2019/11/30 by Curtis D. Carbonell · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Gothic Literature and Media Analysis #Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies #Crime and Detective Fiction Studies
paper · doi:10.3828/liverpool/9781789620573.003.0005
openalex publication_date 2019/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
This central chapter examines the importance of H.P. Lovecraft in how realized worlds are conceptualized in <italic>Dread Trident</italic> , especially within the context of TRPGs. It sees in Lovecraft, not just a writer of Weird fiction, but a writer of cosmic fiction who also, inadvertently, helped create a mythos. This ‘Cthulhu’ Mythos acts as a supreme example of how a realized world works because of how it incorporates a broad canvas of elements from a variety of individuals. Also, Lovecraft’s poetics of creating a sense of dread with Weird writing hints how he often sidesteps rather than directly draws the ultimate horror. Yet, his later writing embraced a materialistic categorizing of scientific and biological forms. This chapter looks through Lovecraftian scholarship, as well as a few of his own pieces of fiction, as well as the TRPG The Call of Cthulhu, for examples of how his mythos works and examples of his granular style.