Dreams and nightmares in early 20th century fantastic literature: the works of H. P. Lovecraft

The aim of this research is to determine the influence of the poetics of dreams and nightmares on the nature of the fantastic in the works of H. P. Lovecraft. The article raises the question of the place of dreams, nightmares, and altered (liminal) states of consciousness in "genre-conditioned" fantastic literature, and on the features of their depiction directly in "Lovecraftian horrors." The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that, for the first time in Russian literary studies, the science fiction of the American writer is studied in detail through the prism of the oneiric, as well as in the context of general literary trends of the Modernist era. It is revealed that, for H. P. Lovecraft, the space of dreams is an "other," similar to mythological reality, and the dream state is a portal to it, similar to portals in fantasy literature. At the same time, the writer's attitude to sleep as a mysterious world, a "true" reality, is consonant with both the Romantic and Modernist worldview. As a result of the research, it is determined that dreams and nightmares "enhance" the effect of H. P. Lovecraft's fiction, allowing the writer to achieve the maximum atmosphere of "supernatural horror" and the effect of the "illusion of verisimilitude," which are key to the author's Cthulhu mythology and the horror genre as a whole.