Cthulhu mythos: Encyclopedia II - Cthulhu mythos - Lovecraft and the mythos

Cthulhu mythos - Lovecraft and the mythos

In his essay "The Lovecraft Mythos", S. T. Joshi defines four key elements in Lovecraft's mythos: (1) the fundamental principle of cosmicism, (2) an imaginary New England setting, (3) recurring "pseudomythological" entities, and (4) works of arcane literature. 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.[5]

Cthulhu mythos - Cosmicism

Common themes in Lovecraft's fiction are the insignificance of humanity in the universe[6] and the search for knowledge ending in disaster[7]. 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[8]. Lovecraft called this viewpoint Cosmicism, a doctrine which holds that humankind's religious beliefs are a mere conceit and that ultimately humanity is alone and defenseless in an uncaring universe.[9] This is opposed to anthropocentrism or humanism, ideas of theology and philosophy, respectively.

Cthulhu mythos - Imaginary New England setting

Many of Lovecraft's tales take place in a fictional New England setting which may be connected to what Lovecraft called his "Arkham cycle". These ficticious locales may also parallel real-life places in Massachusetts (see table below).[10]

Cthulhu mythos - 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[11], 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.[12] 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 (see figure at right).[13] Not included in this chart is Nodens[14], a member of a rival group of potent deities known as the "Elder Gods" (never expanded by Lovecraft) that were more or less benign.[15]

Lovecraft's central deities are Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth, both representing opposing cosmic principles. Azathoth, the "blind and 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 a kind 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 intelligently with human beings, though he often manifests himself in human form to disguise his true appearance.

The topmost tier of deities is served by earthbound, non-human beings. Cthulhu is regarded as the priest of the gods, while Dagon appears to be his subordinate. The lowest tier consists of the Elder Things and the Mi-go, both extraterrestrial races, and the Deep Ones, ocean-dwelling humanoids, which serve Cthulhu and Dagon.[16]

Because of the additions of later authors, the mythos pantheon has grown considerably and is now populated by deities and beings never conceived of by Lovecraft[17]. Nevertheless, the original schema, which places Azathoth and Yog-Sothoth at the top of the pantheon, is still widely recognized by many mythos writers.

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 instead 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; thus, 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 were not welcoming of such veneration and moreover were quick to exploit the gullibility of their worshipers to further their own agenda.

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. Unfortunately, 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 distorted Lovecraft's 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 Price's view, "religious fiction" of this sort could not be further from Lovecraft's fundamental notion of an indifferent, nihilistic universe.[18]

Cthulhu mythos - Cthulhuian pseudobiblia

A hallmark of Lovecraft's mythos is the various mystical books and other writings of arcane lore which Edward Lauterbach calls "Cthulhuian pseudobiblia"[19]. 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 of August Derleth's name.[20]

Cthulhu mythos - The reader's response to the mythos

During his writing career, most of Lovecraft's work saw publication in the pulp magazine Weird Tales. To make his stories more believable (as well 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, as has been noted, are really 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"[22], Lovecraft (with much relish it should be noted) 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 name) 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).[23]

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Lovecraft and the mythos", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki