Losing our Humanity: The Lovecraftian Sublime and Its Paralysis of Anthropocentrism

Abstract

In this thesis, I argue that any attempt to connect Lovecraft’s work to contemporary posthuman and/or ecocritical theories must acknowledge his nihilism and proceed cautiously. The thesis first outlines two models of the sublime: the humanistic sublime, particularly as conceptualized by Longinus, Edmund Burke, and Immanuel Kant; and the Lovecraftian sublime, shown through fictional works of Lovecraft like “The Colour out of Space” and ​At the Mountains of Madness ​ . Contrary to the life-affirming humanistic sublime, the Lovecraftian sublime nullifies meaning, value, purpose, and action. Lovecraft’s atheistic materialism lends his work to posthumanist and ecocritical study in the sense that they all share ontological beliefs, but the connection stops there, because ethics, I argue, are not compatible in the cosmos that Lovecraft conceptualized. Formulating ethics in a Lovecraftian framework (something he himself struggled to do) seems yet another misguided attempt to return to humanistic principles, even if unwittingly. Therefore, while a posthumanist or ecocritical reading of Lovecraft’s work can be warranted, I maintain that nihilism cannot be a locus for anything resembling humanism. In the annihilation of value and meaning, Lovecraft’s work is a powerful check against anthropocentrism. However, we are still left with the question of where to go from there. If the Lovecraftian sublime brings us to a realization of hopelessness, then we must continue asking: Why Lovecraft? Why now? Thus, I close this study with more questions than answers, because rather than serving as a source of practical or moral advice, Lovecraft’s work calls us back to the drawing board altogether, forcing us to reconceptualize who we are, what we are, where we are, and what the future may hold.