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"The Outsider" is a short story by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft in 1921[1] and first published in the April 1926 issue of Weird Tales.[2] It is about a mysterious individual who awakens to find himself completely alone and what happens when he attempts to make contact with others. This article is in need of attention. ...
Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the reader. ...
Howard Phillips Lovecraft (August 20, 1890 – March 15, 1937) was an American author of fantasy, horror and science fiction, noted for combining these three genres within single narratives. ...
See also: 1920 in literature, other events of 1921, 1922 in literature, list of years in literature. ...
See also: 1925 in literature, other events of 1926, 1927 in literature, list of years in literature. ...
This page is about the fantasy and horror fiction pulp magazine and its heirs. ...
"The Outsider" combines fantasy and horror into an atmospheric, surrealistic, and nightmarish tale. It is one of Lovecraft's few tales that uses human emotion as an important part of the story. Fantasy is a genre of art that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. ...
Horror fiction is, broadly, fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the reader. ...
Surrealism is an artistic movement and an aesthetic philosophy that aims for the liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious. ...
Emotion, in its most general definition, is an intense neural mental state that arises subjectively rather than through conscious effort and evokes either a positive or negative psychological response to move an organism to action. ...
Inspiration In a letter, Lovecraft himself said that, of all his tales, the story most closely resembles the style of his idol Edgar Allan Poe. Lovecraft writes: "[The story] represents my literal though unconscious imitation of Poe at its very height."[3] The opening paragraphs echo those of Poe's "Berenice", while the horror at the party recalls the unmasking scene in "The Masque of the Red Death".[4] Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, editor, critic and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ...
Berenice is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. ...
The Masque of the Red Death is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe and first published in the May 1842 edition of Grahams Ladys and Gentlemans Magazine as The Mask of the Red Death. The story was adapted in 1964 by Roger Corman into a...
The story may also have been inspired in part by Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Fragments From the Journal of a Solitary Man", in which a man dreams that he is walking down Broadway in a shroud, only understanding the shocked reaction of passersby when he sees his reflection in a shop window.[5] Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 - May 19, 1864) was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. ...
A view of Broadway in 1909 Broadway, as the name implies, is a wide avenue in New York City, and is the oldest north-south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to the first New Amsterdam settlement. ...
Another suggested literary model is Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein (1818), in which the creature causes a shock when he enters a cottage: "I had hardly placed my foot within the door before the children shrieked, and one of the women fainted." The monster later looks in a pool of water and sees his reflection for the first time.[6] Mary Shelley (30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist, the author of Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus. ...
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel by Mary Shelley. ...
Colin Wilson, in The Strength to Dream (1961), points to Oscar Wilde's short story "The Birthday of the Infanta", in which a misshapen dwarf is horrified to see his reflection for the first time.[7] Colin Henry Wilson (born June 26, 1931) is a prolific British writer. ...
It has been suggested that Wildes Manuscripts be merged into this article or section. ...
Some critics have suggested that "The Outsider" is autobiographical, and that Lovecraft was talking about his own life when he wrote, "I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men." An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia finds this analysis to be exaggerated, but suggests that the story "may possibly be indicative of HPL's own self-image, particularly the image of one who always thought himself ugly and whose mother told at least one individual about her son's 'hideous' face."[8] An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia is a reference work written by S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz. ...
Reaction Lovecraft was highly critical of "The Outsider", writing: - To my mind this tale--written a decade ago--is too glibly mechanical in its climactic effect, & almost comic in the bombastic pomposity of the language. As I re-read it, I can hardly understand how I could have let myself be tangled up in such baroque & windy rhetoric as recently as ten years ago.[9]
Synopsis Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. "The Outsider" is written, like much of Lovecraft's work, in the first person, and details the miserable and apparently lonely life of an individual who appears to have had no contact with anyone else for a great many years. His memory of others is vague, and he can seem to recall nothing of who he is or any kind of personal history. The character dwells in a vast but incredibly ancient castle, from which he never seems to have ventured. His only knowledge of what lay beyond has come exclusively from books.
The narrator tells of his eventual determination to free himself from what he sees as a prison. He decides to climb the ruined staircase of the high castle tower. At the top of the steps is a grate in the ceiling which he removes and climbs through. Amazingly, he finds himself not at a great height, but at ground level in another world. He wanders through a churchyard and some countryside in this new land until he reaches another castle.
Drawn to a party he can hear within, he steps into the room only to see the entire gathering flee, although he does not understand the source of their horror. Alone once again, he approaches what he thinks is a doorway to another room and catches sight of a hideous, rotting figure. Reflexively throwing out a hand, he touches not the creature, but a mirror, and sees himself as he really appears.
Connections to other Lovecraft stories Depiction of a ghoul A ghoul is a monster from ancient Arabian folklore that dwells in graveyards and other uninhabited places. ...
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath is a novella by H. P. Lovecraft. ...
See also: 1925 in literature, other events of 1926, 1927 in literature, list of years in literature. ...
For the band Nitocris see Nitocris (Band) Nitocris (Greek ÎίτωκÏις) has been claimed to have been the last Pharaoh of the 6th Dynasty of Egypt, and perhaps the first female ruler of Egypt, the first known Queen regnant in the world, and the first of three women to take the title...
See also: 1923 in literature, other events of 1924, 1925 in literature, list of years in literature. ...
Harry Houdini (March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a magician, escapologist, stunt performer, and possibly a spy, as well as an investigator of spiritualists. ...
Under the Pyramids, also known as Imprisoned with the Pharaohs, is a short story ghost-written by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft for escape artist Harry Houdini in February/March 1924. ...
The Haunter of the Dark is a horror story by H.P. Lovecraft. ...
The Shining Trapezohedron is an artifact in the fictional Cthulhu mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, described in The Haunter of the Dark. ...
In popular culture - Amongst the Catacombs of Nephren-Ka (1998) is an album title by death metal band Nile based on a quote from "The Outsider".
Amongst the Catacombs is the second studio album from the death metal band Nile. ...
Death metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that evolved out of thrash metal during the early 1980s. ...
Nile is a death metal band from South Carolina, USA assembled in 1993. ...
References - Lovecraft, Howard P. (1984). “The Outsider”, S. T. Joshi (ed.): The Dunwich Horror and Others, 9th corrected printing, Sauk City, WI: Arkham House. ISBN 0-870-54037-8. Definitive version.
- Lovecraft, Howard P. [1936] (1999). “The Outsider”, S. T. Joshi (ed.): The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories. London, UK; New York, NY: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-1411-8234-2.
Notes - ^ "Lovecraft's Fiction", The H. P. Lovecraft Archive.
- ^ "H. P. Lovecraft's 'The Outsider'", The H. P. Lovecraft Archive.
- ^ S. T. Joshi, explanatory notes to "The Outsider", The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories.
- ^ S. T. Joshi and David E. Schultz, An H. P. Lovecraft Encyclopedia, p. 199.
- ^ Joshi and Schultz, p. 198.
- ^ Cited in Joshi and Schultz, p. 198.
- ^ Cited in Joshi and Schultz, p. 198.
- ^ Joshi and Schultz, p. 199.
- ^ H. P. Lovecraft, Selected Letters Vol. 3, p. 379; cited in Joshi and Schultz, p. 198.
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