Reading Lovecraft in the Anthropocene

A New Dark Age
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-89945-9
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales)

Buch, Englisch, 282 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 549 g

Reihe: Routledge Studies in Twentieth-Century Literature

In Reading Lovecraft in the Anthropocene: A New Dark Age, the intersection of environmental, philosophical, and literary discourses is explored through the lens of H.P. Lovecraft’s weird fiction. This study examines the convergence of three critical phenomena: the widespread recognition of the Anthropocene as a marker of human impact on the planet, the rise of speculative realism and Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) in contemporary philosophy, and the growing cultural and academic influence of Lovecraft’s work.

Divided into three parts – “Seeds,” “Crops,” and “Excrescence” – the book traces Lovecraft’s gothic and decadent influences, examines materiality and its transcendence in weird fiction, and considers the posthuman and postsecular dimensions of his narratives. Through this, the study highlights Lovecraft’s role in navigating the challenges of a secular, disenchanted world, offering a “dark enchantment” that echoes current philosophical concerns.

This work ultimately synthesizes discussions on weird fiction as a response to the existential and ecological crises of the Anthropocene, addressing issues like correlationism, anthropocentrism, and our fraught relationship with the natural world.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wilken, Christian

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Strömungen & Epochen
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Literarische Gattungen

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction



Part One: The Bad Seed



1. Weird Antecedents

2. Weird Decadence

3. Weird Ontology



Part Two: Weird Crops



4. Weird Dwellings

5. Weird Ecology

6. Weird Sensations



Part Three: Excrescence



7. Weird Posthuman/Prehuman

8. The Weird Postsecular

9. Weird Dreamscape



Closure: Minding the Gap

Über Autor(innen)

Christian Wilken is a research associate at the University of Koblenz and a lecturer at the University of Düsseldorf.