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  • Olkusz, Ksenia

    Creatio Fantastica, 2016, Letnik: 54, Številka: 3-4
    Journal Article

    The paper Cities of Lovecraft traverses a number H. P. Lovecraft’s works in order to outline the cityscape of the titanic and the monstruous—that is shown as an epitomy of Lovecraft’s depiction of the gothic city. Spaces forgotten, hidden, concealed and, thereby, treacherous and weird, compose a pivotal component of creating both the world and the atmosphere of gothic fiction—as they realise a bipartite model of the world divided into the known and the unknown. Lovecraftian worlds are claimed here to be contructed in this very way, featuring forgotten, titanic cities of architecture never seen and origin—unbeknownst to any of the protagonists. Alongside those titanic (sunken, undiscovered, otherworldy) or isolated (such as Innsmouth) metropolies those of human origin reside, no less, however, affected by the evil and unnatural phenomena instigating—both on topographical and psychological plane—deformations and abnormalities. Those liminal enclaves of decay signify the entering of the forbidden frontier and stepping over the threshold of “normality”—which results in character’s wondering astray in the secret or degenerated urban mazes, overwhelmed by their grandeur. Theis scenery becomes, therefore, a key element for (re)presenting a world tainted by the Ancient Evil—surving, in a way, as a fellow character in the narrative.