The Xenophobic Horror of the Eldritch : A Study of H.P. Lovecraft and the Monstrous

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the representations of eldritch abominations and xenophobic eugenics present in the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and furthermore, the intertwining relationship between them. The examination will focus on the application of monster theory introduced by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen to investigate how monstrousness is used to express the eldritch other as well as the racial other. This purpose will be explored across three texts by H.P. Lovecraft: “The Colour Out of Space” (1927), “The Call of Cthulhu” (1928) and “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” (1932). Attention is given to how monstrousness blurs the line of the Self, thus enabling the different forms of the Other to become absorbed into each other. The objective of this thesis is ultimately to show how Lovecraft uses monstrousness in the same way to describe the eldritch other as he describes the racial other, meaning that the Otherness of both monsters are inextricably connected to one another.