Cosmic horror--it isn't the typical scary stuff
about a fear of dying or evoking some kind of physical terror,
but an existential crisis made manifest--
the idea that we as humans have no purpose whatsoever,
essentially making our lives, our very existence,
meaningless, turned into a monster.
H.P. Lovecraft is often cited
as the originator, or at least popularizer,
of cosmic horror.
In all of his fictional texts, he explores the theme,
resulting in some pretty terrifying plots,
like in At the Mountain of Madness,
where humanity's existence is revealed to be
an accidental result of a scientific experiment
by aliens.
Then there are his original monsters.
There are fungal beings who appear as winged, clawed
carapace-covered creatures;
shapeless, protoplasmic bubbles made of iridescent black slime;
and the most notorious--
a tentacled cosmic giant, Cthulhu.
Cthulhu is the Old One's high priest
who can help humans liberate themselves
from the constructs of morality
to "shout and kill and revel and enjoy themselves
in a destructive revelry 'of ecstasy and freedom.'"
Lovecraft may be Cthulhu's inventor,
but the creation has outgrown its originator,
impacting both the horror genre and real life
in significant ways.
[theme music]
I'm Dr. Emily Zarka, and this is "Monstrum."
Cthulhu's head is a pulpy mass
of tentacle-like feelers resembling an octopus.
Its rubbery, grotesque body is covered in scales.
Its back has rudimentary narrow wings,
and long talons adorn its hind and fore feet.
Described as part dragon, part octopus,
and part human, this monster is so bizarre,
so terrifying, it drives anyone who sees it mad.
In Lovecraft's universe, Cthulhu is a leader
or holy figure akin to a priest
and one of the Great Old Ones--
an extraterrestrial species that inhabited Earth
long before humans called it home.
The Old Ones and Cthulhu aren't really gods, per se--
after all, "God" is a human construction--
but they serve as symbols of unknowable cosmic forces.
While the Old Ones are no longer physical beings on Earth,
they cannot die,
so calling them dead doesn't quite work.
They lie awake in the dark, ever-watching,
hidden under the Earth's crust and beneath the ocean's depths
and can still be contacted.
They are considered a lost culture,
although some parts of Lovecraft's world
continue to worship the creatures.
The Old Ones continue to communicate
with humans telepathically
and can be physically evoked through rituals,
but only if the astral alignments are just right.
The notorious Cthulhu first rose from the depths
of the ocean from a sunken city called R'lyeh
in Lovecraft's short story, "The Call of Cthulhu,"
originally published in the February, 1928,
pulp magazine "Weird Tales."
"The Call of Cthulhu" is told from the perspective
of narrator Francis Wayland Thurston
who investigates the strange records left
by his recently deceased great uncle.
In the story that started the legacy,
Cthulhu is never encountered physically by a character,
seen only in dreams and artwork.
Lovecraft's inspiration for the story
came years earlier in a dream about a man
exploring a museum of antiquities.
When Lovecraft returned to the idea,
he wove in elements from his current life
in Providence, Rhode Island,
including real addresses and even a documented earthquake.
He also found inspiration in pre-existing literature,
like the invisible mind-manipulating presence
at the center of French author Guy de Maupassant's The Horla,
as well as A. Merritt's The Moon Pool,
Arthur Machen's The Three Imposters,
and W. Scott-Elliot's Atlantis and the Lost Lemuria.
I also have to mention that Lovecraft wrote
extensively about how much he hated eating seafood and fish,
which makes those tentacles and horror-from-the-ocean themes
seem a lot more intentional.
Lovecraft grew up during the second Industrial Revolution,
when the increased presence of railroads, automobiles,
electrical power, telephones,
and other rapid industrial advancements
contributed to urbanization, commercialism,
and cultural development all around,
not to mention environmental impacts.
Lovecraft asked his readers to consider what would happen
if our impact was taken away or made meaningless.
For fans of Lovecraft today, it may come as a surprise
that for nearly two decades after his death in 1937,
he was widely dismissed as an untalented writer
by critics and public audiences alike.
His works were viewed as nothing more
than fodder for young adults and eccentrics,
although some would argue similar sentiments today.
Born in Providence in 1890,
his father died of syphilis in a mental asylum
and he was raised by his mother and maternal family members
from a young age.
While intelligent--he was an avid reader at age three--
he was also a high-school drop-out.
His literary career began in 1914 as a journalist,
although he quickly expanded into fiction.
His influences were vast,
and included gothic literature, historical travelogues,
Greek classics, Romantic literature,
scientific discoveries of the 19th century,
and his own agnostic beliefs and ancestral history.
After a failed marriage in his 30s--
their separation partially a result
of his xenophobic and anti-Semitic beliefs--
his wife, Sonia, was the daughter
of Jewish-Russian immigrants-- he lived with his aunts.
His own published work never produced a livable income.
He used his inheritance and skills as a copy editor
and ghostwriter to survive.
Lovecraft's lifetime marked a period of transition
in the United States,
as the country attempted to come into a cohesive identity
amid the first world war,
changing views of sex and women's rights,
the spread of socialism, new scientific discoveries,
and increasingly booming immigrant population.
All of these themes and the anxieties surrounding them
are present in his work.
Despite some of these now-outdated opinions,
Lovecraft's influence on other writers and creators
of all kinds is extensive,
enough so that it can be a challenge to even locate
all the references to his works,
especially because Lovecraft used overlapping narratives--
sticking references to his own creations
into the texts he was ghostwriting
and encouraging other authors
to reference his universe in their own.
Books, characters, towns, and even monsters
appear in-world, as a collective tradition
commonly called the Cthulhu Mythos.
The term Cthulhu Mythos was coined by Lovecraft's
author friend, August Derleth,
the first person to collect and publish
Lovecraft's short stories in one volume
under the Arkham House publishing company.
Some argue that the success of Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos
is at least in part made possible
by the habitable worlds he created.
Stories were often set in seemingly realistic spaces--
New England towns, for instance--
whose physical characteristics, character genealogies,
and histories are crafted with such detail
they feel real to the reader.
Even Cthulhu possesses just enough recognizability.
It is a non-supernatural monster
who is both god and extraterrestrial,
but its appearance contains
enough physical real-world markers,
like the octopus comparisons,
that is existence seems plausible...
but still very, very scary.
Cthulhu is an Eldritch being--
a weird, eerie, sinister force.
The etymology of the word "Eldritch"
can be traced back to monsters--
elves, more specifically.
Originating in the Scottish language,
the term applies to those things that resemble or suggest
elves or supernatural beings,
invocating associations with the weird, the foreign,
the strange, and the uncanny.
Cthulhu is considered extraterrestrial
and no doubt a monster.
Cthulhu and the Great Old Ones force humanity
to reconsider their place in the world.
Lovecraft's creatures are not malevolent, just indifferent,
at least to humans.
Some scholars and fans even argue that this is
where much of the horror of Lovecraft comes from.
We are disturbed by the fact that not only are we inferior,
but that the beings older and wiser than us
simply don't care about our existence.
The concept of Eldritch post-H.P. Lovecraft
is inherently tied to what is generally believed
to be a modern invention-- cosmic horror.
This unique form of spooky
is an extension of the gothic and nihilism,
where terror arrives from that which reminds us
that we not only cannot comprehend
everything in the universe,
but that those things are inherently bad.
Part of Cthulhu's history
is outlined in the Necronomicon--
an invented mythical work
supposedly penned by one of Cthulhu's devotees
that Lovecraft references in many of his stories.
It outlines the origins of the Old Ones.
Lovecraft initially claimed the Necronomicon
was translated from a real-world Arabic text--
a playful allusion to the romantic gothic genre
where other fictional origins of texts
became a common trope.
He would later admit that the Necronomicon text
never existed.
Lovecraft himself called it "synthetic folklore."
Keep in mind, Lovecraft's original texts
that included mention of the Necronomicon
are intentionally vague.
While some passages have been incorporated into his stories,
there was no full manuscript anyone could base a book on,
so people made one up.
In the 1970s,
physical copies of the Necronomicon
were published by an author under the pseudonym of "Simon,"
although it borrowed more from Sumerian mythology.
Hoax versions of the text still pop up from time to time.
Considered a religious text, a cult book,
or demonic grimoire depending on the audience,
Lovecraft's entirely fictional Book of the Dead
became a real-world participant in the Cthulhu mythos.
There are real people who worship Cthulhu,
and even crimes have been committed in the name
of the so-called religious text.
Not all of Lovecraft's influences
are so serious, however.
The Necronomicon plays a key role
in the "Evil Dead" franchise,
pops up in "Jason Goes to Hell,"
and appears in many comics.
In the 1980s, Lovecraft and his most famous creations
were introduced to a much wider audience
with the production of the role-playing game
called "Cthulhu,"
which was basically about your character going insane.
Video games have also been based on Cthulhu mythos.
There are even kid-friendly versions of Cthulhu,
like plushies, baby books, and school gear.
The cute interpretations literally soften
the monster's grotesqueness
and encourage playful or even protective behavior
rather than existential terror.
And I for one would love to know how the author would feel
about cute Cthulhu,
especially given its commodification.
While Lovecraft is considered
a prolific and significant author of the 20th century,
it is undeniable that much of his fiction
reflects his real-world racism.
While his xenophobia might have been
more acceptable during his lifetime,
it's jarring for the modern reader.
Modern texts like Lovecraft Country,
Ring Shout, and The Ballad of Black Tom,
deal with the racist and misogynist tensions
in his texts head-on,
crafting new additions to the Cthulhu mythos
that are still applicable to our world today.
Humanity has come a long way from what the world looked like
when Lovecraft was alive,
but the contemplation of our role in the universe,
or lack thereof,
is still at the forefront of our minds.
History lovers,
we need to tell you about a new series
from PBS called "The Bigger Picture."
Hosted by Professor Vincent Brown,
it's a show that examines famous photographs
and unpacks the historical context around them.
In doing so, we reveal what these photos can tell us
about our history, but also how we view ourselves.
Check out the first episode at the link in the description
and head to the PBS YouTube channel
to see it for yourself.
Tell them "Monstrum" sent you.
Lovecraft's original texts that included mention
of the Necronomonicon--
Why am I changing up the vowels?
In the 1970s, physical copies of the Necronomo--