Seminar | | Cory J. Dahlstrom | 7/28/2012 |
H.P. Lovecraft has been called “one of the best, worst authors of our century.” In the following paper, I will explore his earliest work, “The Beast in the Cave,” a story written when he was around fifteen years old. I will explore its meanings and context through the lenses of reader response, deconstructionism, new historicism, and psychoanalytic analysis. Through these lenses of literary theory I hope to derive further meaning and understanding of this favored story as well as dismiss some criticism that has been leveled against H.P. Lovecraft. Each theoretical view has been defined by personal opinion and expert testimony and broken into separate sections; each examining the story from the theory described. The final section I will bring the work together and explain its symbolism and meaning using a smattering of all theories discussed so the reader can walk away with new admiration for this often misunderstood author. |
Cory J. Dahlstrom
Betsy Goet
English 491
28 February 2013
Seminar: Literary theory applied to H.P. Lovecraft-notably “The Beast in the Cave”
Although not as universally popular throughout the academia world of classical literature, the fictitious prose of Howard Philip Lovecraft, an early 20th Century American Author, is as influential to English as the works of contemporaries Mark Twain or Edgar Allen Poe. Lovecraft defined his own unique mythology that has been ever expanding under artists and authors inspired by the atheist views presented in the genre weird fiction in which Lovecraft is the crowned proprietor.
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Is the quintessential element in understanding the works of H.P. Lovecraft in his own the words (Lovecraft, H. P.
H.P. Lovecraft has been called “one of the best, worst authors of our century.” In the following paper, I will explore his earliest work, “The Beast in the Cave,” a story written when he was around fifteen years old. I will explore its meanings and context through the lenses of reader response, deconstructionism, new historicism, and psychoanalytic analysis. Through these lenses of literary theory I hope to derive further meaning and understanding of this favored story as well as dismiss some criticism that has been leveled against H.P. Lovecraft. Each theoretical view has been defined by personal opinion and expert testimony and broken into separate sections; each examining the story from the theory described. The final section I will bring the work together and explain its symbolism and meaning using a smattering of all theories discussed so the reader can walk away with new admiration for this often misunderstood author. |
Cory J. Dahlstrom
Betsy Goet
English 491
28 February 2013
Seminar: Literary theory applied to H.P. Lovecraft-notably “The Beast in the Cave”
Although not as universally popular throughout the academia world of classical literature, the fictitious prose of Howard Philip Lovecraft, an early 20th Century American Author, is as influential to English as the works of contemporaries Mark Twain or Edgar Allen Poe. Lovecraft defined his own unique mythology that has been ever expanding under artists and authors inspired by the atheist views presented in the genre weird fiction in which Lovecraft is the crowned proprietor.
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” Is the quintessential element in understanding the works of H.P. Lovecraft in his own the words (Lovecraft, H. P.
Cited: Bloch, Robert. "Poe & Lovecraft." Ambrosia 2 (1973): n. pag. Robert Bloch on Poe and Lovecraft. 1 Mar. 1996. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. Brizee, Allen, and J. Case Tompkins. "Psychoanalytic Criticism (1930s-present)." Purdue OWL: Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism. N.p., 14 Sept. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. Cooke, Jon B., S Hall, Donald E. Literary and Cultural Theory: From Basic Principles to Advanced Applications. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Print. Holland, Norman N Johnson, Barbara. The Critical Difference: Essays in the Contemporary Rhetoric of Reading. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UP, 1980. Print. Jones, Stephen Joshi, S. T. "Howard Phillips Lovecraft: The Life of a Gentleman of Providence." The H.P. Lovecraft Archive. N.p., 28 Mar. 2006. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. Kneale, James Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown. Dir. Frank H. Woodward. CINEVOLVE, 2008. DVD. Lovecraft, H Lovecraft, H. P. Supernatural Horror in Literature. New York: Dover Publications, 1973. Print. Lovecraft, H "Mammoth Cave National Park." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. Notes