S.T. Joshi has offered the word cosmicism to describe the underlying unity of Lovecraft’s “mythos” stories. This unity lies in the perception of humanity as trivial and inconsequential aside of the vast universe and the incomprehensible ‘powers and principalities’ that inhabit it across eons of time. Some of Lovecraft’s best stories seem to emphasize this theme, such as The Shadow Out of Time, At The Mountains of Madness, and The Colour Out of Space. Not surprisingly, this is most strongly seen in Lovecraft’s science fiction. Joshi’s concept of cosmicism may also apply to Lovecraft’s view of the universe as expressed in his letters, which would be consistent with Lovecraft’s professed atheism, (and Joshi’s). But cosmicism is not always clearly in view in many of his stories.
Lovecraft’s Old Ones often seem to take a very close and personal interest in humankind. For
example, in The Dunwich Horror, Yog-Sothtoth
impregnates the mother of Wilbur Whately and his even stranger twin brother following
rituals and incantations taken from the dreaded Necronomicon. (The idea of immortals consorting with mortal
women to produce strange hybrid beings is probably taken from ancient Greek
mythology.) The boys later attempt to
bring their father and his colleagues back to earth using similar means.
There are other examples in Lovecraft of Old Ones’ reliance
on humans and human religious practices to “bring them back” or to conjure them
for some sort of mischief. Where would
Cthulhu be without his Cthulhu Cult? Why would Nyarlathotep torment Randolph
Carter with visions of his home town in The
Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath? The various
extraterrestrials and their minions are not necessarily blind accidental
forces, but rather malevolent, calculating and purposeful--and they need the help
of humans to carry out their wishes on earth and elsewhere. So the relationship of Lovecraft’s characters
with beings and forces beyond comprehension is actually personal, even caring at times.
In fact, it is Puritan Christianity turned on its head,
with multiple deities actively seeking mankind’s destruction—through dreams, psychic
possession, or seduction by way of forbidden scriptures. “Ye shall know the truth”, but instead of
setting them free, instead of offering them salvation, Lovecraft’s fictional scholars
are enslaved to an unending fear of the future.
However, a very good example of the cosmicism Joshi
describes may be found in George Allan England’s The Thing From Outside, originally published in 1923. England was one of Lovecraft’s contemporaries
and once ran as a socialist candidate for governor of Maine. (He lost.)
The Thing From
Outside literally begins midstream, as a party of explorers is in flight
from some invisible entity that has already killed their three Indian guides. The party has been canoeing south from the
Hudson Bay along the Albany River. They
are paddling upstream, which makes the journey even more arduous. The invisible entity relentlessly follows
them from camp to camp, along miles of forested river bank. Strange circular marks, frosty with an icy
cold that never dissipates, begin to appear around them. Other signs of its presence soon appear: intense cold, campfires and tobacco pipes that
will not stay lit, scarce wildlife, and strange atmospheric effects.
In their desperation, members of the party debate and
speculate about what is happening to them and what they should do. There is an interesting reference to Charles
Fort (1874-1932), an actual expert in supernatural phenomena who was a contemporary
of H.P. Lovecraft and George Allan England.
His Book of the Damned is
quoted in England’s story as an authoritative reference regarding
extra-terrestrial involvement on earth. (The
notion that extra-terrestrials visited earth throughout the early history of
humankind and influenced ancient architecture will remind some readers of Erich
von Däniken’s 1969 book Chariots of the Gods?)
In The Thing From
Outside, humankind is repeatedly compared to ants. That ‘we are mere ants’ is a classic
statement of cosmicism. Describing the
demise of one of the characters, the author writes: “It moved its hands as a
crushed ant moves its antennae, jerkily, without significance.”
Members of the party begin to succumb to the fear and
duress. They experience severe
headaches, hallucinations, disorientation, and inexplicable rages. One by one they begin to perish, as those
remaining descend into madness. Eventually
the party arrives at a deserted lumber camp.
Two of them manage to survive the encounter with ‘the Thing’, but only
because it is momentarily distracted.
The Thing From
Outside has fairly obvious flaws, but some compelling scenes and themes.
The dialogue is wooden, characterization is weak, and the
text seems very sketchy in sections, as if one were reading the outline of a
much more involved and detailed work.
The author uses capital letters in the same way Lovecraft uses italics to
augment the melodrama: “A house, even a
poor and broken one, is a wonderful barrier against a Thing from—Outside.” The loud quavering tones of a theremin would be appropriate at this point.
However, the story is effective in depicting an entire
region haunted by the presence of something beyond understanding. Lovecraft achieves a similar effect in The Colour Out of Space and in other
stories where evil and horror appear to permeate an entire landscape and are manifested
through swollen trees, misshapen vegetation, queer animal calls and atmospheric
changes.
The Thing from
Outside is reminiscent of Algernon Blackwood’s The Willows (1907), which also takes place along a river. The invisible beings in both stories leave unusual
marks on their surroundings and on their victims. Their interactions with human characters have
an accidental, disinterested, and incomprehensible quality—which are elements
of cosmicism in these stories. The
ensuing loss of sanity and orientation in England’s tale will remind some
readers of the Blair Witch Project,
another story of campers slowly losing their minds to fear and isolation.
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