H. P. Lovecraft und die dunkle Seite der klassischen Antike

H. P. Lovecraft’s fiction has become an integral part of twenty-first-century popular culture. However, the author’s intensive engagement with classical antiquity has so far received little scholarly attention. Drawing on extensive source material, Lovecraft emerges as an exemplary case of extra-academic receptions of antiquity in the United States around 1900. His methodological approach to antiquity, as well as the significance it held for his identity and worldview, can be traced in detail. The analysis of selected narratives demonstrates how the author appropriates classical elements for his fiction. More broadly, the specific interrelation between Lovecraft’s reception of antiquity and his pronounced racism plays a central role.